3 sue ex-priest, also blame other clergy

Three unnamed men sued the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago on Tuesday over sexual abuse they say they suffered at the hands of a Chicago priest who's serving a 20-year prison term for molesting two boys on outings in Wisconsin in 1986.

Chicago Sun Times/May 3, 2006
By Cathleen Falsani

The three men who filed the lawsuit against the archdiocese and Norbert Maday, the former priest, are known as: John Doe 107, a 30-year-old who lives in Maryland and claims Maday molested him from 1985 to 1986 at Our Lady of the Ridge Parish in Chicago Ridge; John Doe 108, a 38-year-old Illinois resident who claims the priest repeatedly molested him from 1979 to 1980 at St. Bede the Venerable in Chicago, and John Doe 109, a 42-year-old Illinoisan who says Maday molested him from 1977 to 1978.

The abuse involved "oral copulation" and "genital manipulation," said Jeffrey Anderson, an attorney for all three men. The suit claims at least four other archdiocese priests were either aware of the abuse or had reason to believe Maday was acting inappropriately.

In 1992, Maday, who was associate pastor of Our Lady of the Ridge, was charged in Wisconsin's Winnebago County with molesting two boys at a religious retreat in Wisconsin six years earlier. He was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Jim Dwyer, a spokesman for the archdiocese, said it's better for victims to settle with the archdiocese.

"But if they insist on filing a lawsuit rather than accept our offer to settle their claims, then we're going to respond according to the rules of the court," he said.