CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times
[Daniel Mark Holihan]
[timeline]
BY KIM JANSSEN Staff Reporter January 21, 2014
Daniel Mark Holihan, 83, was one of 14 priests named in lawsuits the archdiocese settled in 2005 for an undisclosed amount.
Known to students at Our Lady of the Snows as “Happy Hands” Holihan — because of his habit of being suspiciously grabby during horseplay with children — he allegedly started abusing boys in 1968. Though restrictions were placed on him after he was accused of abuse in 1986, Holihan wasn’t removed from public ministry until 2002.
Records released this week show some church officials were conflicted about how to handle his case.
A parent who wrote to Cardinal Joseph Bernardin in 1986 alleged the parish had known of Holihan’s problems for some time by then. The mom said she had previously dismissed the allegations as “idle gossip” but had since heard from friends she trusted whose children she believed were sexually abused.
“I have no hardcore evidence against our pastor,” she wrote the cardinal. “Please get him some help, or get him away from children.”
The rumors included the suggestion that Holihan was taking boys to his cottage, but Holihan denied them and there is no record of police being called.
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