Victims get look at archdiocese's newly released priest sex abuse files

By Christy Gutowski And Cynthia Dizikes And Todd Lighty
Chicago Tribune
November 7, 2014

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-priest-abuse-archdiocese-met-20141105-story.html

The release Thursday of once-secret files of priests accused of child sex abuse offered a chance for victims like David Lasley to finally learn how the Archdiocese of Chicago had handled their allegations.

Lasley was a 12-year-old altar boy at St. Ailbe's Catholic Church on the South Side in the 1970s when he says John Calicott, the church's popular associate pastor, sexually abused him. He first reported the abuse to the church in 1994, having kept it secret for years out of shame and fear that no one would believe him.

Now 51, Lasley said he planned to read all 2,398 pages in Calicott's file.

"The truth is always better in the light," Lasley said. "It's because of the courage of the victims who came forward that this day has come. We know we have to immortalize this history in some way."

Lasley and victims' advocates said the release of the files was long overdue.