Former Priest Brown, Catholic Church Sued Again for Alleged Cihild Sex Abuse

By Jan Skutch
Savannah Morning News
March 20, 2015

http://savannahnow.com/news/2015-03-20/former-priest-brown-catholic-church-sued-again-alleged-cihild-sex-abuse

Former Roman Catholic priest Wayland Yoder Brown and two Savannah diocese bishops on Thursday were sued for alleged sexual encounters with a minor parishioner.

The suit, filed in the Court of Common Pleas in Jasper County, S.C., by attorney Mark Tate, alleges Brown took the plaintiff to Jasper County and had “multiple sexual encounters” with him between August 1987 and May 1988.

The plaintiff was a 13-year-old student at St. James Catholic School in Savannah at the time. He filed the suit in his own name, but the Savannah Morning News does not identify victims of sexual assaults.

The suit named Brown, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Savannah, former Bishop Raymond Lessard and current Bishop Gregory John Hartmayer as defendants.

It is the third lawsuit accusing Brown of similar conduct.

Brown was ordained in the Diocese of Savannah in July 1977 and served as associate pastor at St. James Catholic Church and school in the mid-1970s. The Vatican dismissed Brown from the priesthood in December 2004.

He is a convicted sex offender and is registered in Maryland as a sex offender.

The Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests (SNAP) Director Barbara Dorris in St. Louis said Friday that “this is a priest that they had knowledge of as early as 1969.

“We feel that the Catholic bishop has done the bare minimum only when forced. The bishop could be doing outreach instead of sitting behind his desk waiting for the next lawsuit,” she said.

Barbara King, spokeswoman for the diocese, said Friday it would be inappropriate to comment on pending litigation.

“The Diocese of Savannah does not tolerate the sexual abuse of children. The Diocese of Savannah had no prior knowledge that Wayland Brown had abused children at the time periods referenced over 30 years ago,” she added.