(CHICAGO) A 51-year-old Colorado man who says he was sexually abused when he was around 7 years old by a teenager who later became a prominent Roman Catholic priest has sued the Chicago-based religious order to which the priest belongs.
Eric Johnson’s lawsuit was filed in Cook County Circuit Court Monday and names the Claretians Missionaries as the defendant.
The lawsuit says Father Bruce Wellems himself was around 15 when the abuse occurred in the early 1970s. It seeks the release of all records related to allegations of abuse by any of the order’s priests.
Messages left for the Claretians and Wellems weren’t returned. Wellems has previously acknowledged inappropriate touching of a minor when he was a teen. But he’s said he never again abused a child, including never as a priest.
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