The family of a former Etna man says he committed suicide after the Diocese of Pittsburgh cut off funds for psychiatric treatment he needed after a priest sexually abused him when he was a child.

Michael R. Unglo, 39, took his own life May 4 while a patient at Austen Riggs Center in Stockbridge, Mass.

"He paid the ultimate price for being sexually abused as a child by a priest," said Alan H. Perer, who filed suit in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court on behalf of the Unglo estate. A diocesan spokesman drew a different picture, saying the church paid more than $300,000 for Mr. Unglo's treatment and that it had sought only to evaluate his progress.

"It did come to a point where we thought perhaps he was getting well. There was a point he was to be released," the Rev. Ronald Lengwin said.

Mr. Perer said the diocese and Bishop David Zubik verbally agreed to cover the cost of psychiatric treatment after Mr. Unglo experienced flashbacks of being sexually molested by the Rev. Richard Dorsch.

Mr. Dorsch was removed from ministry by the diocese after his 1994 conviction in another molestation case. He has never been criminally charged with molesting Mr. Unglo, although Mr. Perer said the diocese had accepted Mr. Unglo's claims as true.

"In essence, they put him on life support," Mr. Perer said of the diocese. "They funded treatment for him. But, unfortunately, they made a decision this year to pull the plug on his treatment and abandon him."

Rev. Lengwin offered a more nuanced account of the church's dealings with the Unglo family.

"Periodically we would raise a question as to whether or not we had provided enough funding for someone to receive the care that they truly needed. There were times when perhaps we thought we had done enough, and the family would intervene and say, no we have a report from this institution or another institution," he said. At one point, he said, money was requested for Mr. Unglo's housing, causing diocesan officials to believe that he was recovering.

Mr. Perer on Thursday blasted the diocese for providing a living stipend to Mr. Dorsch as well as medical insurance. After his conviction, church officials forbade Mr. Dorsch to function as a Catholic priest or to publicly perform Mass.

Mr. Dorsch, who now lives in Greensburg, could not be reached.

With Mr. Unglo's mother, sisters and two brothers flanking him, Mr. Perer Thursday morning said Bishop Zubik had promised "to do whatever it takes" to help Mr. Unglo recover from what psychiatrists diagnosed as a "complex post-traumatic stress disorder" that surfaced as flashbacks in 2008.

Mr. Perer said no written agreement had been produced, but that the diocese spent an estimated $300,000 for Mr. Unglo's hospitalizations. He said the diocese at the end of last year cut off financing for Mr. Unglo's treatments while continuing to pay a living stipend and health insurance for Mr. Dorsch.

"There was money to fund a convicted pedophile defrocked priest and yet not enough money to continue to provide for a victim of that priest who ultimately killed himself," Mr. Perer said.

Rev. Lengwin said Mr. Dorsch received a stipend of $1,000 per month to prevent him from becoming homeless.

"It simply says that as a church we need to care for people, and that would include our own priests who have done wrong," Rev. Lengwin said.

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