Gilmanton, N.H. ? A Roman Catholic summer camp for children has become a target of sex abuse allegations from former campers, including a man who said he was sexually assaulted in the chapel by a former camp director in 1972.

According to court records and interviews with alleged victims and their lawyers, at least eight clergymen, some allegedly with multiple victims, face allegations involving Camp Fatima, an idyllic collection of lakeside cabins run by the Diocese of Manchester.

County prosecutor Lauren Noether last week would not disclose the number and nature of allegations under investigation at the camp, which is host to several hundred boys ages 6-15 each summer.

Authorities do say all the alleged assaults happened at least a decade ago.

“There was some bad stuff going on there. There had to be some complete breakdown in administrative supervision of the place,” said Peter Hutchins, who represents four men who allege they were molested at Fatima.

One of the alleged victims was 9 years old and had just been chosen as an altar boy when the late director of the camp, the Rev. Karl Dowd, allegedly sexually assaulted him in the camp chapel, Hutchins said.

The man, who lives in Manchester and is now 39, declined to be interviewed, saying it would be too painful.

Dowd, the camp’s director from 1968 to 1990, died three months ago.

Patrick McGee, spokesman for the diocese, said the church had not received any complaints about Dowd or other priests at the camp. He said the diocese had not paid any settlements stemming from alleged sexual abuse there.

Boston lawyer Roderick MacLeish, who has settled dozens of sexual abuse cases against the Archdiocese of Boston, said alleged victims told him a “substantial number” of priests used the camp as a place for sex with boys.

They said priests from Massachusetts would visit the camp, sometimes bringing boys from their communities, MacLeish said. He said alleged victims told him the priests often took boys to a home near the camp, got them drunk and molested them.

In New Hampshire, nearly 50 current or former priests already face sexual assault allegations. Nationwide, at least 225 priests have either been dismissed from their duties or resigned since the sex abuse scandal erupted early this year.