According to media reports in the Beaumont Times, Juliann Bortz, has filed a lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Allentown. The move follows Bortz’s discovery, contained in the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s report on abuse in the Catholic Church, that the diocese may have tried to dig up dirt on her to discredit her complaints of abuse.
The suit, which alleges intentional infliction of emotional distress and defamation, seeks an apology and the identity of those behind the alleged effort to discredit her.
True to form, the diocese has denied the allegations, claiming it never acted on the information it received.
The allegations sound very similar to efforts by Grace Episcopal church personnel to discredit me by claiming that I am violent, mentally ill, and in Bob Malm’s words, “dysfunctional.”