Chicago archdiocese pays $2.95 million to victim of pedophile priest

Daniel McCormack

On Tuesday, the Chicago Tribune reported that “a man has reached a $2.95 million settlement with the Archdiocese of Chicago over claims he was sexually abused as a young boy by disgraced former Catholic priest Daniel McCormack, according to the man’s attorney. The man, who is in his late 20s, sued the archdiocese in 2013 alleging that McCormack abused him twice when he was a student at St. Agatha’s Catholic Church.”

“Father Dan McCormack’s predatory behavior never left his mind,” his attorney Eugene Hollander said in a news release. “(While) it has been a long and difficult time, my client wanted to send a message to other victims of sexual abuse — that you should not suffer in silence.”

The news comes in the aftermath of the recent Pennsylvania investigation by their attorney general , where it was revealed that there were seven Roman Catholic priests mentioned, of those that had abused 1,000 children that are now in Illinois. And, in response Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has asked all six Catholic dioceses in the state to show all of their records, policies and procedure, and files, associated with pedophile priests.

In addition she has also set up a telephone hotline and email address for victims to report their experiences.

It is obvious that this, now, pandemic, threatens the moral authority of the church, and its survival, and Francis is in a tight spot to “talk the talk” that he espoused in his early days, when liberal Catholics were eager to embrace an expected, and dramatic, change in the church,  unseen since Pope John XXIII, in the 1960s.

The pontiff had, as his main charge, to stem the tide of the departure of Catholics, not only in Europe, from the church, where Mass attendance had dwindled, but specifically in the U.S. (where the bulk of the money comes from), and to harness the irritation towards the liberals by the more conservative Vatican officials and prelates.

On Thursday, the liberal National Catholic Reporter, said that “Pope Francis has defended the measures undertaken by the Catholic Church in recent years to respond to clergy sexual abuse, saying the global institution has grown in its understanding of the "monstrous" problem and has "spared no effort" to protect children.

Lisa Madigan

In her statement at the end of August, when announcing the Illinois investigation, Madigan said “the Catholic Church has a moral obligation to provide its parishioners and the public a complete and accurate accounting of all sexually inappropriate behavior involving priests in Illinois, and, “she expects the dioceses to cooperate fully or she will work with states' attorneys and law enforcement throughout Illinois to investigate.”

By contrast, the pontiff said that the number of children abused over past decades "has diminished because the church has realized that it must fight in a different way."

"In older times, these things were covered up," he said. "They covered it up because there was a very great shame. It was a way of thinking in the ... past century, “plus, "The church has ... become aware of this and has spared no effort," Francis emphasized.

Critics of the church note that the McCormack abuse was revealed shortly after the U.S. bishops met in Dallas, and said that there would be zero tolerance, yet his abuse continued, despite that assertion.

Journalists appeared to be stonewalled, by the Pope, when after the recent trip to Estonia, one directly asked Francis “about the Sept. 25 formal release of a report in Germany that documented the abuse of more than 3,600 people by Catholic clergy over a period of 68 years.”

The pope, in his reply, appeared to construct a rhetorical defense around the issue when he said: "An historic fact is interpreted with the hermeneutic of the time in which it took place, not by the hermeneutic of today.”

“Francis has been under intense global scrutiny for his handling of clergy sexual abuse after former Vatican ambassador Archbishop Carlo Viganò released a document in August alleging a systemic cover-up of allegations against now ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick, “ NCR noted.

To date, his only response to the accusations, was in late August, after his last trip to Ireland, when he said, that the document contained “a host of unsubstantiated and ideological claims and has now been revealed to have been drafted with the help of several ultra-right-wing Catholic figures,” and that it "speaks for itself."

Details of the abuse have grown increasingly sordid, as evidenced in Pennsylvania, by, “Fr. Chester Gawronski of Erie, who told young boys he abused he was giving them cancer checks.”

Adding to the dysfunction, when “Fr. Michael Lawrence confessed his sexual abuse of a boy to a monsignor, who through the diocese ruled the experience wouldn't be a "trauma" for the victim.”

Tracking the trauma, Madigan has said, on record: “I plan to reach out to the other dioceses in Illinois to have the same conversation and expect the bishops will agree and cooperate fully. If not, I will work with state’s attorneys and law enforcement throughout Illinois to investigate.”

The right-leaning publication, The Catholic Register, has reported that most Illinois dioceses were cooperating fully with Madigan. And, by example, they noted that, “The following day, the Diocese of Rockford stated: “We look forward to discussing with the attorney general’s office the diocese’s sexual-abuse policies and procedures.”

Concern for the victims has not always been evident from church officials, yet Harrisburg (Pa.) Bishop Ronald Gainer called the abuse allegations a cause of great sadness and called for victims to continue coming forward.

"Many of those victimized as children continue, as survivors, to suffer from the harm they experienced," he said in a statement. "In my own name, and in the name of the Church of Harrisburg, I ask for forgiveness for the sinfulness of those who have committed these crimes and helped create an environment that tolerated or accepted this behavior."

While there are many theories relating to many of these allegations, most are older, often decades and the men themselves are often graduates of minor seminaries where boys as young as thirteen received little more education, than how to say Mass; and continuing to major seminaries, often at Catholic colleges, they were often isolated from the general student body.

One person, who asked not to be identified remembered his experience at a seminary in the Mid-Atlantic, when they would enter the dining room, a “giant screen was pulled to shield us from the temptations of the lay student body, as they were known.”

They were also shielded from the developmental realities of youth including sex, and often relations with each other, which were frowned upon, but not as egregiously, as “punch and Judy” a reference to alcohol and women.

A Dutch psychologist, Anna Terruwe concluded after intense research, and interviews that many Catholic priests are emotionally immature, and had “insufficient development” in their emotional lives, perhaps, in part, by this older path towards ordination.

Certainly, the all male environment that excludes women from any authority, has not helped, but there are those that see the dilemma as rooted in gay male culture and less than a week ago, a Chicago Catholic priest  burned a rainbow flag.

The Rev. Paul Kalchik, pastor of Resurrection Catholic Church in Avondale, burned a gay friendly rainbow flag that former pastors used to welcome LGBTQ people to the parish.
 
“What this priest did, and his uninformed and bigoted statements, give scandal to the people of God and promote bigotry, violence and hatred,” said Rick Garcia, longtime LGBTQ civil rights activist and a practicing Roman Catholic. “As far back as 1976 the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops stated that gay people are entitled to ‘friendship, love and justice’ (To Live in Christ Jesus, 1976). What Kalchik did was neither friendly, loving nor just.”
 
“To his great credit Blase Cardinal Cupich told the priest to not move forward with the flag burning and if he did there would be ‘canonical penalties’ and the cardinal was clear in affirming the dignity of all people, including gay people,”  noted Garcia.
 
Kalchik was critical of the Cardinal and especially previous priests at the parish who he accused of promoting “the gay lifestyle” and he linked the Church’s pedophile scandal to gay priests.”

Cardinal Cupich

“Nothing is farther from the truth,” Garcia stated. “All studies and analysis and even our Cardinal have debunked the idea that gay people are pedophiles” or threats to our children he said. “Moreover, his comments about gay people and our lives demonstrate that at best he is ignorant of the truth and at worst a total disregard for it.”
 
“There is no room in our Church, much less among our clergy, for bigotry the promotion of animosity and violence against any group of people, said Garcia.

On Saturday, less than a few days later, “at the 4:30 Mass a visiting priest read a letter from Cupich saying that effective immediately Father Kalchik was removed as pastor.”

"Hearing the announcement of Kalchik's removal swelled my heart," said Garcia and noted that, “The Cardinal not only acted appropriately in removing this anti-gay and seriously troubled priest he did it in a timely manner."

What is certain, is that Francis has a huge ticking time bomb, under his feet, and that without swift and immediate action, there will be more lawsuits, and more victims coming forward, at continued cost to the moral authority of the Roman church.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel will not seek re-election

Like a thunderbolt, the news was startling --- the day before the trial of the Chicago Police Officer, Jason Van Dyke, accused of shooting black teenager, Laquan McDonald, 16 times, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced this Tuesday with his wife, Amy Rule, at his side, “ As much as I love this job and will always love this city and its residents, I have decided not to seek re-election.”

Many City Hall observers have said that the timing of the announcement was crucial, and that knowing that there would be planned demonstrations, all over the city, but especially in front of his office and also near the courthouse, that could have not only become unruly, but a violent protest against his alleged suppression that the infamous dashcam tape, might turn ugly, and in a coda to his stacking dollars in a campaign fund, it might not be enough if he faced the shame of being drummed out of office, in the 2019 election, but also an earlier public embarrassment on the national stage, before he could get in campaign gear.

Even fresh from being President Obama’s chief of staff, Emanuel held himself above the fray, not even committing to a hard core campaign for his first term, and mostly avoided the typical rush to shake hands at the subway stations, preferring instead to take an extended vacation with his family - a move that many thought of as presumptuous, even arrogant.

Elected with over 45 percent of the Black wards, and over a black candidate, Carol Moseley Braun, Emanuel took this as a mandate, but then, as critics noted, later closed over 50 schools in black neighborhoods, and a near equal measure of mental health clinics, for a population that could scarcely afford food, not to mention psychotherapy, that many saw as betrayal.

In his remarks the 58 year-old acknowledged the old Washington cliché, of “I am leaving to spend more time with my family,” an old canard that the late Meg Greenfield, columnist for the Washington Post and Newsweek, that evoked suspects of losing an important political fight, or a financial peccadillo.

What he did say was, after thanking Rule for being a “remarkable First Lady”, and that, “We’re blessed with three great children, and I owe them so much as well. Politicians always say they’re leaving office to spend more time with their family. My kids were smart enough to see that coming and scattered to the two coasts, so as of the other day we are now empty nesters.”

Humor, and love, aside Emanuel, despite raising millions for his campaign chest, was on thin ice, and after his last campaign, was forced into a run-off, against Cook County Commissioner, Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, a first in Chicago mayoral history, was perhaps no better illustrated than a picture of him running along an ice-covered street eager to talk to a tall, fashionably dressed black woman, head wrapped African style, who shot him a wary glance, as he tried to shake her hand with an almost heard plea of “Just let me go home, please!”

While he served the LGBT community well in a number of ways that they acknowledged: “". . . on behalf of the LGBTQ community, he secured funding and worked with the Chicago City Council to develop and complete the city’s first affordable housing complex for LGBTQ seniors. Mayor Emanuel partnered with former City Clerk Susana Mendoza and current City Clerk Anna Valencia to develop the municipal ID program that allows transgender and gender non-conforming individuals to select the marker of the gender with which they identify . . . “

But, for many black and brown people it was different, with many calling for his resignation, after a local judge ordered the release of the aforementioned tape, not to mention a teachers strike that had many women of color fighting for parity.

While some of supporters praised him for mandating a longer school day, the Chicago Teachers Union, took umbrage when he did not want to pay them more for a longer day.

Despite inheriting a financial mess, Emanuel’s efforts at improving the pension crisis, was mostly bungled with a series of regressive taxes, and a reluctance to look at best practices from other cities, he augured for more loans and at higher and higher interest rates; so much so that it appeared that Chicago had to borrow to pay the latter.

Test scores improved at the schools along with graduation rates, yet he played a cat and mouse game with closing some schools, only to reopen others, even as student enrollment dwindled, but was revealed to be a surreptitious plan when the surrounding neighborhood was being gentrified, depriving once again black and brown CPS students of a decent education.

Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Jesse Sharkey said in a statement: after acknowledging the Mayor's unpopularity and resentment by many residents, said of  Emanuel’s reputation, “Maybe it’s different down in Emerald City, in the gleaming downtown, but out in the neighborhoods … in the working class parts of this city, this is not a popular mayor,” Sharkey said.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported that “Sharkey said the CTU would only back a candidate that supports an elected school board, is committed to raising revenue for schools and will work towards raising school standards across the city.”

Former police superintendent Garry McCarthy had to fall on his sword to appease the mayor’s critics over the McDonald issue, only to have to face a scathing Department of Justice appraisal and a consent decree to do better, and an equally scathing statement when he announced his mayoral candidacy, in an already crowded field.

Now that field that includes education leader Troy LaRaviere, City Clerk, Dorothy Brown, business man Willie Wilson, former CPS CEO, Paul Vallas and former police accountability board leader, Lori Lightfoot, are all under the spotlight, but the field remains open, and for many Chicago residents, who welcomed a change, they can put their sights on a new face to tackle the many challenges the city faces, rather than battle the maligned incumbent.