Lawsuit Says Catholic Anti-Abortion Group’s Priest Sexually Assaulted Woman During ‘Exorcisms’
When a troubled Virginia woman became convinced she was possessed by the devil, she turned to a Catholic priest in Front Royal for help.
He was the Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer, the telegenic head of one of the country’s largest antiabortion groups, and he appeared regularly on cable news shows. He had put his regular priestly duties on hold to come to Virginia to lead Human Life International in 2000, but he still dabbled in the occasional exorcism.
When they met in 2008, Euteneuer told the woman that he thought her case was “severe” but that he was sure he could help rid her body of a “demonic infestation” of “unclean spirits,” according to a lawsuit filed in Arlington County Circuit Court.
Over the next two years, the suit alleges, Euteneuer sexually molested the woman repeatedly during purported “exorcism” sessions, often conducted in offices on the Human Life International campus, near Interstate 66 about an hour west of Washington.
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