WATERLOO (IA)
Courier
By PAT KINNEY, Assistant City Editor
WATERLOO --- When the Archdiocese of Dubuque responded in 1954 to a child sexual abuse complaint against a priest in Oelwein, it followed its required procedures in place at that time, Dubuque Archbishop Jerome Hanus said Wednesday.
The complaint, against the Rev. William Goltz, was the basis of a lawsuit filed Friday by an anonymous plaintiff in Fayette County District Court against the archdiocese and the priest.
The suit alleges that Goltz asked the alleged victim, 13 at the time, to help him wash a car and then drive it to dry it off. They drove to a quarry outside Oelwein where Goltz allegedly sexually abused the boy and showed him illicit photos.
Hanus noted that, according to the suit, when the abuse complaint was made to the church, the archdiocese immediately removed the priest and "followed its required procedures and instituted a church trial against the accused."
That church trial was instituted by then-Dubuque Archbishop Leo Binz. Only one such trial has been held in the archdiocese's 168-year history.
"That response was typical of Archbishop Leo Binz. He considered sexual abuse of minors to be 'the worst crime.' " Hanus wrote in a statement. "He would have followed the canon law procedures required in place at that time."
Posted by kshaw at March 3, 2005 06:53 PM