Men File Sexual Abuse Lawsuit against Convicted Former Priest Daniel Mccormack

By Reema Amin
Chicago Sun-Times
June 18, 2015

http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/7/71/703519/men-file-sexual-abuse-lawsuit-convicted-former-priest-daniel-mccormack

Two men are claiming in a lawsuit filed Thursday that they were abused by convicted child molester and former priest Daniel McCormack while on a basketball team he coached.

The men, identified only as John J. Doe and John Doe 2, filed the suit in Cook County Circuit Court against the Archidiocese of Chicago and the Catholic Bishop of Chicago.

John J. Doe, born in early 1991, played basketball for a team coached by McCormack based out of the parish in June 2004, the suit said. McCormack would repeteadly hug, pat and rub John J. Doe and inappropriately sexually touched him, the suit claims.

John Doe 2, born in 1988, said he also played basketball for the same team between June 2002 and 2003. He claims he was in or near St. Agatha’s Parish on the West Side when McCormack “exerted an inappropriate physical presence” with hugs and pats and rubs.

The suit claims the Archdiocese knew about but did not properly investigate various sexual abuse complaints against McCormack, including claims he sexually touched sleeping seminarians and abused a minor boy in a Mexico seminarian program.

McCormack was arrested in 2006 and later sentenced to five years in prison after he pleaded guilty to sexually abusing five other children at St. Agatha Catholic Church on the West Side.

He faces a new set of criminal charges filed in 2014, this time for an alleged 2005 incident involving a minor boy, also at St. Agatha.

McCormack was removed from the priesthood in 2007. He has been staying at a state-run mental health facility since his release from prison.

“While we do not comment on lawsuits we can reassure the public that the Archdiocese’s Office for Child Abuse Investigations and Review responds to each and every reported case of sexual abuse of a minor by Archdiocesan personnel very seriously and treats each of the individuals involved with compassion and professionalism throughout the entire process,” an Archdiocese spokeswoman said in an email.

The four-count suit claims negligence and seeks more than $200,000 in damages.