NEW HAMPSHIRE CAMP CLERGY FACE ABUSE PROBE

Rev. Karl Dowd is accused of allegedly sexually assaulting a boy when he was 9 years old at a Roman Catholic summer camp for children.  The camp has become a target of sex abuse allegations from former campers, including the man who said he was sexually assaulted in the chapel by Dowd, a former camp director, in 1972.   According to court records and interviews with alleged victims and their lawyers, at least eight clergymen, some allegedly with multiple victims, face allegations involving Camp Fatima, an idyllic collection of lakeside cabins run by the Diocese of Manchester.  All the alleged assaults happened at least a decade ago.  They said priests from Massachusetts would visit the camp, sometimes bringing boys from their communities, Boston lawyer Roderick MacLeish said.  He said alleged victims told him the priests often took boys to a home near the camp, got them drunk and molested them.

(Gilmanton, New Hampshire)