Connecticut diocese to pay $1.1M to settle priest abuse case

Norwich, Conn. — A Roman Catholic diocese in Connecticut has agreed to pay $1.1 million to settle a lawsuit alleging a woman was repeatedly molested by a now-deceased priest beginning when she was 3 years old.

A trial had been scheduled to begin Tuesday in the case brought by the unidentified Massachusetts woman.

Attorneys for the woman, the Diocese of Norwich, Connecticut, and its insurer reached the settlement agreement following several days of mediation.

The woman alleged the Rev. Thomas Shea molested her dozens of times from when she was 3 years old into her teenage years.

Shea was a parish priest in the diocese. He was accused of molestation by more than a dozen girls from the 1960s to the 1980s. He died in 2006 at age 85.