BishopAccountability.org
	Archdiocese, Order Targeted in $10 Million Paternity Suit By Robert Lang WBAL May 28, 2009 http://wbal.com/apps/news/templates/story.aspx?articleid=28192&zoneid=2 A $10-million lawsuit is being filed today by two people, who claim a priest who was a member of a Baltimore based religious order was their father, and the order and the Archdiocese of Baltimore concealed that fact. The suit is being filed in Baltimore City Circuit Court against the Archdiocese of Baltimore and the St. Joseph's Society of Sacred Heart. Their attorneys say Carla Latty and Adrian Senna learned through DNA testing that their biological father was Fr. Francis E. Ryan, a member of the order. Senna and Latty allege Ryan had an affair with their mother, Anna Maria Franklin Senna, who worked with Ryan while she was a church organist in Montgomery, Alabama. In a news release, the plaintiffs allege the priest never "acknowledged the paternity of the children." The suit claims that Catholic officials were aware of Ryan's background but "did not intervene or otherwise take responsibility" for the children. The suit goes onto allege that the church concealed Ryan's actions, "to avoid having to compensate" the children and their mother. Carla Latty is now 56, and is an attorney in New York City. She will appear at a news conference in Baltimore today. Adrian Senna is now 63, and is living in British Columbia. Both the priest and the Latty and Senna's mother are deceased. The plaintiffs are also represented by the group SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. Sean Caine, a spokesman for the Archdiocese, told WBAL News that according to Archdiocese lawyers, Ryan was not ordained in Baltimore, and never served in the Archdiocese. Caine says Ryan has "no connection whatsoever" to the Archdiocese.
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