Articles Posted in Sexual Abuse

CNN has announced that they will be airing a one-hour special titled ” What the Pope Knew” on September 25 and September 26 at 7 PM and 10 PM central standard time. It is being indicated that the story will focus on how Ratzinger used to be in charge of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith (CDF). The CDF was often in charge of investigating alleged sexual abuse of minors by priests. The story will look at how the Pope handled several sex abuse investigations.

One of the stories is about Terry Kohut, an alleged victim of Wisconsin priest sex abuse. When Kohut was a teenager, he was sexually abused by a headmaster/priest at the St. John’s School for the Deaf in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The abuse allegedly went on for years. He was not alone, and from 1950 to 1974 Father Lawrence C Murphy allegedly sexually abused and raped as many as 200 deaf children, this according to church and court documents. Kohut has now filed a sex abuse lawsuit directly against the Vatican and actually naming the Pope as a defendant.

The CNN story will go on to talk about how the abuse of father Murphy was brought to the attention of Ratzinger and the CDF years ago, but that a church trial against Murphy was stopped and he was allowed to remain at his position of priest. The Kohut lawsuit alleges that the Vatican’s “policy of secrecy” in abuse cases helped to hide priest sex abuse of children, which in turn helped father Murphy continue abusing children.

Abogados de abuso sexual en Abels & Annes, P.C. en colaboración con Hilfman & Martin, se están preparando para presenter una tercera demanda contra la Arquidiócesis de Chicago con respecto a el ex sacerdote Daniel McCormack. El caso de abuso será presentada ante la Corte de Circuito del Condado de Cook en la próxima semana. La Arquidiócesis de Chicago, el Obispo católico de Chicago y el cardinal Francis George serán nombrados los acusados.

La demanda sera presentada a nombre de John M. Doe para protejerla identidad de la victima. El demandante alega que mientras estuvo en y alrededor de la parroquia de St. Agatha y la rectoria de St. Agatha en Chicago de aproximadamente octavo-grado (2002-2003) por su menor o año mayor en colegio secundario (2005-2007), el estuvo tocado de manera impropia y sexualmente, frotado y abusado por McCormack en múltiples ocasiones.

Se alega que funcionarios de la iglesia fallaron de quitar a McCormack de sus deberes como sacerdote después de ganar información que tuvo una historia de reclamos contra él para el abuso sexual desde su tiempo en el seminario.

A driver charged with sexual assault on a Chicago school bus had been the subject of a previous allegation made by a teenage girl, the Breaking News Center reported.

The 27-year-old driver remains in Cook County Jail on $750,000 bond after being charged in January with aggravated criminal sexual abuse and criminal sexual assault. He also faces charges of kidnapping and unlawful restraint.

In March 2009, a 17-year-old special education student said the defendant took her to a secluded area and sexually assaulted her. Two months later, he reportedly threatened to kill her for reporting him to police. At that time, he was reportedly fired but nevertheless was able to renew his permit to drive a school bus. On Jan. 8, he allegedly attempted to assault another school girl while driving a bus.

The Chicago injury lawyers at Abels & Annes, working as co-counsel with the law firm of Hilfman & Martin, have filed a church sex abuse lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Chicago, the Catholic Bishop of Chicago and Cardinal Francis George.

The lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of James C. Doe to protect the identity of the victim, accuses Catholic officials of failing to relieve Father Daniel McCormack of his official duties despite having information that McCormack had a history of abuse complaints dating back to his time in the seminary. The abuse in this case is alleged to have occurred while the boy was a middle-school student from 1999 to 2002 and continued through 2006 while the boy was in high school.

McCormack pleaded guilty in 2007 to charges that he abused five boys. He was sentenced to five years in prison and had been scheduled for release but officials have filed a lawsuit to keep him confined as a sexually violent person, ABC7 reported.

Two priests in Joliet, Illinois have been removed for allegedly sexually abusing a student in the 1970s, according to the Herald-News. The abuse allegedly occurred at different times while the victim was a student at Providence Catholic in New Lenox and Joliet Catholic High School, which is now called Joliet Catholic Academy. The victim is now in his 40s and resides in Florida. The names of the victim or the priests have not been made public.

On Friday a news conference was held by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) in Joliet. The investigation was made public a that time and Snap demanded more action be taken regarding the priests.

After the news conference, the Joliet diocese announced that the priests had been removed from the ministry.

An Illinois man is suing Pope Benedict XVI and senior Vatican officials, claiming they failed to protect him from sexual assault as a teenager from a Wisconsin priest they knew was a possible child molester, the Chicago Breaking News Center reported.

The case is the latest in a long string of claims against the Catholic Church in the Chicago area and across the nation. As we reported on our Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer blog last summer, the church paid $3.9 million to settle with six victims who reported sexual abuse by priests.

Identified in court papers as John Doe 16, the man said he was repeatedly molested by a priest while a student at St. John’s School for the deaf in the Milwaukee area.