January 11, 2005

Cardinal will give deposition in sex abuse case

STAMFORD (CT)
Newsday

By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN
Associated Press Writer

January 11, 2005, 6:25 PM EST

STAMFORD, Conn. -- New York Cardinal Edward Egan will testify later this month in the civil trial of a Roman Catholic priest accused of molesting an altar boy, a church spokesman said Tuesday.

Egan will give a deposition on Jan. 27, said Joseph Zwilling, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York. The deposition will take place at a law office in Manhattan.

Stamford Superior Court Judge Chase Rogers last month asked New York officials to enforce a subpoena ordering Egan to testify. Attorney Paul Slager, who represents the alleged victim, said in court documents that he had repeatedly asked the Archdiocese of New York to make Egan available for a deposition.

Slager's client claims he was molested in the early 1990s by the Rev. John Castaldo while Castaldo was a priest at St. Teresa Church in Trumbull.

At the time, Egan oversaw the Bridgeport diocese.

"During the cardinal's years in the Bridgeport diocese, there was never any indication of any sort of sexual misbehavior on the part of the priest in question," Zwilling said last month.

Posted by kshaw at January 11, 2005 06:47 PM