Two new lawsuits to be filed over alleged McCormack sexual abuse

By Jordan Owen
Chicago Sun-Times
April 8, 2015

http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/7/71/509352/two-new-lawsuits-filed-archdiocese-alleged-mccormack-sexual-abuse

Two more lawsuits will be filed Thursday against the Archdiocese of Chicago, alleging sexual abuse by convicted child molester and defrocked priest Daniel McCormack.

The lawsuits, filed on behalf of “John T. Doe 24” and “John M. Doe,” will be filed in Cook County Circuit Court on Thursday by the law offices of Lyndsay A. Markley, according to a statement from the law firm.

One of the men alleges he was abused on and off between 2001 and 2006, beginning when he was 7 years old, according to the attorneys. The other alleges he was sexually abused on two occasions in 2001, when he was 14. Both were part of an after-school program — “Safe” — at St. Agatha Parish on the West Side.

“Daniel McCormack is no longer a priest,” archdiocese spokeswoman Susan Burritt said in a statement. “He was removed from public ministry in February of 2006 and laicized [removed from the priesthood] in November 2007.”

“No priest with even one substantiated allegation of sexual abuse of a minor serves in ministry in the Archdiocese of Chicago today,” Burritt added.

McCormack was originally arrested for sex crimes in January 2006, the Sun-Times reported previously. He pleaded guilty in 2007 to abusing five children while he was a parish priest at St. Agatha. He was sentenced to five years in prison.

Last year, McCormick was charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse in a 2005 incident involving a boy who was a minor at the time, according to the Sun-Times. He was denied bond in that case and is being held at a treatment center.

Each six-count suit seeks more than $300,000 in damages.