Posted on 03/22/2008 10:49:55 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
The Sioux City Catholic Diocese and two of its former priests are being sued by a former parishioner, who says he was sexually abused.
Jeffrey Steinke... who now lives in Montana... grew up in Fort Dodge, Iowa and graduated from Saint Edmond High School in 1982.
In a lawsuit filed Thursday... Steinke claims John Kurzak... a priest at Corpus Christi church at the time... and John Perdue... a seminary student... performed a sex act on Steinke against his will when he was a minor. And... coerced him to engage in sex acts by violating a position of trust.
Steinke claims Kurzak and Perdue would have "get togethers" where large amounts of alcohol was served and encouraged young men to engage in homosexual acts.
The lawsuit claims the Diocese had knowledge of several incidents... but failed to take action or impose sanctions on the two priests... and instead assisted Kurzak's transfer to the U-S Military.
Steinke is seeking compensation and demanding a jury trial.
The Sioux City Diocese is not commenting on the lawsuit... but in a statement acknowledges Father John Kurzak became a military chaplain in 1985... and has been with the Archdiocese for Military Services since. And... that John Perdue joined the Seminary in the Fall of 1981... was ordained in 1985... and served the diocese for about one year. The diocese says he hasn't served as a priest since 1987.
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