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  Louisville Woman Claims Abuse in Lawsuit against Archdiocese
Church Settled Other Accusations Filed about Priest

Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY)
July 2, 2003

A woman sued the Archdiocese of Louisville yesterday, alleging she was molested by a priest at age 7.

The lawsuit filed by Cynthia Allen of Louisville accused the late Rev. C. Patrick Creed, who was also accused of molesting three other girls in earlier civil complaints that the archdiocese has settled.

Allen's lawsuit alleged Creed molested her in 1964 at St. Boniface, where the lawsuit said he was assigned and where she was a member.

The archdiocese has no record of Creed working at St. Boniface, according to Brian Reynolds, chancellor and chief administrative officer for the archdiocese. Franciscan priests staffed the parish until 2001. Creed was an archdiocesan priest.

Allen's attorney, Harry L. Gregory III, said his client recalled Creed working at St. Boniface but that the details of his work record would come out during the court discovery process.

The lawsuit joins a handful of other pending cases that are not part of the $25.7 million settlement reached between the archdiocese and 243 plaintiffs last month.

According to Creed's personnel record, which the archdiocese released as part of the ongoing litigation against the church, he worked at St. Aloysius Church between 1959 and 1965.

Creed died in 2001 at age 75. The archdiocese has said it had no record of any accusations against Creed until he began to be named in lawsuits last year.

The lawsuit is the second one filed by Gregory and his law partner, Jacqueline K. Schroering. Like one they filed last month, the lawsuit takes aim at the Roman Catholic Church's requirement of celibacy by priests, saying it "is likely in certain individuals to produce perversions in sexual behavior."

Gregory maintained that the church had a duty to enforce that requirement and failed to do so in this case.

Reynolds said he could not comment on the lawsuit itself but added, "The long tradition of priests being committed to celibacy is not a cause of child sexual abuse."

Allen's lawsuit is the eighth to be filed since April 23, which was the deadline for entering into the negotiations that led to the class-action settlement.

The archdiocese's lawyer said Monday he was filing motions to have suits filed after April 23 effectively dismissed on grounds that they were filed after the time limits allowed under the statute of limitations.

One other plaintiff filed before April 23 but opted out of the settlement negotiations. His case also is pending.

 
 

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