AUGUSTA (AP) – The City Council in Maine’s capital is unanimously supporting a resolution urging legislators to change the name of an Augusta bridge that’s now named for a deceased Catholic priest.

The matter next goes to the Legislature, which would have to authorize a name change for the downtown span named for Father John Curran, who died in 1976.

The Augusta Council’s endorsement of the name-change resolution Monday night followed an emotion-filled discussion in which a man who claims he was sexually abused by Curran urged councilors to rename the bridge. Robert Dupuis, now of East Lyme, Conn., says he was abused by Curran in 1961, when he was a 12-year-old altar server in Old Town.

Some Augusta residents fondly recalled Curran as a priest who worked tirelessly for his community.