DAVENPORT (IA)
KWQC
DAVENPORT, Iowa Church officials say a former bishop of the Sioux City Roman Catholic diocese was accused of child sex abuse when he was a priest in the Davenport diocese, and the Davenport diocese reached a settlement with one of the accusers.
A report issued yesterday (Tuesday) by Davenport Bishop William Franklin said that there were three allegations against retired Sioux City Bishop Lawrence Soens and the diocese settled one of those allegations for 20-thousand dollars in October.
Soens was the Sioux City diocese's fifth bishop, serving from 1983 to 1998.
Sioux City diocese spokesman Jim Wharton defended Soens and said news of the allegations "shocks and saddens all of us."
Posted by kshaw at January 19, 2005 07:49 AM