Chicago Sun-Times
August 13, 2008

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1105086,081308priestsettleg.photogallery

The Archdiocese of Chicago agreed Tuesday to pay almost $12.7 million to 16 men and women who told of flashbacks, years in therapy and recurring thoughts of suicide after sexual abuse as children at the hands of priests. Fourteen cases settled Tuesday involve sexual abuse by 10 different priests. Two involve an 11th priest, the Rev. Daniel J. McCormack.

1. Therese Albrecht and attorney Jeff Anderson at a press confrence announcing a settlement between the Archidiocese of Chicago and victims abused by clergy. Anderson is holding a picture of Albrecht at her First Communion with the Rev. Joseph Bennett, who she says abused her when she was 7. (Brian Jackson/Sun-Times)

2. Daniel McCormack, who was removed from his position, was accused of abusing multiple victims at St. Agatha Parish and Our Lady of the Westside School. He pleaded guilty in July 2007 to five felonies, and was sentenced to five years in prison. (Brian Jackson/Sun-Times)

3. Bob Brancato wipes tears from his as during a press confrence announcing the settlement between the Archdiocese of Chicago and victims of abuse by clergy. (Brian Jackson/Sun-Times)

4. Jimmy Lago, (left) Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Chicago, and in deep thought (right) is Francis Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago, who announced settlements reached with survivors of sexual abuse by Chicago clergy. (John H. White/Sun-Times)

5. While announcing a $12.7 million settlement the Archdiocese of Chicago reached with victims abused by priests, Francis Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago, acknowleged that church leaders acted far too slowly in some cases. (John H. White/Sun-Times)

6. Robert Craig, who resigned in 1993, was accused of abuse in March 2006 and sued in April 2006. Victims allege he abused them from 1982 to 1990.

7. James R. Steel left the priesthood in 1992 and was laicized in 2001. He was accused of abuse in 2002, which allegations were substantiated by the Archdiocese review board in 2006.

8. Joseph R. Bennett was accused of abusing two girls between 1967 and 1973 at St. John Baptist De La Salle. He was removed in February 2006.

9. Norbert J. Maday was convicted in 1994 of sexually assaulting two boys and given a 20-year jail sentence. He was part of a 2003 Archdiocese settlement, and was named in another suit filed in 2006.

10. Robert Charles Becker, who is deceased, had an abuse suit against him settled in 2003. More abuse allegations arose in 2006, of which at least one claim settled with the Archdiocese in 2007.

11. Robert E. Mayer was convicted in 1992 of abusing a 13-year-old girl and was sentenced to three years in jail. He was taken off Lake County sex offender registry in March 2008 after his registration term expired. In 2006, four men filed a lawsuit alleging abuse by Mayer. One of the men settled in 2007 as part of larger settlement with the Archdiocese. Mayer had been named in an earlier lawsuit that was settled in 1982.

12. Therese Albrecht and the Rev. Joseph Bennett at her Holy Communion when she was seven years old. Albrecht alleges she was raped and sodomized by Bennett.

13. During a press conference announcing a $12.7 million settlement between the Archdiocese of Chicago and victims abused by priests, Bob Brancato holds a picture of himself at the time he was allegedly abused by two priests. Brancato says he was abused by his principal, then-Rev. Donald Ryniecki at St. Joseph the Worker Catholic School in Wheeling. He says when he reported the alleged abuse to the Rev. James Steel, Steel began to abuse him.