JUNEAU
Four men who served as altar boys at the Catholic church in St. Marys in the 1970s are suing church authorities, saying they were molested by a now-dead priest.
The men, who were identified only as John Doe 1 through 4 in public documents filed Wednesday in Bethel, describe being fondled by the Rev. Jules Convert, during separate overnight stays at his house.
The four are suing the Catholic Diocese of Fairbanks and the Society of Jesus, Oregon Province, which provided Jesuit priests to the diocese.
A secretary in the Fairbanks diocese said church authorities were out of state attending a national conference Friday and not available to respond to questions about the lawsuit.
A spokeswoman for the Oregon Province said that organization had not seen the complaint and would not have a comment until Monday.
Anchorage attorney Ken Roosa is representing the four men. He said that at various times during the 1970s the men served as altar boys at the Church of the Nativity in St. Marys, a Yukon River village about 100 miles northwest of Bethel.
