GREENSBURG (PA)
Tribune-Review
By David Hunt
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
A priest who died more than a decade ago is at the center of another lawsuit facing the Diocese of Greensburg.
Altoona lawyer Richard M. Serbin filed the 33-page civil action in Westmoreland County court on behalf of an unidentified man referred to as John Doe. A signed affidavit filed with the paperwork indicates the man wants to keep his identity from the public record. Named as defendants in the suit are the diocese and retired Bishop Anthony G. Bosco.
According to the suit, Doe was a parishioner of St. Stanislaus Church in Calumet when he was sexually abused by the Rev. Francis Lesniak. Doe was between 12 and 13 years old at the time of the alleged abuse and is now 52. Lesniak died in 1991.
In the mid-1960s, the suit states, Doe was invited to stay overnight at the rectory when Lesniak was transferred from St. Stanislaus to St. Anne Church in Rostraver Township. The court document says Doe woke up while Lesniak fondled him. The priest allegedly then forced the boy to fondle him in return, according to the lawsuit.