DAVENPORT (IA)
Sioux City Journal
By Todd Ruger Quad City Times
A Florida man filed a civil lawsuit Tuesday against the Catholic Diocese of Davenport, claiming it knew a priest sexually abused him and other underage boys decades before becoming the bishop of the Diocese of Sioux City.
Michael Gould claims in the lawsuit the Rev. Lawrence D. Soens abused him beginning in 1963 when he was a student and Soens was the principal and priest at Iowa City Regina High School.
Gould also claims the diocese and the high school, also named as a defendant, failed to take actions against Soens after learning of repeated sexual contacts with numerous minor-aged boys.
The lawsuit is the first filed against the Davenport diocese since it agreed to pay $9 million in October to settle 37 claims of sexual abuse of minors by diocesan priests, including 14 lawsuits.
Gould's lawsuit is the first against Soens, who is the highest-ranking church official to be accused of sexual abuse in a lawsuit in Iowa, the plaintiff's attorney, Craig Levien of Davenport, said Wednesday.
Bishop William Franklin said the diocese received three allegations of abuse by Soens in the 1960s, and it paid $20,000 in October to settle a similar allegation against Soens.
Posted by kshaw at June 9, 2005 06:14 AM