Sex Abuse Suit Filed In Missouri

CBSNews.com/February 19, 2003

Jefferson City, MO -- Two former Roman Catholic priests, including the brother of a prominent advocate for clergy-abuse victims, were sued Tuesday by a man who contends the men molested him for most of his childhood.

The alleged victim claims he was molested by one of the men, then turned to the other for help. That priest then began molesting him, the suit claims.

Neither Gary Pool nor Kevin Clohessy has been criminally charged. Also named as plaintiffs were the Diocese of Jefferson City, retired bishop Michael McAuliffe and Bishop John Gaydos, who heads the diocese.

Clohessy's brother, David, is national director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. He is estranged from his brother.

"My heart aches for this young man ... I hope taking action will be healing for him, as it is for so many survivors," David Clohessy said.

A woman who answered the phone at Pool's Jefferson City home said the former priest had no comment. Clohessy, who lives 30 miles north of Jefferson City in Columbia, could not be reached for comment. His phone number is not listed, and his brother did not know how to locate him.

The alleged victim was identified in court documents and by his lawyers only as a 28-year-old now living in North Carolina. His suit, filed in federal court, seeks unspecified damages.

The man claims he was molested at Pool's home from 1979 to 1984 while a student and parishioner of Immaculate Conception Church and School. He said that when he told Clohessy of the abuse, he was molested by Clohessy until 1993.

The diocese did not comment on the allegations, instead issuing a statement urging "anyone who may have suffered sexual abuse by a representative of the church to contact our chancellor."

Last April, Kevin Clohessy was publicly accused of molesting a male college student in Missouri in 1993. No charges were filed. Clohessy resigned from active ministry in 2000, while Pool left the priesthood in 1993.

Elsewhere Tuesday:

In Utah, two brothers filed an $80 million lawsuit claiming they were abused in the 1970s by a priest teaching at a Catholic high school in Salt Lake City. The priest is currently serving a 40-year prison term in Oklahoma for sex abuse.

The Salt Lake diocese said in a statement Tuesday that it had learned of the alleged abuse to one victim in November 2000 and the other in 2002. The diocese offered pastoral care and reported the allegations to state officials, it said.

In Wisconsin, the Madison diocese announced that it has paid out $1.6 million to 19 victims of sexual abuse in the past two decades. Bishop William Bullock said the diocese knows of "documented" abuse allegations against four of its priests. The diocese serves nearly 265,000 Catholics in 11 southwestern Wisconsin counties.