Lithuania's Catholic Church on Saturday suspended a priest accused of sexually assaulting a minor in the United States more than a decade ago. The suspension was announced after a Michigan teen sued the Archdiocese of Detroit and a Catholic school, accusing them of a negligent response to the rape allegation. Gintaras Grusas, Archbishop of the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, said the priest rejected the claim but was suspended as a precautionary measure. "I met the priest (Aloyzas) Volskis today. He denied that it happened," Grusas told reporters, adding that the priest has never been accused of paedophilia while in Lithuania. "He has been removed from active ministry until all investigations and judicial processes are over," Grusas said. Earlier this week, The Detroit News reported that a lawsuit had been filed accusing Volskis of having sexually assaulted an eight-year-old boy at a Catholic school after having given him two pills. The youth reported the incident to the local church officials about three years ago, according to the report. Grusas said Volskis had returned to Lithuania from the United States in 2014 and had since been serving in Vilnius. The Church has clout in Lithuania, a Baltic EU member of 2.8 million people where three quarters of the population is Roman Catholic. vab/amj/wdb