April 25, 2006

Two priests abused boy in '70s, lawsuit alleges

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times

April 25, 2006

BY CATHLEEN FALSANI Religion Reporter

Lawyers for an Illinois man filed a lawsuit Monday against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago over alleged sexual abuse the man says he suffered at the hands of two of its priests in the late 1970s.

The man, who is suing under the name "John Doe 106," says the Rev. Kenneth Ruge and the Rev. Robert C. Becker, both now deceased, sexually abused him on numerous occasions from 1976 to 1979, when the man was 9 to 12 years old.

Doe's attorney, Marc Pearlman, said Ruge, who died in 2002, and Becker, who died in 1989, repeatedly molested Doe at various locations in Illinois and out of state, including the rectory of St. Clement parish in Chicago, a Chicago health club, and a camper the two priests owned in Dixon, Ill.

Jim Dwyer, a spokesman for the archdiocese, declined to comment on the lawsuit Monday afternoon, saying archdiocesan officials had not yet seen it.

Posted by kshaw at April 25, 2006 07:55 AM