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  Diocese: Former Vicar General Abused Minors

WQAD
May 12, 2006

http://www.wqad.com/Global/story.asp?S=4894449&nav=1sW7

DES MOINES, Iowa The Davenport diocese has acknowledged that its former vicar general sexually molested children.

Monsignor Thomas Feeney has been named in at least two lawsuits alleging sexual abuse. The diocese had not previously commented on the allegations but issued a statement today saying it has found evidence that the former second-in-command abused children.

Feeney, who has been dead for 25 years, is accused of sexually abusing a ten-year-old boy while he was pastor of the Sacred Heart Cathedral in the 1960s. Another lawsuit alleges Feeney sexually abused a seven-year-old boy while on bird-watching trips to Credit Island.

Feeney was appointed vicar general in 1968, the year after he allegedly began molesting the ten-year-old boy. He remained at the post until his death in 1981.

No settlements have been announced in the lawsuits.

 
 

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