Green Bay Diocese Pays $700,000 in Sex Abuse Settlement

By Ann-Elise Henzl
Milwaukee Public Radio
March 20, 2013

http://www.wuwm.com/news/wuwm_news.php?articleid=12091

Two men say they were abused as children by a priest who had a record of sexual misconduct

The Catholic Diocese of Green Bay will pay $700,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by two men. Todd and Troy Merryfield were sexually abused by a former priest, John Feeney, in the 1970s when they were children. The men accused the diocese of withholding knowledge of Feeney’s previous sexual misconduct.

Feeney was convicted of assaulting the Merryfields. A judge overturned the verdict and ordered a new trial, after ruling that one of the jurors was biased.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests says it is hopeful that the settlement brings “some measure of justice in the long and torturous road to healing for…the Merryfield family.”