Ex-altar boy files abuse lawsuit against Portland church

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – A former altar boy at a Portland church has filed a $3.1 million lawsuit against the church contending he was repeatedly sexually abused by a choir director in the early 1960s.
 
The Oregonian/OregonLive reports (http://bit.ly/2uKwq9l) that the Portland man now in his late 60s contends in the lawsuit that the abuse took place at St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church.
 
The lawsuit filed Thursday accuses former choir director Jay Shisler of sexually abusing the man when he was a boy of 11 and 12 years old. Shisler died in 2001 at age 60.
 
The lawsuit contends that then-church executive director Rev. Eric Gratian didn’t take action despite the abuse being reported, and the abuse continued.
 
Rev. Christopher Craun, the church rector, declined to comment on the lawsuit Friday.