Victims of Abuse Say Families Trusted Priests

Beaumont Enterprise
January 21, 2014

http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/crime/article/Victims-of-abuse-say-families-trusted-priests-5162284.php

The stories of two men who allege abuse by Archdiocese of Chicago priests help explain how the clergy preyed on children undetected.

In both cases, the boys had parents who worked for the archdiocese and feared if they told anyone what was going on their parents would lose their jobs.

At a news conference Tuesday, one of those victims stood next to the parents of the other while their attorneys discussed the release of documents showing how the archdiocese handled allegations of abuse.

Angel Santiago believes his dad was fired after Santiago stopped going to see the priest who abused him.

Kathy Laarveld says the priest who abused her son selected him partly because she was a trusted archdiocese employee. She says it's "how true predators work."