Hopefully this brings some peace to the victims and thus never happens again


New abuse documents detail Chicago archdiocese missteps




January 21, 2014Thousands of pages of secret church documents released Tuesday as part of a court settlement provide an unprecedented and gut-wrenching look at how the Archdiocese of Chicago for years failed to protect children from abusive priests.The documents provide new details and insights into how the nation’s third-largest archdiocese quietly shuttled accused priests from parish to parish and failed to notify police of child abuse allegations. The paper trail, going back decades, also portrays painfully slow progress toward reform, accountability and openness.Most of the 30 clergymen tied to the documents were not prosecuted. They were shielded by Roman Catholic Church officials who thought the men could be cured with counseling or bishops blinded by a belief in second chances and forgiveness.



That’s in the past, we’re hoping,” Cardinal Francis George said in an interview Sunday.While the incidents did happen in the past, some surfaced during George’s tenure. In a 2008 deposition as part of a civil lawsuit, George admitted to mishandling three cases under his watch: allegations against the Rev. Joseph Bennett, the cardinal’s attempts to get an early release from prison for convicted child molester Norbert Maday, and the failure to quickly remove convicted child molester Daniel McCormack.McCormack was taken into custody in August 2005 after a 10-year-old boy claimed the priest fondled him. Police said the boy's story was credible but released McCormack after getting a call from an official of the archdiocese.

Documents from the McCormack case have been sealed by a judge for pending litigation and aren’t included in Tuesday’s public release of more than 6,000 pages of church files.But the cases of Maday and Bennett do appear in the trove of documents, illustrating how George struggled in responding to the sex abuse allegations.Nearly 500 internal archdiocese files chronicle how George and those under his leadership mishandled the case of Bennett, a priest accused of molesting two sisters between 1967 and 1973 at St. John de la Salle in Chicago. According to the documents, at least a dozen more allegations have surfaced against Bennett since he was removed from ministry.The younger of the two sisters came forward first, in late 2003.

“The Catholic Church has been less than truthful,” said older sister Susan Albrecht, now 56, of Midlothian. “They have downright lied in some instances. … We had relatives that didn’t even believe us.”An archdiocesan review board, a panel of lay people tapped to determine the credibility of allegations, investigated for nearly two years, after which George kept Bennett under the supervision of a monitor, the Rev. Leonard Dubi, according to the files.

Dubi had been monitoring Bennett due to an earlier allegation that was not substantiated.But the cardinal’s own hand-picked review board warned him in 2003 and 2005 that Dubi might not be the best monitor for Bennett as the two were friends. In fact, the two clergymen had vacationed together in Cancun, Mexico, earlier that year, according to a Feb. 9, 2003, vacation notice.Still, George allowed Dubi to serve as Bennett’s monitor. George initially agreed with his board’s October 2005 recommendation that Bennett be “immediately removed.” But documents reveal the cardinal had second thoughts.“I realize this creates a rather awkward situation, but I believe I need to reflect on this matter further,” George wrote in a Nov. 7, 2005, letter. Bennett was removed 11 days after McCormack’s arrest.Bennett, now 73, has never been charged with a crime. He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in various church documents. Bennett never returned to active ministry after 2006 and was never defrocked.Bennett, who resigned in summer 2012, could not be reached for comment.

Both the McCormack and Bennett cases did spark some archdiocese reforms, much like the wave of reforms instituted by Cardinal Joseph Bernardin in 1991 when dozens of accused priests were removed from ministry.Documents from the George and Bernardin eras strike a remarkably different tone from the church’s policies and procedures under the late Cardinal John Cody.In one letter, Cody assured the Rev. Raymond Skriba that he shouldn’t worry about allegations of sexual misconduct from a girl at St. Walter Catholic Church.“I feel that this whole matter should be forgotten by you as it has been forgotten by me,” Cody wrote to Skriba in a July 1970 letter. “No good can come of trying to prove or disprove the allegations, and I think that you will understand this.”Skriba was reassigned to another parish and eventually landed at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Round Lake, where one woman said she was 15 when Skriba molested her. According to the archdiocese, Skriba died earlier this month.The documents released Tuesday account for 30 out of more than 65 priests in the Chicago archdiocese with substantiated child abuse allegations against them.Of the 30 accused priests, 14 have died, all but two are no longer priests and none is in active ministry. An archdiocesan lawyer said last week that 95 percent of the incidents detailed in the documents occurred before 1988 and none occurred after 1996.The archdiocese has paid more than $100 million to victims in the past 25 years, an expense covered by land sales and a recent bond

Wouldnt even know where to begin.

I have seen reports of 180, 300 and now 400 priests have been "defrocked", which means, lost their jobs.

Who gives a shit.

They should be in jail! Every single one of them and anyone who knew, they can serve some time too!

And if that means shutting down the whole damn religion, fine with me.

This is Penn State X 1000! and for maybe 1000 years!

And they wonder why they need to create ads for people to come back to the church!

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

Seacrest in 3...........2.................1..............

One of the best posts you've made, BigFan.

There was a priest accused at my grammar school

Most people in the neighborhood say he did it but he kinda disappeared so not sure what happened

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Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

Thats the plan. They just go away. Then resurface, probably doing it again

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

I would disagree with big fans part about dissolving the religion. The hierarchy maybe, but 99% of Christians have nothing to do with it

Actually not in this case. The church was on this and the parishioners fought for the priest





Parishioners Fight Priest's Ouster

October 01, 1993|By Paul Sloan, Tribune Staff Writer.  15They met in a suburban church-but what went on looked more like a lively edition of "Donahue."A crowd of angry Catholics, some 150 strong, filed into Incarnation Church in Palos Heights Wednesday night to convince officials from the Archdiocese of Chicago that the archdiocese had made a terrible mistake when it yanked the associate pastor from their church this summer.The archdiocese charged that Rev. Patrick O'Leary displayed "inappropriate behavior" that showed he was "at risk of sexual misconduct to the children."His supporters, however, are screaming that their former priest has been unjustly persecuted, fired by an archdiocese oversensitive to an image tainted in recent years by pedophile priests.The parishioners-under the banner "Committee for Parishioners Rights" and sporting "Bring Back Father Pat" buttons-are vowing not to give up the fight."I want this man back. Let him preach the gospel!" 77-year-old Joe Marshall said.The crowd, as it did several times during the 2 1/2-hour meeting, rose from the pews, clapping."You've got to know the cardinal doesn't make knee-jerk decisions," Bishop John Gorman, who attended the meeting on behalf of Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, told the crowd. "You've got to know that."Gorman said often that the case was closed, though he did agree to pass on the parishioners' concerns to Bernardin. A spokeswoman for the archdiocese said Thursday that Bernardin is considering meeting with the parish.Since O'Leary, 33, was removed from Incarnation at the beginning of August, his fans have been pressing for his case to be reopened.Some have posted "We Support Father Pat" signs in their front yards. Petitions have been circulated. Letters have been written. Above all, they're asking just what did O'Leary do?"I'll speak in generalizations of what could constitute unprofessional behavior," said Ralph Bonaccorsi, director of the Office of Conciliation, when pressed to explain Wednesday. "Situations like being alone with a child . . . taking children in a car."The audience was not satisfied."C'mon," one man shouted, as many moaned in disbelief."You're sick, man," another man mumbled audibly.Parishioner Bill Valezano put it to Bishop Gorman like this:"They said Father Pat hugged a child," Valezano said. "Could it have been something like the pope was hugging a child out in Colorado? Was it similar to that?"Gorman stared down from the lectern."No way," he said."This was not some kind of witch hunt," Gorman went on. "It's a policy the archdiocese has implemented many times."For certain, O'Leary's dismissal resulted from the archdiocese's year-old policy aimed at protecting children. Spurred by a number of cases of pedophile priests, Bernardin changed the way investigations of sexual misconduct are handled.For instance, he replaced his priest-managed investigative system with a nine-member review committee dominated and led by non-clergy.And in January, he put Steve Sidlowski, formerly an attorney with the Cook County public guardian's office, in charge of allegations of sexual misconduct.Sidlowski has said that O'Leary was removed because of "concerns raised by more than one adult" and some teachers at Incarnation's school. It was done "out of an abundance of caution for the safety of the children," he said.Nonsense, cried Pat Haseltine at the meeting. "It's being put out as for the children's security because that looks good," she said. "But that's not the problem."Whatever happened or didn't happen-O'Leary has not been charged with any crime or with sexual misconduct-there's no question that O'Leary, who's now living in Crestwood and working in construction, deeply affected many lives."I am a victim of child sexual abuse," one woman announced at the meeting to gasps from the audience. "Father Pat brought me back to the church. And I wish to God I could've had a priest like Father Pat that I could've turned to."I can't say enough about child abuse," the woman said. "But I know in my heart that Father Pat was not guilty of anything."






That shit was crazy. One of the moms quoted supposedly had a son arrested 10 years later for masturbating in his car at a school. That kid tried to make the priest his confirmation sponsor but they wouldn't let him

MY guess is a lot of stuff still will come out. Seems to me thought as the veil so to speak is off though that the hiding/shuffling days are over. I think the old thought was keep it under cover deal with your own house. Billion in payouts, being exposed and so on will make changes.

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Elections have consequences.

RPB grammar school pic:

I remember Steve Dahl making abusive Priest jokes back in the eearly 80's. I thought "What an asshole." Who knew there were literally hundreds of priests walking around thinking the same thing.

As a former Altar Boy,I really am shocked how far & wide this goes. What a human tragedy it really is.

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

He had red hair. From Ireland

Oh my god

- A priest who baptized a lot of my friends and taught some of my Aunts/Uncles is on this list.

- The priest who was pastor at my first school is on this list.

- The priest who was pastor at the school I graduated from was accused by a girl (one of the few cases involving a girl) after he died and the arch-diocese settled. He is not on the list.

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I know one of the priests, I know I come across as a semi-violent guy but in reality I am somewhat of a softy.

In his case I would have no problem putting him on his knees and giving him a double tap to the back of the head.
Fucking guy has 12 confirmed accusations on him from 1979 and rumors about him when I was in school and I was reading the reports. Priests who I held in respect now I would not even talk to them. I thought it was bad just not as bad as this. I had to stop a couple times reading his file.

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When I am stuck and need to figure something out I always remember the Immortal words of Socrates when he said:"I just drank what?"

I agree with you on most of this.

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Hmmmmm...

I'd like a different one, just don't know where to go.

I have a close buddy who is a devout Catholic. He loves Scotch, Cigars & strip joints...anyway, he still doesn't believe all of the Priest abuse stories & thinks that people are just making up accusations. Are there a lot of Catholics who think like this?
All of these abusers & enablers should be thrown in jail with the regular criminals. Let these assholes spend the rest of their lives getting fucked in the ass & giving blow jobs.

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CSFMB 2014 Nascar Pick 'em Champion

We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much. — Ronald Reagan

I have seen it said/written a ton of times that pedophiles are not gay and I mostly believe that. But why are all these priests and Sandusky's of the world always going for boys?

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Elections have consequences.

what is the race of the accusers ?

Don't start I wasn't making this anti gay in any way. There are all combinations of reports as far as he gender for pedophiles. I just don't understand when you hear about the "bad serial" stories it's men abusing boys.

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Elections have consequences.

I think Bagels is referring to allegations leveled against me as a race troll


I would guess that a good amount of gay catholics probably went into the priesthood. Also there were not altar girls, just altar boys for a long time.

My experience is a few do but not many. A former pastor at my church is on the list and when the news came out about him several years ago I recall one or two people denying it. But the vast majority believed it.

Beyond that most Catholics I know (including me) are angry at the Archdiocese for mishandling this so badly while at the same time resent good priests being painted with the same broad brush.

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"I honestly don't see a good bet on the board here."

[quote="rogers park bryan
That shit was crazy. One of the moms quoted supposedly had a son arrested 10 years later for masturbating in his car at a school. [/quote]

That is crazy. People are so sensitive about the whole masturbating in the car thing

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

There's a guy on the list from my parish. As I recall of our three priests, he was the one around kids the least, probably by design. He was moved to a parish less than 5 miles away, where he was when some past accusations came to light (I think they predated his time at my parish.) His replacement at my parish was a priest from Poland. Our church was heavily first-gen Polish, so this seemed to make sense. Some of my Polish friends, however, knew from relatives back in Poland from the diocese he was at that he was shipped to the US after accusations in Poland came out against him. We always maintained a healthy wariness about being alone with priests, as well as a sort of gallow's humor about it all. It was just too much to process, I guess.

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I don't remember half the time if I'm hiding or I'm lost