Washington D.C., Mar 11, 2021 / 17:00 pm
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn says that a second sex abuse lawsuit filed against him is an attempt to destroy his reputation, and maintains his innocence.
In a lawsuit filed on Tuesday in New Jersey Superior Court, Mark Matzek of New Jersey claimed to have been abused by DiMarzio and another priest - now-deceased - at St. Nicholas parish in Jersey City in the 1970s. Metzak says the abuse occurred when he was an altar boy.
"This lawsuit contains the same false allegations made 16 months ago with a demand for $20 million," Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio said in a statement provided to CNA on Thursday.
In November, 2019, Metzak's lawyer Mitchell Garabedian sent a letter to the Brooklyn diocese alleging that Metzak was abused by DiMarzio. Garabedian said he was preparing a lawsuit on behalf of Matzek seeking $20 million. DiMarzio had just finished a Vatican-ordered investigation into the Diocese of Buffalo over accusations of episcopal mishandling of clerical sex abuse cases there.