CHICAGO (IL)
WLS
[with video]
Chuck Goudie
December 9, 2013 (CHICAGO) (WLS) — The latest child sex abuse allegation to befall the Roman Catholic Church in Chicago involves the pastor of one of the city’s oldest parishes.
The pastor of St. Alphonsus Catholic Church is being allowed to remove himself from that job after being accused of molesting a child at a previous parish nearly two decades ago. Father Michael O’Connor is voluntarily stepping aside.
And the unusual consideration from church officials that he be allowed a temporary hiatus is angering victims’ rights advocates.
Outside Chicago Archdiocese headquarters, the president of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests says that O’Connell’s victim is now an adult. The alleged victim has told authorities that he was molested at Our Lady of the Woods parish in south suburban Orland Park.
“He’s claiming that the priest abused him on more than one occasion,” said Barbara Blaine, SNAP president. “That he was a student in the equivalent of Sunday school… that the priest called him out of class and that’s when the abuse occurred.”
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