CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times
February 2, 2006
BY CATHLEEN FALSANI AND ART GOLAB Staff Reporters
Therese says she was 7 years old when she met "Father Ben."
It was the late 1960s, and the Rev. Joseph Bennett was a young, good-looking, "cool" priest fresh out of seminary and assigned to St. John de la Salle Roman Catholic Church at 102nd and King Drive, where he helped teach catechism to public school kids such as Therese once a week, she says.
Bennett heard Therese's first confession, gave her first communion, confirmed her, presided at her older sister's wedding and visited for family dinners, she says.
And when Therese was 8, she claims Bennett began having sexual intercourse with her in the lower level of the parish school, after religious education classes, before her mother picked her up to go home, a routine she says continued for three years until her family moved away when she was 11.