BOSTON -- A New York man is suing the Archdiocese of Boston for sexual abuse he says he suffered decades ago at a Church-affiliated home for orphaned and foster children.

Andre Jones, who's 51, said on Monday that he was abused in the 1970s by the late Brother Edward Anthony Holmes, a supervisor and counselor at the now-shuttered Nazareth Child Care Center.

Holmes pleaded guilty to sexual abuse of children and other charges in 2006. He was sentenced to five years in prison and died in 2011, said one of Jones' lawyers, Patrick Noaker.

The Archdiocese of Boston declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Nazareth was a residential program for children removed by the state from their homes and awaiting foster care placement that operated on archdiocese land from the 1800s until around 1988.

Jones, speaking in front of Suffolk County Superior Court on July 17, said he was sent to Nazareth in 1975 at the age of 8 because his mother was dealing with mental and emotional problems and his father was an abusive alcoholic.

He said Holmes, who was his photography teacher and counselor, sexually assaulted him and other boys multiple times in the center's photography darkroom, in his home in Fairhaven and on camping trips in New Hampshire's White Mountains.

Jones, who lived at Nazareth until 1978, said he had been ashamed to step forward all these years. He said he struggled to hold down a steady job, dealt with substance abuse issues and attempted suicide as a result.

"This was my arrested development," he said, holding a black and white photo of himself as a child. "I'm still looking for this boy."

Jones, who is represented by the group Lawyers Helping Survivors of Child Sex Abuse, said he hopes a jury trial will determine the appropriate compensation. His lawsuit doesn't specify any monetary damages.

Lawyer Mitchell Garabedian, who represents church sex abuse victims but isn't affiliated with Jones' lawsuit, said he's not surprised at the new allegations.

"Individuals usually can't come forward and report the sexual abuse until much later in life," said Garabedian, who has represented hundreds of accusers in Boston and elsewhere, including dozens at Nazareth during Holmes' tenure. "Their coping mechanisms won't allow them to."