By Erin Meyer
Chicago Tribune
August 26, 2011
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-another-lawsuit-accuses-former-priest-of-sex-abuse-20110825,0,1868557.story
[Complaint - John Doe 184 V. Cardinal Francis George] http://www.andersonadvocates.com/Files/525/Complaint---John-Doe-184-V-Cardinal-Francis-Georgepdf
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Another person who says he was a victim of Daniel McCormack filed a lawsuit against the former St. Agatha Catholic Church priest today in Cook County Circuit Court accusing him of sexual abuse.
After McCormack pleaded guilty in 2007 to sexually abusing five boys and was sentenced to 5 years in prison, numerous other alleged victims came forward with similar stories of abuse.
The latest is an unidentified Chicago teenager who says he was sexually abused by McCormack between 2004 and 2006 in the West Side church’s rectory and school buildings, according to the lawsuit. The alleged victim was 11 or 12 when the abuse began.
Of particular concern, said his attorney, Jeff Anderson, is the timing of the alleged abuse. Anderson said that his client suffered at the hands of McCormack after the priest had been questioned by police and after a church review board had recommended his removal.
“This case is demonstrative of how recent this cover up is,” said Anderson, who specializes in clergy abuse cases. “It’s not something of the past.”
Anderson said the Archdiocese of Chicago had evidence that McCormack was a “sexual deviant” as early as 1992 but failed to take sufficient action to protect children.
The archdiocese removed McCormack from the ministry in 2006, soon after his arrest. Church officials said at the time that they had begun an internal investigation of McCormack when a second sexual-abuse allegation surfaced.
The church also said Anderson needlessly subjected his client to the trauma of litigation when the archdiocese tried to settle the matter out of court.
“The archdiocese has worked hard and successfully to resolve these matters outside of court and will continue to do so,” a spokesperson wrote in an email. “The archdiocese has a long-standing practice of reaching out to all victims of misconduct by clergy to resolve their claims in a just, compassionate and respectful way.”
When McCormack came up for parole in 2010 after serving 2 ? years of his sentence, the Illinois State Attorney and attorney general petitioned the court to have him committed under the Sexually Violent Persons Commitment Act, arguing that he remains a threat.
McCormack remains in a state mental health facility. The commitment case is still pending, said Daniel Coyne, an attorney representing McCormack.
Contact: efmeyer@tribune.com
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