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	Fourth Joliet Area Priest Is Removed from Post By Art Golab Chicago Sun-Times April 18, 2002 Another priest associated with the Catholic Diocese of Joliet has been removed from his post following an allegation of sexual abuse. The Rev. Anthony J. Ross, who now heads a prison ministry in Santa Rosa, Calif., was placed on administrative leave Wednesday, after church officials there learned of a claim that Ross abused a teenage boy in the Joliet Diocese in 1983. Church officials would not disclose the parish where the alleged abuse took place. From the early 1970s until 1993, when he moved to Santa Rosa, Ross served at six parishes in the suburbs: St. John the Baptist in Winfield, the Cathedral of St. Raymond in Joliet, St. Peter the Apostle in Itasca, Sacred Heart in Lombard, St. Isidore in Bloomingdale and St. Charles Borromeo in Bensenville. When Ross left the Joliet diocese, he "was not transferred by his former bishop, but came to Santa Rosa at his own initiative," Santa Rosa diocesan attorney Dan Galvin said. "We have had no previous knowledge of the emerging allegations and are unaware of any current complaints regarding Father Ross' conduct in this diocese," Galvin said. Ross was the fourth priest with ties to the Joliet diocese to be relieved of his duties this month over sexual abuse allegations. His removal shocked parishioners at St. Raymond, the seat of the diocese. "It's like when there's an alcoholic in the family who abused a spouse," said Sister Lorraine Crawford, a pastoral associate there. "People are looking at all of this, and they know it is happening, but they just don't want to talk about it."
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