Archdiocese to pay $2.3M settlement to alleged McCormack victim

Fox 32
February 7, 2017

http://www.fox32chicago.com/news/crime/234309421-story

Daniel McCormack

CHICAGO (Sun-Times Media Wire) - The Archdiocese of Chicago has reached a $2.3 million settlement with a man who claims he was sexually abused by convicted child molester and defrocked priest Daniel McCormack.

John C. Doe sued the Archdiocese in April 2014, claiming he was abused at a West Side parish on two occasions in 2005, when he was 12 years old, according to a statement from the victim’s attorney, Lyndsay Markley, announcing the settlement.

The victim met McCormack while playing pickup basketball at St. Agatha’s Parish in North Lawndale, and claimed in the suit that the second act of abuse might have taken place after McCormack was arrested on Aug. 30, 2005, for allegations of sexually abusing another child.

The case was set to go to trial on May 15, but the parties came to the settlement and the case was dismissed on Jan. 19, according to Markley.

“I am very pleased that my client was able to get the financial compensation he deserves without the necessity or trauma of a jury trial,” Markley said in the statement. “It is my hope that this settlement allows him to receive whatever care, treatment or comfort is necessary for him to live the best life possible and move forward from this terrible tragedy.”

McCormack was removed from the priesthood in November 2007 and pleaded guilty that year to abusing five other children at St. Agatha’s. He was sentenced to five years in prison and has been held at a state-run mental health facility since his release from prison in 2009. He faced additional charges in 2014, but those were later dropped. McCormack is currently awaiting trial on whether he is a sexually violent person.

Spokeswoman Colleen Tunney-Ryan said the Archdiocese does not comment on settlements out of respect for the privacy of those involved.

“The abuse of any child is a crime and a sin. The Archdiocese encourages anyone who has been sexually abused by a priest, deacon, religious, lay employee or volunteer, to come forward,” she said in an email.

Over the past three decades, the Archdiocese has paid more than $140 million in settlements to sex-abuse victims, including more than $35 million since summer 2012, according to its 2015 financial statements.