SAN DIEGO -- A legal dispute between a photographer and the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego has raised allegations of sexual misconduct against Bishop Robert H. Brom, it was reported Thursday.

CHURCH SCANDALS Highlights Of Sex Abuse Response Proposal Meeting Of Bishops: Will It Help? Timeline For Boston Archdiocese Church Too Lenient? Should Celibacy Be Optional? Explaining Pedophilia Discuss: What Can The Church Do? Your Thoughts On The Policy Recommendations?

The allegations against the San Diego bishop first came to light in the 1980s, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. At that time, Brom was accused of making sexual advances toward seminary students when he was in charge of the archdiocese in Duluth, Minn.

In a statement to the newspaper Wednesday, Brom acknowledged he had been accused of sexual misconduct by a former seminarian in the mid to late 1980s, but he maintained the claims were false and denied he paid money to settle them.

Video

Catholic Church Going Through A Tough Time

The accusations against Brom resurfaced in documents filed in San Diego Superior Court in support of a request by the diocese to order a photographer from the Catholic issues newspaper San Diego News Notes away from a church worker, the Union-Tribune reported.

The diocese accused the photographer, Robert W. Kumpel, of harassing the worker while Kumpel was investigating an unrelated story for San Diego News Notes -- an independent Catholic newspaper that is often at odds with the local diocese, according to the Union-Tribune.

Among the documents Kumpel submitted in response to the diocese's request was a sworn statement by a former San Diego seminarian who claims he was aware of sexual misconduct allegations and of settlement payments made by Brom in Duluth. The documents also include a letter from a defrocked priest that accused Brom of sexual misconduct.

Both the seminarian and the former priest are critics of the Catholic diocese and of Brom.

In the request for a restraining order against Kumpel, the diocese claimed that the News Notes photographer would not let the church worker pass by as he took her picture, and that he stepped on her ankle. Kumpel denied the claims, and a judge refused last week to issue the order, according to the Union-Tribune.

The resurfaced allegations against Brom come at a time when the church is dealing with accusations that its leaders have a history of covering up sexual misconduct charges against priests.