A third man has filed a civil lawsuit charging officials from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia covered up sexual assault allegations against a priest who molested him. The lawsuit filed Wednesday in the city's Court of Common Pleas says the man was assaulted as a boy by a priest from St. Francis Xavier parish and Roman Catholic High School in Philadelphia.
Francis Finnegan, 49, said he was molested by the Rev. John Kline at the age of 7, when the priest accompanied his family on a trip to the New Jersey shore in 1968 or 1969. He said he had repressed the traumatic event and only began to remember the abuse three years ago.
"He had dinner at our house every Thursday night for 30 years," Finnegan said, adding that his mother was Kline's longtime parish secretary. "He betrayed us on a level that's hard to imagine."
The Associated Press generally does not identify people alleging sexual abuse. But Finnegan said he wanted his name printed in an effort to support other victims and push for change.
"I don't want somebody who's 7 today to be me in 40 years," he said. There are families who "don't know monsters live among them" because the archdiocese has shielded the pedophiles, he said.
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