DUBUQUE (IA)
Des Moines Register
By SHIRLEY RAGSDALE
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
July 13, 2005
A lawsuit was filed Monday against the Archdiocese of Dubuque, bringing to 16 the number of cases pending in federal and state courts in Iowa alleging sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests.
In the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids, a woman identified only as Jane Doe III alleges she was sexually abused by the Rev. Patrick McElliott in 1964 when the priest was pastor of St. Patrick parish in Colesburg. McElliott died in 1987.
Four earlier lawsuits named McElliott, alleging he abused girls while at St. John's school in Waterloo and at St. Patrick in 1963.
The lawsuit claims that the diocese was aware of the abuse and did nothing to warn Catholic families of the danger of the abuse or to remove McElliott from ministry.
Officials from the Dubuque Diocese did not return phone calls asking for comment.