PITTSBURGH (PA)
Tribune Review
June 5, 2019
By Deb Erdley
Kathy Coll still has trouble processing how the Catholic Church responded two years ago when she reported she had been raped in 2016 by a Nigerian priest who was studying at Duquesne University and assisting in her North Hills parish.
Coll, a retired high school English teacher and Eucharistic minister who sang in the choir, taught CCD classes and volunteered countless hours for her church, said that day changed her life.
The widowed mother of two adult sons remains active in her church.
But Wednesday, Coll, 68, filed a 13-count lawsuit against the priest, Cyprian Duru , the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, Bishop David Zubik, and St. Teresa of Avila Roman Catholic Parish, her Ross Township church.
Her complaint charges that the diocese failed to properly vet Duru before assigning him to a parish where she and others were asked to give support and assist to a predator priest from a region where clergy were known to prey on older women. She alleges that the assault occurred in December 2016.
“I spent 2 ½ years trying to get someone to listen to me,” Coll said. “No one was listening to me, so I decided it was time to say I want to make something happen here.”
She alleges that the church heard complaints from others about Duru’s inappropriate behavior toward older women, failed to act quickly, and later neglected to explain why Duru was removed from ministry after she reported her assault.
Her complaint bears echoes of hundreds of allegations in last summer’s Pennsylvania grand jury report that detailed decades of church inaction against priests accused of child sexual abuse in Catholic dioceses across the state.
Coll’s suit details her account of how Duru — whom she agreed to tutor in English and occasionally transported to Pittsburgh — began taking frequent walks through her neighborhood that fall. On Dec. 11, 2016, Coll said Duru stopped by her home on the pretense of giving her a Christmas card. She said when she offered him a cold drink, he followed her to her family room, overpowered her and assaulted her as she screamed for him to stop.
Duru, who remains at Duquesne on a student visa, could not be reached for comment.
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