ALASKA
Anchorage Daily News
By LISA DEMER
Anchorage Daily News
Published: August 10th, 2005
Last Modified: August 10th, 2005 at 01:49 AM
The Rev. Richard L. McCaffrey, a Catholic priest who served decades in Alaska, is accused of sexually abusing a girl in the village of Tununak in 1978 and 1979, when she was 10 and 11.
A lawsuit filed Tuesday in Bethel Superior Court names as defendants McCaffrey as well as the Diocese of Fairbanks and the Society of Jesus, Oregon Province. The church organizations knew or should have known about McCaffrey's sexual misbehavior and hid his acts from scrutiny and investigation, the suit filed by Anchorage attorney Ken Roosa contends.
The priest invited the girl, identified in the suit only as June Doe, into his sleeping quarters, took off her clothes and had her masturbate him, the complaint alleges.
"During this molestation, Father McCaffrey would tell Plaintiff that their actions were 'pure,' like those acts of Adam and Eve, in order to make Plaintiff believe that this molestation was normal," the suit states.
June Doe is now married with a family in Western Alaska, Roosa said. She has suffered great pain, humiliation, spiritual theft, lost of trust in priests and other troubles, the suit said.