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	Suit: Bishop Dismissed Abuse Claim By Rummana Hussain rhussain@suntimes.com Chicago Sun-Times April 28, 2006 http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-priests28.html A former altar boy and student at Lombard's St. Pius X parish Thursday accused two priests who worked at the Roman Catholic church of molesting him in the mid-1970s, and blamed Joliet Bishop Joseph Imesch for dimissing the actions of one of the alleged abusers. Tim Greco said he only got the courage to speak out against the Rev. Phillip Dedera and the Rev. Richard Bennett because he has been sober for several years after a nearly three-decade battle with alcohol, and because his son recently turned 11 -- the same age that Greco says the sexual abuse began. "It just destroys me to know that there's men out there that could do this to children," the married, Arizona-based owner of a home-theater business said through tears. "I can't let it happen to my son or anybody else's children." Dedera was removed from his assignment at Naperville's Edward Hospital in 2002 after the ministry found credible evidence that he abused another victim in the 1970s. The Joliet Diocese denies the accusations against Bennett. He will remain pastor at Holy Spirit Catholic Community Church in Naperville, but his activities will be "limited and restricted" while the Joliet Diocese Review Committee looks into the present situation, according to a diocese statement. Fondling alleged The committee had already investigated the matter two years ago and determined the allegations against Bennett, who also heads a deanery, were unsubstantiated, the statement said. If any new facts come to light, the committee will reconsider its decision. Unlike Dedera, that was the first time Bennett had been accused of any wrongdoing. Greco's attorneys, Jeff Anderson and Marc Pearlman, filed a lawsuit in DuPage County Court on Thursday detailing abuse that allegedly took place between 1974 and 1975. Greco, now 43, said Dedera took advantage of his troubled adolescence by taking him under his wing and plying him with marijuana and alcohol. The priest sexually abused him more than 100 times during weekend trips to weddings and funerals and an excursion to Wisconsin, Greco said. Bennett once walked in on Dedera assaulting Greco in a shower but never took action, Greco said. Instead, he allegedly fondled the boy several weeks later. 'Attorney did not respond' Greco said he called Imesch in 2004 to discuss Bennett's misconduct but was brushed off. Imesch, Greco said, offered counseling and implied that the fondling might have been something he "brought upon himself." Through a letter from his attorney that year, Imesch even suggested that Greco may have confused another priest's conduct with Bennett's. Greco said he never heard from the diocese again. But diocese officials said Greco was invited to appear before the Review Committee. "The attorney did not respond to the invitation, and no further information from the accuser was provided," the statement said.
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