CHICAGO (IL)
Belleville News-Democrat
TARA BURGHART
Associated Press
CHICAGO - A class-action lawsuit filed Tuesday against the Diocese of Joliet seeks to force Roman Catholic officials there to release the names of all priests accused of sexually abusing children.
The lead plaintiff is a man who says his family's priest at Divine Savior Church in Downer's Grove abused him in 1970. George Knotek said he was 16 when he approached the priest for advice on entering the seminary, but instead the Rev. Donald Pock gave him alcohol to drink and sexually abused him, creating "a nightmare that has lasted for years."
Pock died in 2004. Knotek said the response of church officials to his complaints - which started in the early 1970s - has been hurtful and insufficient, even though a brother who is a priest has tried to help him.
Tom Kerber, a spokesman for the Diocese of Joliet, said it would not have any immediate comment on the lawsuit. Joliet is about 30 miles southwest of Chicago.