August 10, 2005

Civil suit alleges Fairbanks pastor molested 10-year-old

ALASKA
Fairbanks News-Miner

By MARY BETH SMETZER
Staff Writer

A woman raised in Tununak, a village on Nelson Island, filed a civil lawsuit against a Jesuit priest Tuesday, saying he molested her several time over a yearlong period starting in 1978 when she was 10 years old.

The lawsuit, filed in Bethel Superior Court under the name June Doe, names the Rev. Richard L. McCaffrey as the molester.

McCaffrey, pastor of Immaculate Conception Church in Fairbanks, was named publicly and put on administrative leave more than two months ago by Bishop Donald Kettler, head of the Fairbanks Catholic Diocese, in response to a different allegation that McCaffrey sexually abused a minor about 25 years ago.

At the time, the bishop said suspending McCaffrey from pastoral duties is required when a cleric is accused of abuse.

Posted by kshaw at August 10, 2005 06:30 AM