Molest Lawsuit Filed against Norwich Diocese

By Associated Press
October 10, 2002

Hartford, CT - A Wethersfield man has filed a lawsuit against the Norwich Diocese and a Putnam church, claiming that both should be held responsible for sexual abuse by a priest.

In the lawsuit, filed in Superior Court Sept. 13, the plaintiff, identified as David Doe, charges that the diocese and administrators at St. Mary's Church in Putnam failed to oversee and protect minors from the Rev. Bernard Bissonnette.

The lawsuit said that there was nothing done during the priest's tenure in the 1960s at St. Mary's, despite reports of inappropriate contact with young boys.

The complaint charges that the diocese knew or should have known the threat Bissonnette posed to young parishioners.

The complaint says that Bissonnette abused the plaintiff between 1960 and 1962, when the victim was between the ages of 7 and 9, the complaint says.