Diocese Told of Sex Charge, Church Officials Say : Accusation: But O.C. clergy says there’s no record of warning five years ago from Boston that Father Richard Coughlin allegedly molested a youth.

Catholic Church officials in Boston said Friday they alerted the Diocese of Orange at least five years ago that Father Richard T. Coughlin, then director of the All-American Boys Chorus, had been accused of molesting a Massachusetts youth.

Coughlin was suspended in January from his duties as a priest and ordered to end all ties with the singing group after five men alleged he molested them as youths from 10 to 30 years ago.

A statement released by the Archdiocese of Boston said it informed church officials in Orange County that a Massachusetts man accused Coughlin of molesting him when he was a boy.

The statement provided the first indication that an Orange County church official may have known about allegations concerning Coughlin several years before the Diocese of Orange began an investigation of allegations against him.

But church officials in Orange County said there are no records to indicate they were notified of the allegation made in Boston in 1985.

David L. Coleman, now 45 and a resident of Eastham, Mass., met with Father John B. McCormack, who oversaw personnel matters pertaining to priests in Boston, Coleman and church officials said.

McCormack, who still works in the archdiocese, told then-Bishop Robert Banks in Boston about Coleman’s allegation, said archdiocese spokesman John Walsh.

“Banks informed the Diocese of Orange of Mr. Coleman’s accusations against Father Coughlin,” according to a prepared statement released by Walsh.

“If Boston is saying they contacted the Diocese of Orange through Banks then we have no reason to think that that is not the case,” said Msgr. Lawrence J. Baird, the Diocese of Orange spokesman. “But we have no record that they did. I’m really surprised at this.”

Baird said he believed that an allegation as serious as sexual molestation would have been recorded.

“I like to have things in black and blue” ink, he said. “That appears not to have been the case.”

Baird said that if such a call was made about Coughlin, it would have been received by John T. Steinbock, who was an auxiliary bishop at the time.

Steinbock, who left the Diocese of Orange in March, 1987, is the Bishop of Fresno. He did not return calls Friday for comment.

McCormack and Banks, who is now the Bishop of Green Bay, Wis., also did not return telephone calls.