NEW LENOX (IL)
Patch [New Lenox, IL]
May 6, 2025
By Lauren Traut
Richard McGrath is no longer part of the Augustinian Order under which he served as priest, Patch has learned.
Richard McGrath, the embattled priest and former president of Providence Catholic High School, has been dismissed from the religious order under which he served, its leadership has confirmed to Patch.
The factors behind his dismissal were not disclosed in the Augustinian Order’s statement. It was also not clear if McGrath is dismissed from solely the Order, or clerical state entirely. Patch is seeking to verify.
Both McGrath and the Order which runs the school were previously sued by former student Robert Krankvich, who alleged in 2017 that he had been raped by McGrath as a teen. The lawsuit was settled in 2023, with the school and Order paying Krankvich $2 million.
Krankvich died in April 2025, at the age of 43. His death, attorney Marc Pearlman said, was believed to be the result of long-lasting effects of substance abuse stemming from his sexual abuse. Though he had struggled with mental health and had attempted to take his own life previously—both facts Krankvich had publicly disclosed amid his pursuit of justice—his death was not suicide, Pearlman said. Ultimately, damage to his heart and liver were believed to be factors in his death.
“Robert, despite all of his challenges and his inability to see himself as a brave, heroic individual for coming forward, he was exactly that,” said Pearlman, with Frost Pearlman LLC. “Unfortunately, he was never able to see himself in that light. For him to come forward, use his name and his likeness, and speak publicly about this, was a testament to who he is, and that he cared more about children and the safety of children, than he did about his own well-being.”
With gaps in McGrath’s known location and lack of clarity regarding his priesthood status even now, Patch contacted current Providence Catholic High School President Fr. John Merkelis. Merkelis directed Patch to Rev. Anthony B. Pizzo, a superior in the Provincial Council of the Augustinian Province of Our Mother of Good Counsel.
“As soon as the Augustinians were made aware of the allegation against Father McGrath in December of 2017, the Order took action with local authorities,” a statement from Rev. Pizzo reads.
“Richard McGrath was officially dismissed from the Augustinians in December 2024. Richard McGrath’s whereabouts are unknown to the Augustinians.”
McGrath’s current location remains shrouded in mystery, with some saying they’ve seen him locally in Mokena. His whereabouts have often been unknown in the years since the initial accusations and subsequent lawsuit.
In 2017, as word spread of the claims against him, McGrath abruptly retired in December of that year, then reportedly moving to a friary in Hyde Park. Months later, he was AWOL from that facility—“unlawfully absent” from the Augustinian Order. A source in 2018 told Patch that McGrath had left the order after conflict surrounding the scandal, because he had felt bullied and unsupported by the order.
At the time of reporting on the settlement in 2023, the Order was said to have been nearing expulsion of McGrath.
The statement issued by Rev. Pizzo and provided to Patch on May 6 clarifies that McGrath had still been a part of the order until late last year.
In learning of McGrath’s dismissal from the Order, Pearlman criticized its handling of McGrath, the accusations against him, and his status within the Order.
“Callous and irresponsible,” Pearlman said. “It is disappointing and beyond irresponsible for them not to announce if one, they had ever conducted their own investigation of him, two, not to disclose the results of that, and three, not to announce that he was removed from the Order in December, and let people know that.
“This goes to their purposeful vagueness.”
Allegations And A Lawsuit Against McGrath
Krankvich came forward with his claims against McGrath after another student reported she had witnessed the priest viewing child pornography on his cell phone—a device that McGrath never handed over to investigators and which has never surfaced.
The child pornography allegations spurred an investigation and McGrath’s abrupt departure from the school, where he had served as president and/or principal since the mid-1980s. Police also investigated Krankvich’s claims.
Krankvich has said he was 13–14 years old at the time of the abuse in 1995-1996, Patch previously reported. At the time, McGrath would have been 50 years old, and had been counseling Krankvich regarding the teenager’s personal problems. Krankvich alleged McGrath had forced him to perform sexual acts.
McGrath was also previously investigated on allegations of child pornography, after a female student allegedly told an adult that she had seen McGrath viewing a photo of a naked boy on his phone while attending a wrestling match at the school. That investigation hit a wall when authorities said McGrath refused to cooperate with a New Lenox Police investigation, and declined to hand over the cell phone at the time. He never did, and the investigation was closed.
Krankvich later sued, the lawsuit claiming that he had “developed great admiration, trust, reverence and respect for Defendants and their agents, including Fr. McGrath,” adding, “Fr. McGrath took advantage of the admiration, trust, reverence and respect that Plaintiff had for him and the Roman Catholic Church and sexually abused Plaintiff on multiple occasions between approximately 1995 and 1996 when Plaintiff was approximately 13 to 15 years old.”
Krankvich left the school after the abuse, and spoke of the mental torment and impact it had on him. A United States Marine, he often told reporters that the abuse led to decades of mental health trauma and substance abuse.
In addition to those by Krankvich, there were numerous accusations against McGrath. In an anonymous letter, the parent of a student who attended the school between 2006 and 2010 wrote that McGrath had reportedly massaged students’ shoulders, the Chicago Sun-Times reported previously. Later, in 2018, another man would call McGrath’s successor Rev. John Merkelis, accusing McGrath and one other priest of molesting him. The man ultimately recanted, but the Sun-Times reports that police reports detailed the man said McGrath would enter the boys’ locker room, standing and talking with them as they showered. In a deposition, McGrath said he did not recall doing that.
When questioned under oath regarding the child pornography accusation, McGrath invoked his Fifth Amendment right, declining to answer to avoid self-incrimination.
The Order has never disclosed, Pearlman said, if they conducted their own investigation into McGrath and, if they had, the results were never publicly offered. He called their response to Patch’s inquiry into McGrath’s status “a canned response.”
In speaking about McGrath’s current status, Rev. Pizzo said “there is no higher priority” for the Order than “the safety and well-being of those entrusted to our care.
“We have implemented robust child protection policies and procedures intended to ensure the safety of students and to provide a nurturing environment for all to whom we minister,” the statement reads. “All friars who work with minors are educated in the prevention of abuse and mandatory reporting obligations.”
He asserted that they have been accredited by Praesidum, Inc. since June 2009. Praesidium, he wrote, is a third party for-profit company that “vigorously evaluates and audits child-serving organizations to ensure they meet child protection best practices.”
The accreditation, Rev. Pizzo said, “represents the Augustinians’ commitment to safety and adherence to the highest standards in abuse prevention.”
In reflecting on Krankvich as a client, Pearlman noted there are two types of people in the world: the people who watch a burning building until help arrives, or the people who run in to the blaze.
“Robert, and people like him, are the people who run in and try to save everybody,” Pearlman said.
“I don’t treat these cases like a typical case. To call it a legal case does not explain or give justice to why our clients come forward, why they do what they do.
“Robert definitely has a special place in my heart.”