WINFIELD (IL)
The Herald News
By Ted Slowik
staff writer
WINFIELD — Abuse allegations about a rogue priest serving within the Diocese of Joliet are raising new questions about the Roman Catholic Church's ability to protect children.
A lawsuit filed Wednesday accuses the cleric, Chester Przybylo, of repeatedly abusing a Polish immigrant at various locations in Chicago beginning when the boy was 13 years old in 1987. The boy was molested at the rectory of Five Holy Martyrs Church, at a private residence and at a health club, the suit alleges.
The reported victim, now in his 30s, says he first reported the abuse to the Archdiocese of Chicago in 1989, said Barbara Blaine, president of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. The boy told the late Rev. Alfred Leo Abramowicz, an auxiliary bishop, who scolded the boy and told him to go to confession for lying, said the man's attorney, Marc Pearlman.
Ten years later, Joliet Bishop Joseph Imesch met with Przybylo regarding his ministry saying traditional Masses in Latin at the Shrine of Christ the King in Winfield, Blaine said.