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  Retired Memphis Priest Faces New Charges of Molestation

By James Dowd
Commercial Appeal [Memphis TN]
November 29, 2006

http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/local/article/0,2845,MCA_25340_5178360,00.html

A retired priest of the Catholic Diocese of Memphis, who now lives in Nashville, faces new charges of sexually molesting a teenage boy more than two decades ago.

In a suit filed Tuesday in Circuit Court, plaintiff Henry Scott Baker, 41, alleged that as a teenager he was sexually abused by Rev. Paul St. Charles, who retired in 1986. The alleged abuse occurred in 1980 or 1981 when St. Charles was pastor at Church of the Ascension at 3680 Ramill.

The alleged incidents occurred when Baker and his brother spent the weekend with St. Charles at the church's rectory.

In addition to sexual misconduct, Baker claimed that St. Charles gave him wine and whiskey to drink, saying it was permissible because they were in a church. The suit seeks unspecified damages.

St. Charles was named in similar sex abuse suit last year. He was suspended from his priestly ministry in 2004 after a diocesan review board concluded that allegations of child sexual abuse in another case were "more likely than not" to be true.

Diocesan spokesman Rev. John Geaney declined to comment on the new allegations because church leaders had not been served with legal papers regarding the case.

 
 

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