Fort Worth Diocese agrees to pay $1.4 million in abuse case

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D897BTA80.html

A Texas man who alleged that a priest now living in Massachusetts molested him when he was a minor will be paid $1.4 million by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth, court records indicate.

The lawsuit against the dioceses of Fort Worth and Worcester, Mass., contended that Fort Worth Bishop Joseph P. Delaney knew that the Rev. Thomas Teczar posed a threat to children because of a "sexual interest" in adolescents, according to court documents.

Before moving to the Fort Worth area, Teczar had worked as a priest in the Worcester Diocese, where he was forced out after being accused of inappropriate behavior with a teenage boy. The dioceses and Teczar are still being sued by another Texas man who was part of the lawsuit. His part of the case is pending in a Fort Worth court.

<snip>

Teczar has been charged in Eastland County with one count of aggravated sexual assault of a child, three counts of sexual assault and one count of indecency with a child with sexual contact, according to the Eastland County Sheriff's Department. Teczar said last year that he did not abuse anyone and that the church is a target because it has money.

for these priests or the Bishops who protect them.