Sunday, April 10, 2011

Family of suicide sues Catholic Church

The family of a man who killed himself in 2009 filed a wrongful death lawsuit Wednesday against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. 

In legal papers, Daniel Neill's mother and sister said he was called a liar when he reported to the principal at St. Mark's School in Bristol, Pa., that he was being molested by the Rev. Joseph Gallagher, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. 

Gallagher was cleared in 2008 by an archdiocese review board but suspended from the priesthood after a grand jury report found allegations against him credible.

The grand jury report, which referred to Neill under the pseudonym Ben, listed him as one of three people whose credible allegations had been ignored by church officials.

Neill also talked to the review board. He killed himself about a year after a victim assistance coordinator told him his charges had not been substantiated.

Mary Neill, Neill's mother, and his sister, Michelle Forsythe, have refused to talk to reporters.

"Our family member said more than once, 'I am not looking for anything other than for the Church to believe me,' " the family said in a statement released through their lawyers. 

"We are filing this lawsuit for him."