Man alleges bishop abused him 19 years ago

LOS ANGELES -- A former Roman Catholic bishop who was forced to resign in a 1999 sex scandal is being sued by a man who claims the bishop abused him for nearly two decades.

The lawsuit filed Friday alleges the plaintiff was first molested when he was a sixth-grade altar boy at St. Matthias Church in Huntington Park, a suburb of Los Angeles.

At 17, the plaintiff alleges, the Rev. G. Patrick Ziemann began paying him for sexual acts, and Ziemann continued the relationship after being named spiritual director of a seminary in 1985.

The suit claims the relationship with Ziemann, 60, who lives in an Arizona monastery, went on until Ziemann was named auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles in 1987.

Ziemann was named bishop of Santa Rosa in 1992.