SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
Los Angeles Times
By Jean Guccione, Times Staff Writer
SAN FRANCISCO — Three decades ago, they were playmates at a Roman Catholic elementary school and victims of its pastor.
They were together again Tuesday in a courtroom here, now in their 40s, asking a jury to compensate them for the damage suffered at the hands of the late Father Joseph T. Pritchard.
The three men and one woman will testify that he repeatedly fondled them from 1971 to 1979 while they attended school at St. Martin of Tours in San Jose, luring them and dozens of others into his private living quarters with soft drinks, candy, games and cartoons, their attorneys said in court.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco, which included San Jose in the 1970s, does not deny that the abuse occurred. In fact, the church accepted responsibility for all damage inflicted upon the four.