CALIFORNIA
My News LA.com
A young man who alleges he was sexually abused by a pastor at the Catholic Church he attended in Covina sued the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
The plaintiff, identified only as John CJ Doe, alleges child sexual abuse and negligence. The Los Angeles Superior Court suit filed Thursday also names as defendants the Rev. Christopher Cunningham and St. Louise de Marillac Church.
The suit seeks unspecified damages.
“Plaintiff is one of two known victims of Father Cunningham’s child sexual abuse,” the suit alleges.
A archdiocese spokeswoman did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment.
The suit states that the plaintiff was abused in 2001 and 2002 when he was 12 and 13 years old. Cunningham was 42 when he was reassigned to Assumption Catholic Church in Ventura in 2004, according to published reports at the time.
Supporters of Cunningham sent 8,000 letters to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles pleading not to oust their pastor, the prior reports state. They protested at Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles and held meetings to come up with a plan to save Cunningham, according to the earlier media accounts.
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