April 09, 2005

Dioceses settle suit against priest from Mass.

TEXAS
Boston.com

By Associated Press | April 9, 2005

A Texas man who contends he was sexually abused by a priest from Massachusetts has reached a settlement with the Catholic Dioceses of Fort Worth and Worcester that includes $2.75 million from the Fort Worth diocese, the parties said yesterday.

The settlement will be paid by the Fort Worth diocese and its insurers, the Texas diocese said in a statement. The diocese settled upon the advice of its lawyers to avoid the ''uncertainty of litigation and the related costs," the statement said.

The Worcester diocese bears no financial responsibility in the settlement, according to a statement from Bishop Robert J. McManus.

The Texas man, now 27 years old, contends that the Rev. Thomas Teczar sexually abused him during his time as pastor of St. Rita's Church in Ranger, Texas, in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Ranger, a town of about 2,500 people, is 100 miles west of Fort Worth.

Posted by kshaw at April 9, 2005 07:48 AM