By David Heinzmann
Chicago Tribune
June 10, 2002

Rev. John Barrett emerged from Mary Queen of Heaven Church in Elmhurst after 10:30 a.m. mass Sunday and proclaimed to a cheering crowd that his ordeal weathering a sexual abuse allegation was finished.

Tearing up, sighing with exhaustion and perspiring heavily as he stood in heavy vestments, Barrett said his return to the altar after a five-week suspension by the Catholic Diocese of Joliet had overwhelmed him.

"It was difficult emotionally, but it was also a thrill," said the 69-year-old priest, whom the diocese reinstated Saturday.

In a statement released Saturday afternoon, diocesan officials said they are allowing Barrett to return to work after their investigation failed to substantiate a claim that Barrett molested an 8th grader in Notre Dame Catholic School in Clarendon Hills in 1968.

The investigation may have been stymied by the accuser's reluctance to deal with church officials.

The alleged victim indicated Sunday he was afraid to cooperate because Barrett's lawyer had threatened a slander lawsuit. He also said he does not trust diocesan officials because they canceled a meeting with him in 1991 when he asked to have his wife or an attorney present.

The reluctance of the alleged victim, a 48-year-old airline pilot, contradicts a statement he gave the Tribune in late May saying he was willing to cooperate with any investigation of Barrett.

Of the 11 priests Bishop Joseph Imesch has removed since April, Barrett is the first to be investigated and returned to ministry.

Allegations against eight priests have been substantiated, according to the diocese. Two other priests, who were both removed weeks before Barrett, remain suspended from ministry while the diocese continues to investigate.

Barrett took the unusual step of holding a news conference two days after his removal in the first week of May. He proclaimed his innocence and his lawyer, Aldo Botti, threatened to sue the alleged victim if he made a "false claim."

David Clohessy, national director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said he has seen a few other cases across the country in which the alleged victim backs away from his claim when the accused threatens to sue.

"I can think of few things more un-Christian than intimidating abuse victims into keeping silent," Clohessy said. "You can defend yourself without attacking the accuser."

With Botti at his side at his news conference Sunday, Barrett reiterated his innocence.

"I'm the only one who really knew nothing happened," he said. Although he expressed anger at having to endure the ordeal, Barrett said he bore no animosity toward his accuser. He said he would pray for the man and that he would meet with him if approached, but would not seek a meeting.

The crowd surrounding him Sunday, which included his mother, two sisters and several other family members, broke into cheers when Barrett said he was confident that the investigation was behind him.

"We went to church on the day [his removal] was announced, and it felt like a funeral. Today it felt like a resurrection," said Cybele Japczyk, a mother of three who has had Barrett to her home for dinner. Barrett said he regretted but understood Imesch's decision to name him publicly during the investigation, saying he was made a victim of the church scandal because, "there is an overreaction right now."

On Chicago's Northwest Side Sunday, Cardinal Francis George told parishioners at St. Juliana that this week's meeting of U.S. bishops in Dallas, to establish a nationwide policy for handling sexual abuse allegations, presents a difficult mission.

"There are certainly consequences even after sin is forgiven," George said of the abusers. "So we have to deal with those consequences ... and they can be severe, as they must be."

The bishops conference appeared more likely to hear directly from victims in Dallas after one advocacy group said Sunday it would drop a lawsuit against the bishops.

For more than a month, groups advocating for victims have been negotiating with the bishops. But the chance that they would address the conference appeared slim after the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests on Thursday joined a Minnesota lawsuit against the bishops.

On Sunday SNAP said it would drop the suit in hopes there might still be a chance to participate in the conference. "If there's any hope for serious dialogue, we want to remove any barrier," said SNAP's Clohessy.

Tribune staff reporters Sean D. Hamill and Monica Davey contributed to this report.