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	Church Accused of Abuse Silence Suit Claims Catholic Diocese Knew of Former Choir Director's Abuse of Teen, but Concealed It By Alicia Robinson Daily Pilot [Costa Mesa CA] July 11, 2007 http://www.dailypilot.com/articles/2007/07/11/news/dpt-lawsuit11.txt The Catholic Diocese of Orange created a "conspiracy of silence" to protect child abusers within the church, including former choir director Albert Lee Schildknecht, according to a civil lawsuit filed by a woman who claims Schildknecht sexually abused her. Costa Mesa police arrested Schildknecht, 56, of Laguna Niguel, on June 29 on two counts of oral copulation and one count of digital penetration of a minor. Police said at the time that the arrest was based on evidence provided by the 28-year-old woman, whose name has been withheld. The alleged abuse by Schildknecht began when the woman was 16 and was one of his choir students, according to the woman's attorneys. Attorney John Manly, who is representing the woman, said the civil lawsuit filed on Friday does not directly name the Diocese of Orange or Schildknecht because of statutory requirements, but he confirmed they are the defendants. The lawsuit claims diocese officials knew of Schildknecht's abuse of the woman but concealed it, only removing him from his position for a month and then returning him to a job in which he was around minors. Since Costa Mesa police began investigating Schildknecht a few months ago, Manly said, church officials have "engaged in basically a spin campaign to make people believe they just found out about this." "The reality is they found out about it in 1995, they didn't report it to the police, and they just hoped it would go away," he said. A church spokeswoman said in late May that the church had only learned of the woman's allegations against Schildknecht two or three weeks earlier. The suit seeks an unspecified amount of punitive damages and "non-monetary damages in the form of changes in the diocese and these parishes to make sure this never happens again," Manly said. Schildknecht was released on bail shortly after his arrest by Costa Mesa police. The woman's attorneys said his arraignment on criminal charges is scheduled for July 30.
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