IOWA
Gazette
Published: 07/29/2005 5:15 PM
By: Associated Press - Associated Press
DAVENPORT, IA - The Roman Catholic diocese of Davenport announced Friday that it has been named in another lawsuit alleging sexual misconduct, this one naming Msgr. Thomas Feeney, a former vicar general of the diocese who died in 1981.
The lawsuit, filed Monday, involves allegations that occurred more than 48 years ago, Bishop William Franklin said in a statement.
Diocese officials are reviewing the complaint. Franklin said the diocese had hoped that mediation, rather than lawsuits, would be the best way to resolve such complaints.
Feeney died July 27, 1981. He was on the faculty at St. Ambrose University in 1937-38; was chaplain at Mercy Hospital in Davenport from 1942 to 1948; served as pastor of Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport from 1953 to 1968; and as pastor of St. Anthony's in Davenport from 1968 to 1981. He served as vice chancellor of the diocese in 1941-42; chancellor from 1942 to 1952; and vicar general from 1968 to 1981.