March 05, 2005

Teczar claims he’s innocent of abuse

DUDLEY (MA)
Webster Times

BY JOYCE KELLY
TIMES STAFF WRITER

DUDLEY — A retired priest is angry because he thinks whatever his accusers say is considered “gospel truth.”
Of those involved in this scenario, one is the aforementioned man of the cloth, one a gas station attendant, another a neighborhood kid, two a mother and son, and the rest a few other common young men.
Rev. Thomas Teczar, of Dudley, is no longer preaching these days; ironically, it is the others who have won the blind faith of the masses, he says.
The members of this short list — a mix of former parishioners and locals — have all claimed Rev. Teczar sexually abused minors.
Most recently, he was accused of sexual abuse by two Texas men known only as “John Doe I” and “John Doe II,” who also allege the Worcester Catholic Diocese and Fort Worth, Texas Diocese, conspired to help him avoid arrest.
The men filed a lawsuit in Tarrant County District Court in Forth Worth, stating that Rev. Teczar sexually abused them at 12 years old, while he was the pastor of St. Rita's Church in Ranger, a small town in northeastern Texas.
"It's horrible, absolutely horrible. It's just awful, unconditionally awful. Finding this out was like hearing, 'You've got cancer and you've only got 30 days to live," said Rev. Teczar, in a telephone interview from his home last week.

Posted by kshaw at March 5, 2005 02:59 AM