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Diocese: Lawsuit is 'absurd' Faced with accusations of widespread corruption, Albany Roman Catholic Diocese officials are calling a lawsuit brought against them as "patently absurd." Attorney John Aretakis has filed a $2.5 million federal lawsuit Steven Hall, 34, a former church handyman at the Sacred Heart Church in Gloversville. The lawsuit accuses the former Sacred Heart pastor the Rev. David Tressic, the diocese and others of conspiring to convict him of extortion to deter his claim of sexual abuse against Tressic. Diocese spokesman Kenneth Goldfarb said today the cases brought before the church by Aretakis has distracted from the needs...

ALBANY - A former Gloversville priest who recently stepped down from the ministry and dropped extortion charges against a former male prostitute he befriended is now the focus of $2.5 million civil suit lodged against the Albany Diocese. The 64-page suit filed by attorney John Aretakis, who represents numerous alleged victims of clergy sex abuse, includes allegations that Rev. David Tressic sexually abused Steven Hall, 33, of Cortland, as an adult over a three-year period, as well as accusations against the diocese. According to Aretakis, the suit was filed Wednesday with the U.S. District Court Northern District of New York....

Attorney John Aretakis said, "Bishop Hubbard, you cannot lead when you continue to mislead. You should be ashamed of yourself." Aretakis is turning his fight against the Albany Diocese into a federal court matter. He's suing Bishop Hubbard and the entire diocese under a federal RICO action. It's a type of case usually reserved for organized crime, but now Aretakis is accusing the Bishop of criminal conspiracy and a pattern of criminal cover-up. "I've accused Bishop Hubbard of a long-standing pattern of acting to protect from our civil and criminal laws, predatory priests of both children and vulnerable adults," Aretakis...