CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times
January 30, 2006
BY MAUREEN O'DONNELL Staff Reporter
Cardinal Francis George said he hopes for healing when he meets today with parishioners at a Chicago church reeling from allegations a popular priest abused two young boys.
George said he plans to listen when he visits St. Agatha, 3147 W. Douglas.
"I want to come and be with them, and encourage them, and then hear what they would like to talk about," he said Sunday. "They're certainly in my concerns and in my prayers. ... You can't heal without some sense of truth, so we'll, we'll explore that together."
The Rev. Daniel McCormack is charged with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. Prosecutors say he fondled one boy multiple times while they were both in the rectory beginning in September 2001, when the boy was 9, until January 2005, when he was 12. McCormack is also charged with fondling another boy, then 8, on two occasions in December 2003 while alone with him after mass.