Chicago archdiocese releases documents detailing sexual abuse by priests BY FRANCINE KNOWLES, KIM JANSSEN aND ART GOLAB Staff Reporters 
 
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 Kathy Laarveld, mother of a victim, and Joe Iacono, a victim himself, at a news conference on the release of files of Catholic priests credibly accused of sexually abusing minors in the Archdiocese of Chicago, on Tuesday, January 21, 2014. | Chandler West/For Sun-Times Media 
 
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 Sixty-two-year-old Joseph Iacono struggled to hold back tears and maintain his composure. 
 
 Fifty years after he was sexually abused by a priest, he welcomed the release of Archdiocese of Chicago documents Tuesday that revealed the archdiocese concealed allegations of sexual abuse by serial abusers, moved priests with multiple accusations against them, and typically did not immediately notify authorities of the abuse — putting more children at risk. 
 
 The more than 6,000 pages of long sought information, which lifts a veil of secrecy at the nation’s third largest archdiocese, cover abuse allegations against 30 priests that surfaced under the leadership of Cardinals John Cody, Joseph Bernardin and Francis George. 
 
 The document release was made by attorneys Jeff Anderson and Marc Pearlman, who represented more than 50 victims. It was prompted by their lawsuits and settlements. 
 
 The goals are to end the secrecy at the archdiocese, protect children, hold officials to account and encourage more victims to come forward, attorneys and victims at a press conference said. 
 
 “The documents “reflect [a] systematic, ongoing, decades-long continuous pattern of conscious choices by top officials of the archdiocese from Cardinal Cody to Bernardin to Cardinal George,” Anderson said. 
 
 Blame is also to be shared by bishops, members of the clergy and other top officials, “each of whom … became aware of … reports that priests were offending children, and they made intentional and conscious choices to conceal that, to protect the priests, protect the reputation of the archdiocese and in effect conceal the crime and give safe harbor to the offender,” he said. 
 
 They were not innocent mistakes, added Pearlman, stressing “These were decisions made at the very highest level.” 
 
 Among revelations in the documents: 
 
 ■ Vincent McCaffrey, who was ultimately sentenced to 20 years for child pornography, had been allowed by Bernardin and Cody to remain in ministry and relocate to other parishes after allegations of abuse. McCaffrey ultimately admitted to molesting more than a dozen victims between 1976 and 1990. He wasn’t defrocked until 2010. 
 
 ■ Bernardin agreed to appoint Robert Mayer as pastor of a Berwyn church after multiple allegations of sexual abuse were levied against him. The promotion was supported by the church’s board of vicars. Bernardin forced him to resign after more allegations surfaced. Mayer was ultimately convicted of sexual abuse of a minor. 
 
 ■ George kept Joseph Bennett in ministry for nearly four years after allegations of abuse surfaced against him. Allegations came from an individual who passed a lie detector test and from a person who accurately described bodily markings on Bennett’s lower body. Bennett was never criminally charged. 
 
 ■ The late priest Robert Becker, who at times was accused of abusing in tandem with the late priest Kenneth Ruge, was moved following allegations. Among one of the multiple allegations was abuse against three children in one family. Neither Becker nor Ruge were ever criminally charged, although the archdiocese gave prosecutors records on Ruge after receiving a 1992 subpoena. 
 
 ■ Victims making allegations were investigated. 
 
 Of the 30 priests included in the documents, 14 are dead, and the remainder are no longer in ministry, according to the archdiocese. About 95 percent of the reported allegations occurred before 1988, and none occurred after 1996, it said. 
 
 Attorneys blasted the fact that no church officials were ever fired or prosecuted over their mishandling of the allegations. 
 
 “The Archdiocese acknowledges that its leaders made some decisions decades ago that are now difficult to justify,” the archdiocese said in a statement. “They made those decisions in accordance with the prevailing knowledge at the time. In the past 40 years, society has evolved in dealing with matters related to abuse.” 
 
 Before 1992, employees were expected to report sexual misconduct as part of “general personnel management,” archdiocesan spokeswoman Susan Burritt said in a statement. “It was not the subject of formal policy.” 
 
 Since 2002, allegations of sexual misconduct are reported immediately to civil authorities, and no priest with one substantiated allegation of sexual abuse of a minor can serve in public ministry, she said. 
 
 “While we complied with the reporting laws in place at the time, the church and its leaders have acknowledged repeatedly that they wished they had done more and done it sooner, but now are working hard to regain trust, to reach out to victims and their families, and to make certain that all children and youth are protected,” the archdiocese said. 
 
 Iacono, who said he was abused by the late Rev. Thomas Kelly, stressed that archdiocesan and other church leaders should have done much more to protect children. 
 
 “There was a massive cover-up,” he said. “The priest that abused me moved seven times and abused others. If they would have stopped him, if they would have stopped the others, there would be significantly less victims. [With] the release of these files … my hope is that there will be less victims in the future and people will stop putting the reputation of the institution above the welfare of the children.” 
 
 Kelly never faced official criminal charges. 
 
 The document release is important, said abuse survivor Angel Santiago. 
 
 “For some of us it will be answers,” he said. “For some of us it will be peace of mind ... But for all of us it’s a start.” 
 
 The revelations will bring pain, but also comfort, according to Kathy Laarveld, who said her son was a victim of abuse. 
 
 “This today is going to open an extremely painful scar, but it’s not going to be wide open, and it’s going to heal much more quickly,” she said. “ ... The files will tell the story for our son and for the other victims ... It will give them courage. It will give them hope.” ||||| Victims who were abused by Chicago Archdiocese priests speak out, on the day that the Archdiocese released thousands of pages of documents detailing the sexual misconduct of 30 priests. 
 
 Thousands of pages of secret church documents released Tuesday as part of a court settlement provide an unprecedented and gut-wrenching look at how the Archdiocese of Chicago for years failed to protect children from abusive priests. 
 
 The documents provide new details and insights into how the nation's third-largest archdiocese quietly shuttled accused priests from parish to parish and failed to notify police of child abuse allegations. The paper trail, going back decades, also portrays painfully slow progress toward reform, accountability and openness. 
 
 Most of the 30 clergymen tied to the documents were not prosecuted. They were shielded by Roman Catholic Church officials who thought the men could be cured with counseling, by bishops blinded by a belief in second chances and forgiveness, and by leaders concerned a public scandal would damage the church's image. 
 
 “That's in the past, we're hoping,” Cardinal Francis George said in an interview this week. 
 
 While most of the incidents did happen in the past and spurred reforms, many of the allegations surfaced during George's tenure. He already has admitted to mishandling the incident that did happen under his watch — the case of convicted child molester Daniel McCormack. McCormack was arrested in August 2005 after a 10-year-old boy claimed the priest had fondled him. Police said the boy's story was credible but released McCormack after getting a call from an official of the archdiocese. 
 
 Documents from the McCormack case are not part of the public release, having been sealed by a judge for pending litigation. 
 
 But a case that arose just days after the high-profile January 2006 arrest of McCormack does appear in the trove of documents, illustrating how George still struggled to grasp the severity of sex abuse allegations. 
 
 The internal archdiocese files chronicle how George and those under his leadership mishandled the case of the Rev. Joseph R. Bennett, a priest accused of molesting two sisters between 1967 and 1973 at St. John de la Salle in Chicago. About a dozen more allegations have surfaced since, according to the documents. 
 
 Therese Albrecht, the first of the two girls, came forward in late 2003. Her older sister, Susan, now 56, of Midlothian, said they didn't tell each other until they were adults. 
 
 “At the time, my father was very ill, and Bennett would tell me if I told anyone, he'd snap his fingers and my dad would be dead before I got home,” Susan Albrecht said. 
 
 After a two-year internal church review, George kept Bennett under the supervision of a monitor, the Rev. Leonard Dubi, according to the files. But the cardinal's own hand-picked review board warned him in 2003 and again in 2005 that Dubi might not be the best monitor for Bennett as the two were close friends. In fact, the two clergymen had vacationed together in Cancun, Mexico, earlier that year, according to a Feb. 9, 2003, vacation notice in his file. 
 
 Still, George disagreed, discounted the board's recommendations and continued to let Dubi serve as Bennett's monitor. George initially agreed with his board's October 2005 conclusion that Bennett be “immediately removed.” But documents reveal the cardinal soon had second thoughts. 
 
 “I realize this creates a rather awkward situation, but I believe I need to reflect on this matter further,” George wrote in a Nov. 7, 2005, letter. Days after McCormack's arrest, George removed Bennett from ministry. 
 
 The cache of documents includes several letters from Holy Ghost parishioners to the cardinal expressing support for Bennett after his removal. In a July 14, 2006, response, George made a curious suggestion to one concerned parishioner. 
 
 “Of course, I hope Fr. Bennett is innocent — who would not? Rather than with me, I suggest you talk to his accusers.” 
 
 The McCormack and Bennett cases did spark some archdiocese reforms, including the use of outside auditors and better reporting to police and child welfare officials. 
 
 Bennett, now 73, has never been charged with a crime. He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in church documents. He never returned to active ministry after 2006 but was never defrocked. 
 
 Bennett, who resigned in summer 2012, could not be reached for comment. 
 
 Patrick Reardon, Bennett's lawyer at the time, said the priest maintained his innocence. “These are damaged souls — all around,” said Reardon, now a Cook County public defender. “The victims. The accusers. The accused. The ones who did it. The ones who didn't.” 
 
 George has found himself also repeatedly apologizing for the conduct of his predecessors. One victim wrote to the cardinal about two abusive priests from the 1970s and 1980s who, records show, had an arrangement to share boys. The victim wanted to know how the church could protect these men.
– The Archdiocese of Chicago has released more than 6,000 pages of internal documents showing decades of hidden sexual abuse by 30 priests. Priests accused of abuse still received promotions, while alleged victims faced church-backed investigations, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. The church moved accused priests between parishes and left abuse unreported; most of the men were never prosecuted, the Chicago Tribune notes. None of the 30 priests, 14 of whom have died, are currently in the ministry, the archdiocese says. No allegations in the documents, released following a lawsuit, occurred after 1996, it adds—though some allegations came to light during the tenure of current Cardinal Francis George, the Tribune notes. The vicar general of the third-largest archdiocese in the US says the church didn't try to cover up the abuse, though he acknowledged that the institution made mistakes, the Sun-Times notes. Among the cases noted by the newspapers: Despite abuse accusations, Cardinals John Cody and Joseph Bernardin let Vincent McCaffrey, who eventually admitted abusing more than a dozen people between 1976 and 1990, stay in the priesthood, switching between parishes; he was finally defrocked in 2010. McCaffrey received a 20-year sentence for child pornography. Father Robert Becker also got a transfer following allegations; he was accused of attacks involving another priest, Kenneth Ruge. Becker was accused of abusing three siblings. Robert Mayer was appointed pastor even after several allegations emerged. The church board of vicars backed the appointment. Following allegations of child abuse, Cardinal John Cody wrote to the Rev. Raymond Skriba in 1970: "I feel that this whole matter should be forgotten by you as it has been forgotten by me … No good can come of trying to prove or disprove the allegations."