ILLINOIS
Wilmette Life
Kevin Bargnes
News Editor | kbargnes@pioneerlocal.com
Nov. 6
A Catholic priest who served Wilmette’s St. Francis Xavier church from 1974 to 1984 became embroiled in multiple sex abuse allegations after he retired from the church in 1992, according to documents released Thursday by the Archdiocese of Chicago.
The documents detail four abuse allegations made against Father David Braun while he was a Chicago pastor and at least one while he served in Wilmette.
Braun was first ordained in 1954, serving parishes in Chicago and Oak Lawn. In 1963, while at St. Linus in Oak Lawn, documents allege that Braun picked up a 14-year-old hitchhiker and “attempted immorality” with the young boy.
Police and the boy’s father agreed not to press charges if the church would handle the matter.
In the documents, Braun admits to the church he had taken part in sexual acts with young boys as early as 1956, and that “he could not begin to count the occasions of his sins.” Braun blamed his problems with alcohol for many of the incidents, which typically involved him picking up boys after school.
“[Braun] claims that he can tell by the way they dress and walk, that they are willing subjects,” a document dated November of 1963 reads. “After a brief conversation in the car the arrangements are made. The sinning occurs in the Forest Preserves, or in Fr. B’s car in the wintertime. He is the agressor [sic] and it is sodomy.”
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