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  Ex-Priest Sued in '60s Sex Abuse

Chicago Sun-Times
July 15, 2004

A Chicago man filed a $100,000 lawsuit Wednesday against a former Augustinian order Roman Catholic priest, his religious order and St. Rita of Cascia parish on the South Side, alleging that the former priest molested him in 1969.

The man, identified only as "John Doe" in the lawsuit, was a minor at the time he claims John D. Murphy "engaged in unpermitted, harmful and offensive sexual contact" with him in the monastery of St. Rita High School.

Last year, two other men filed a lawsuit against Murphy, the Augustinians and St. Rita, alleging the former priest had molested them in the 1970s and early 1980s when Murphy was vocations director for his religious order in the Chicago area and later a priest at St. Rita.

"John Doe" repressed memories of the alleged abuse by Murphy until Feb. 13, 2003, when he saw news reports about the other two men suing the former priest, according to the lawsuit.

Murphy, 61, was ordained in 1968 and worked at St. Rita High School between 1968 and 1976.

He left the priesthood in 1993.

 
 

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