08/22/2008 7 PM ET

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) - Attorneys have filed a lawsuit against the Diocese of Wilmington alleging child sexual abuse against one of its former priests.

Lawyers say their client was abused in 1970, when he was 12 years old, by the Rev. Leonard Mackiewicz at St. Francis de Sales Church in Salisbury, Md. The priest died in 1994.

Bob Krebs, a spokesman for the diocese, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

The lawsuit alleges that the diocese had prior knowledge that Mackiewicz was sexually abusing young children.

The lawsuit was filed in Sussex County Superior Court.

A Claymont, Del., woman filed a lawsuit last week claiming that she was sexually abused as a child by Mackiewicz.