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	Bridgeport Diocese Releases Abuse Docs WFSB December 1, 2009 http://www.wfsb.com/news/21772452/detail.html [with video] BRIDGEPORT, Conn. -- The Diocese of Bridgeport released more than 12,000 documents Tuesday, shedding more light about sexual abuse complaints that were made against priests to the diocese. The records date back to the 1960s. The information was requested to help figure out what leaders of the diocese knew about the complaints and what they did about those concerns at the time. One court record connected to a victim in Westport reads, "During the summer of either 1978 or 1979, another boy and I traveled to Block Island, Rhode Island, with Father Moore. That night, the other boy and I literally jumped out of a bedroom window to escape Father Moore's sexual advances." In the document the victim goes on to say, "I was never offered counseling services by the Diocese of Bridgeport or any of its representatives." Attorneys for the alleged sex abuse victims said the documents will prove that the leaders of the diocese tried to suppress the allegations of sex abuse. In other documents released today there's an affidavit where a priest testified as an expert in a case saying, "the diocese's system of reviewing complaints of clergy sexual abuse was negligent, and inconsistent." The battle for the release of the documents began seven years ago after four media agencies sued the Diocese of Bridgeport to release documents about abuse settlements. The church refused and the court battle began.
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