SEX-ABUSE LAWSUIT NAMES EX-TEACHER AND ARCHDIOCESE

PFMLIT CLERGY, FEMALE SEX OFFENDERS AND OTHERS, General, SEX OFFENDERS AND OTHERS IN POSITIONS OF TRUST, TEACHERS SCHOOL STAFF

Linda Baisi taught junior high school in the 1980's in St. Frances de Chantal in Throgs Neck, the Bronx.  She was a former nun who rented an apartment from the parish school secretary.  According to a young man who knew her as teacher and confirmation sponsor, she carried on a sexual relationship with in from the time he was 12 years old until his sophomore year in high school.  Now, in a civil case that will test the legal responsibility of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York as well as the school and its former teacher, the former student, Brian O'Rourke, 25, claims that he was tormented for years and has only recently managed to overcome drug and alcohol problems.  Ms. Baisi, now 52, had been the director of religious education and became principal of the school.  She was dismissed after Mr. O'Rourke filed suit in 1996.  She is not longer living in New York and is no longer teaching.