CHICAGO (IL)
York Daily Record
The Associated Press
UPDATED: 01/21/2014
CHICAGO—The release of 6,000 pages of documents from the Archdiocese of Chicago casts new light on how the church dealt with a mounting sex abuse scandal involving priests. The records were made public Tuesday by lawyers for some victims after a legal settlement. Below are excerpts from the documents regarding some of the archdiocese’s more well-known accused priests:
Rev. Robert E. Mayer
Robert E. Mayer was accused in a 1983 lawsuit of exposing himself to several altar boys from St. Edna’s in Arlington Heights during a lake outing and trying to fondle two boys.
While that litigation was pending, another priest at the church, Rev. John J. Hurley, wrote to the archdiocese to say the mother of one alleged victim felt “the law firm of the Archdiocese is steamrolling over her and her husband.” The mother, he continued, suspected the church’s strategy was to draw out the litigation until the financial strain became too much for the family.
“She feels powerless,” the letter said. “She feels hurt and sad and rejected.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.