CHICAGO (IL)
WLS
Two lawsuits were filed in Cook County Circuit Court Thursday against the Archdiocese of Chicago, accusing two priests of sexual abuse at parish schools.
One suit was filed by a man claiming he was molested by a priest nine or ten times between 1971 and 1973 while he was a student at Resurrection Grammar School on the city’s West Side.
The suit claims the priest inappropriately touched and fondled the boy when he was alone with him in the church rectory, often calling him into the rectory and separating him from other students under the guise of disciplining him for misbehavior.
The man claims he was afraid to talk about the abuse at the time because the priest was in a position of authority and respect in the community, according to the suit.
He subsequently repressed memories of the abuse but recalled the incidents in September 2013 and connected them to a number of emotional and mental issues stemming from the abuse, the suit claims.
The second suit was filed by a different man claiming he was sexually abused by a priest when he was a student at Our Lady Gate of Heaven School, 2338 E. 99th St. The suit claims the priest rubbed the boy’s genitals and sodomized him multiple times from late 1990 to early 1991.
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