JOLIET (IL)
Chicago Tribune
By Manya A. Brachear
Tribune staff reporter
Published March 4, 2006, 8:31 AM CST
The store-bought valentine was manufactured "For a special boy."
The personal message, penned by Rev. Anthony Ross, was intended for a 17-year-old parishioner he had fondled and molested, according to a lawsuit.
"This was so cute, You were the first special little guy I thought of. With lots of love, Fr. Ross."
That greeting card, a package of bodybuilding shorts and letters requesting nude photographs were mailed in 1983 from a California facility for priests who sexually abused minors, according to one of three lawsuits filed last week in Will County against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet and Bishop Joseph Imesch.
The lawsuits disclose even more sordid details of sexual misconduct in the Joliet diocese by clergy transferred by Imesch to other parishes or different dioceses across the country.