August 17, 2005

Retired bishop faces allegation

IOWA
Quad-City Times

By Barb Ickes

A long-time Catholic priest who served for more than 15 years in the Quad-City area before being named bishop of the Sioux City Diocese is being sued for the second time in three months under sexual abuse allegations.

The Catholic Diocese of Davenport and a Catholic high school in Iowa City also are named in a seven-count lawsuit filed this week in the Iowa District Court for Scott County by Dennis Allen, identified only as a resident of Iowa.

In the lawsuit, Allen claims he was the victim of the Rev. Lawrence D. Soens, who used his principal's office at Iowa City Regina High School to sexually abuse male students.

A Florida man filed a similarly worded lawsuit in June, alleging sexual abuse by Soens and naming the Davenport Diocese and Regina High as co-defendants.

Posted by kshaw at August 17, 2005 07:58 AM