A 57-year-old former Hawaii resident is suing the Catholic Church of Hawaii, alleging he was sexually assaulted by two priests, both now deceased, here in the 1970s when he was a boy.

Craig Christiansen, who grew up in a devout Roman Catholic family and lived in Kailua when the alleged sexual molestation occurred, now resides in California.

He independently heard about the two-year window of opportunity for Hawaii victims of childhood sexual abuse to bring forth a civil complaint, and contacted Honolulu attorney Mark Gallagher.

That window closes April 24 for older cases of this type.

The state Legislature established a special two-year statute of limitations to run April 2018 to April 2020.

Because there is a constitutional problem when trying to reopen the statute of limitations for criminal matters, “the only remedy is a civil remedy,” Gallagher said.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in 1st Circuit Court by Gallagher and Jeff Anderson &Associates, names former Diocese of Honolulu Bishop Joseph Ferrario and Father Bartholomew “Bart” O’Leary.

The complaint publicly identifies for the first time O’Leary, who is a globally celebrated figure in Catholic seminary administration, as a child sexual abuser, a news release from the law firms said.

The complaint alleges that the sexual abuse and the circumstances under which the abuse occurred caused Christiansen to develop “symptoms of psychological disorders including post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, repression and disassociation.”

It says he has suffered great pain of mind and body, and severe and permanent emotional distress.

He was afraid he would not be believed and did not know that Ferrario and O’Leary’s conduct was pervasive and that they were pedophiles prior to his abuse, the complaint says.

When asked for comment, a spokeswoman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu wrote, “We are not privy to the details of this lawsuit, nor have we received a copy of it; therefore, we cannot provide comment on this matter at this time.”

The complaint lists allegations of abuse and grooming of the plaintiff by isolating him, luring him to perform sex acts, groping and fondling his private parts, and forcing him to perform masturbation and oral sex.

Christiansen was a student at St. Anthony’s from 1975 to 1976, when he was 12 to 14 years old, when Ferrario, then a priest there, engaged in repeated sexual contact. Ferrario also sexually assaulted him at St. Stephen Seminary at a retreat, the lawsuit says.

While the boy visited St. Stephen’s from 1977 to 1978, O’Leary, the other priest, allegedly engaged in repeated sexual contact with him.

The complaint accuses the diocese of knowing about previous sexual misconduct and failing to tell students and their parents Ferrario and O’Leary were known child molesters.