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	Catholic Pastor and Principal Sued by Boy's Parents Chicago Tribune July 22, 1989 A $7 million civil lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court Friday charges the Roman Catholic pastor and the school principal of St. Norbert parish in Northbrook with sexual, physical and psychological abuse of a 2d-grade boy. The suit alleges that "at various times from September, 1987, to June, 1988," Rev. Robert Lutz and principal Alice Halpin struck and kicked the then-7-year-old, pseudonymed Richard Doe, disrobed and photographed him, forced him to look at photos of naked children and molested him. Charged with negligence in the suit, brought anonymously by the boy's parents, is Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, archbishop of Chicago. Sgt. John Graham, of the Northbrook Police Department investigations unit, said the parents' charges were determined to be unfounded after an "extensive three-month investigation" headed by the Cook County state's attorney's mass molestation unit. State's attorney's investigators indicated that more than 40 people were interviewed, including the pastor, the principal and the child, whose story they said was inconsistent when pressed for details. Before filing the suit, the boy's father said, he had negotiated to settle out of court with archdiocesan representatives. He said he unsuccessfully sought an admission that the assaults had occurred and establishment of a review board, including parents and other nonclergy members, to hear pedophilia complaints against archdiocesan employees. Marie Knoll, assistant director of public information for the archdiocese, released a statement saying, "Several government agencies and the archdiocese have investigated the allegations against the pastor and principal of St. Norbert's and have found no basis for those allegations. "We deeply regret that the matter has become the subject of litigation. The matter has now been referred to legal counsel for defense and for preparation of appropriate counterclaims. "The archdiocese deplores child abuse in all forms. The archdiocese for years has had in place procedures to prevent and to address child abuse of any kind and to respond promptly and constructively to such allegations when they are made." Efforts to reach Father Lutz were unsuccessful. The parents, who are Chicago attorneys, said they had been thwarted in efforts to get the school, the archdiocese and law enforcement officials to do anything about what the parents first charged was physical and psychological abuse, then determined to be sexual abuse, of their son. The five-count lawsuit charges the pastor and principal with assault and battery, sexual battery and "intentional infliction of emotional distress." In the course of his investigation, the father said, he found a still-unresolved sexual harassment case brought against Father Lutz at St. Mary Star of the Sea parish on Chicago's Southwest Side, from which Father Lutz transferred to St. Norbert's four years ago.
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