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	Priest Named in Sex Lawsuit By Elbert Aull Kennebec Journal September 25, 2007 http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/news/local/4312612.html Maine — A former Windham resident has filed a lawsuit against a former priest and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, saying he was sexually abused by a man church officials knew was a threat to children. Steven F. Boyden, 37, of Villa Rica, Ga., claims a former priest molested him during the mid-1980s, when Boyden was an altar boy at St. Hyacinth's Parish in Westbrook. Ronald N. Michaud, who is identified as a resident of Augusta, told the teenager the abuse was a "true show of affection," according to a complaint filed last week at Kennebec County Superior Court in Augusta. The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount in damages for "disgrace, humiliation, anger" and other emotional distress. It is one of two formal accusations of misconduct against Michaud, who has an unrelated sex-abuse case pending with church courts in Rome. The complaint comes nearly eight months after Bishop Richard Malone announced Michaud was one of a handful of Maine priests whose sex-abuse cases had recently been referred to the Vatican. Victims' groups applauded the lawsuit Monday, while church officials denied claims they transferred Michaud from parish to parish as complaints of sexual misconduct surfaced. Michaud could not be reached for comment. "When victims and witnesses speak up, sometimes children are spared and justice is done," Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, a spokeswoman for the national Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said in a statement Monday. A spokeswoman for the diocese said church officials dismissed Michaud from ministry in 1989, shortly after the Archdiocese of Baltimore told them a former parishioner in Hagerstown, Md., had accused the man of sexually abusing him in the early 1970s. The Maryland complaint has since been forwarded to the Vatican for possible disciplinary action. "We took him out of ministry. He was never put back into ministry," Sue Bernard said. Bernard said the church cut all ties with Michaud in 1990 and did not receive any other complaints until Boyden approached church officials in 2002. She said the diocese agreed to pay for Boyden's counseling sessions after he came forward. Bernard said the only other misconduct complaint against Michaud came from a third-party in 2004, and the diocese forwarded information about all the allegations to authorities. Boyden said in the lawsuit Michaud kissed and fondled him "on numerous occasions" while the former priest served in Westbrook and that the abuse continued after the man was transferred to a parish in Aroostook County during the winter of 1984-85. The lawsuit claims Michaud forced himself on Boyden after serving the teenager alcohol, and ordered him to keep the incident private. Michaud was transferred from Maryland to Maine in 1979. He served at five churches before he was dismissed from the ministry in 1989: St. Ignatius, Sanford; St. Andre's, Biddeford; St. Hyacinth's, Westbrook; St. Joseph, Sinclair; and Holy Family, Daigle.
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