MINNESOTA
Independent Review
Thursday, March 10, 2016
By Andrew Broman editor@independentreview.net
A new lawsuit against the Diocese of New Ulm alleges a priest years ago sexually abused a boy while at St. John’s Church in Darwin, the first time a sex abuse case has been linked to a Meeker County parish.
Parishioners at St. John’s received a letter from the diocese last month stating a priest at the church from 1965 to 1969 has been accused of sexual abuse.
The priest, Charles Stark, retired in 1987 and died in 1991, according to the diocese.
The lawsuit alleges Stark abused an 11-year-old altar boy, who helped Stark with day-to-day church activities, including Mass, funerals and weddings. The boy was a Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, or CCD, student, and he was also paid to do “odd jobs” like mowing the lawn and edging sidewalks, the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit alleges Stark in 1969 “engaged in unpermitted sexual contact” with the plaintiff, who is not identified in the suit.
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