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WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette

Kathleen A. Shaw
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

A civil suit has been filed in Texas by a 27-year-old man who said he was sexually abused in the early 1990s by the Rev. Thomas H. Teczar, a priest of the Worcester Catholic Diocese who relocated to Ranger, Texas.

Tahira Khan Merritt, a Dallas lawyer who filed the case in Tarrant County District Court, said the "$24 million question' is why Bishop Joseph P. Delaney of the Fort Worth diocese took Rev. Teczar into the diocese in 1988 when he had been clearly warned by Worcester diocesan officials of potential liability.

According to the lawsuit, Bishop Delaney signed an agreement absolving the late Bishop Timothy J. Harrington of the Worcester diocese from responsibility for Rev. Teczar's conduct while in Texas.

Ms. Merritt said her client is listed only as John Doe. She said he was abused by Rev. Teczar in the early 1990s in Ranger.

Ms. Merritt, who has specialized in sexual abuse cases for more than 10 years, said she has "uncovered a long trail of evidence that proves that Bishop Delaney was fully aware of the risks and dangers involved in appointing Father Teczar to serve in the Fort Worth diocese.

"Despite the overwhelming evidence that Teczar was a dangerous sexual predator toward young boys, Bishop Delaney appointed him to serve in the Fort Worth diocese, eventually promoting Teczar to the position of pastor at St. Rita's Church in Ranger, Texas, where he served from 1990 to 1993,' she said.

Rev. Teczar left the state in 1993 with the knowledge of Bishop Delaney, Ms. Merritt said. She said he left "under a cloud of suspicion after being implicated in a police investigation involving two of his companions who had also sexually assaulted minor boys in the Ranger area.'

Ms. Merritt said her client has no connection to another man who alleged sexual abuse by Rev. Teczar, accusations that led to attempts by Texas law enforcement officials to extradite him back to that state. "This is not connected at all,' she said.

Posted by Kathy Shaw at 10:04 AM on Apr. 15, 2003

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