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Five Lawsuits Filed against Diocese of Joliet, for Failing to Protect Kids from Predatory and Pedophile Priests and Teaching Staff

EON
May 16, 2013

http://eon.businesswire.com/news/eon/20130515005495/en/Diocese-of-Joliet/pedophile-and-predatory-priests/child-sex-abuse

It was a ''formula for disaster, and disaster did occur'' in the form of sexual abuse of minors by priests and a non-priest teacher in the Diocese of Joliet, in incidents detailed in five lawsuits filed today in Will County Circuit Court. The incidents took place in the 1970s and ‘80s, when the plaintiffs were aged 8 to 16. The cases were filed by the Chicago-based law firm of Hurley McKenna & Mertz, PC.

The “formula for disaster” was the Diocese of Joliet allowing known or suspected predators and pedophiles to meet with young boys at remote or private locations outside the presence of other adults.

The incidents in these complaints took place in private living quarters, at off-site “retreats” including a camper parked outside of a home owned by a priest’s parents, and in the back row of a school classroom. Several of them involve priests plying minors with alcohol and then taking advantage of them. One involved an elaborate ruse in which the plaintiff was persuaded to strip out of street clothes and don a loincloth so that the priest could “practice” administering funeral rites.

Three of the complaints expressly allege that the plaintiffs were sworn to strict secrecy by their abusers. States Chris Hurley, one of the lawyers representing the plaintiffs, “The truth was buried for a long, long time because first, kids are vulnerable and don’t really understand what is happening to them, second, they were being victimized by priests who had their complete trust and allegiance as a representative of God on earth, and third, several of our plaintiffs were actually sworn to secrecy by these priests. No wonder they didn’t talk. If their parents had had any inkling what the diocese knew when it knew it, they would have demanded immediate reporting and reform.”

The complaints allege that the Diocese of Joliet knew or should have known about the risk of abuse, or actual incidents of abuse, and yet engaged in a pattern and practice of hiding what it knew, and covertly transferring pedophile priests around the diocese and out of state – ultimately to protect its interests instead of the interests of the children entrusted to it, whom it had a duty to protect.

“Lives have been horribly damaged,” said Mark McKenna, also representing the plaintiffs. “The scars from child sexual abuse and the secrecy surrounding it take years, even decades to heal properly. The process is extended in the many cases where victims, as a coping mechanism, repress memories of the abuse. That’s why laws have been passed which protect victims by allowing them to seek damages when their memories are ‘unlocked.’”

In each case filed today, the plaintiff maintains that after the sexual abuse took place, he suppressed memory of the incident or incidents until recent media reports of the diocese making public part of its “secret archives” of files on abusive priests. In March, the diocese released 16 personnel files of priests with substantiated allegations against them. As reported by the Chicago Tribune, the files ''contain more than 7,000 records detailing how the diocese purposely shielded priests, misled parishioners and left children unprotected for more than a half-century.''

Three of the priests named in today’s complaints are on the Diocese of Joliet’s recently updated list of Priests with Credible/Substantiated Allegations of Sexual Abuse of Minors Made Against Them; one is on a separate list of priests with credible allegations being investigated. Each has been removed from the ministry, in the years from 1992 to 2012. One is deceased. The teacher or principal named in one complaint is also deceased. At least one priest was convicted of sexual abuse charges and served jail time.

The plaintiffs were actively involved in these diocese parishes:

St. Boniface Catholic Church (Monee)

St. Charles Borremeo Seminary (Joliet)

St. Dominic Catholic Church (Bolingbrook)

St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church (Bolingbrook)

St. Mary Nativity School (Joliet)

Hurley McKenna & Mertz, P.C. is a partnership of trial lawyers dedicated to fighting for the rights of ordinary people whose lives have been destroyed by the negligence of others. We take pride in providing outstanding personal service to our clients. For more information: www.hurley-law.com.

Contacts

Chris Hurley

Mark McKenna

(312) 553-4900

or

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION (including copies of lawsuits):

Doug Kramer

Fishman Marketing

630.962.9536

Contact: doug.kramer@fishmanmarketing.com

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