$880K settlement in abuse case involving ex-Southwest Side priest

Chicago’s local arm of the Catholic Church has reached an $880,000 settlement with two former altar boys who were sexually abused by a priest at a Southwest Side parish 35 years ago.

Attorneys for the unnamed victims announced the settlement Wednesday, three months after the deal was reached with the Archdiocese of Chicago. The delay was due to the filing of paperwork following a mediation process, according to co-attorney Martin Gould.

The plaintiffs were 10 and 13 when they were abused by the late former Rev. Norbert Maday at St. Bede the Venerable, 8200 S. Kostner Ave., and at several other locations from 1977 to 1983, the attorneys said.

Maday was relocated by the archdiocese several times throughout his career as a priest. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 1994 for molesting two other teenage boys during separate 1986 parish outings to Oshkosh, Wis.

As in that case and others, the plaintiffs say Maday masturbated in front of them and groped them on multiple occasions, showing them pornography and encouraging them to get drunk before and during the abuse.

Letters showed the archdiocese worked for years to free Maday, who ended up serving his full sentence and has since died.

“Maday was a serial child molester and there were many children that were unfortunately abused by him which could have been prevented,” Gould said. “But we are grateful that the archdiocese recognized the problems from their past and made an effort, in this case, to sit down and hear from our clients.”

Archdiocese officials declined to comment.