Two new lawsuits filed alleging sexual abuse by former priest McCormack

Two more lawsuits were filed Thursday against the Archdiocese of Chicago, alleging sexual abuse by convicted child molester and defrocked priest Daniel McCormack.

The lawsuits, filed on behalf of “John T. Doe 24” and “John M. Doe,” were filed in Cook County Circuit Court by the law offices of Lyndsay A. Markley, according to a statement from the law firm.

One of the men alleges he was abused on and off between 2001 and 2006, beginning when he was 7 years old, according to the attorneys. The other alleges he was sexually abused on two occasions in 2001, when he was 14. Both were part of an after-school program—”Safe”—at St. Agatha Parish on the West Side.

“We understand from media reports that two lawsuits involving former priest Daniel McCormack were filed today,” archdiocese spokeswoman Susan Burritt said in a statement. “When lawsuits are filed, judges and lawyers involved in litigation understand the responsibility to try a case in the court and not in the media.”

“Daniel McCormack is no longer a priest,” Burrittt said. “He was removed from public ministry in February of 2006 and laicized (removed from the priesthood) in November 2007.”

“No priest with even one substantiated allegation of sexual abuse of a minor serves in ministry in the Archdiocese of Chicago today,” Burritt added.

McCormack was originally arrested for sex crimes in January 2006, the Sun-Times reported previously. He pleaded guilty in 2007 to abusing five children while he was a parish priest at St. Agatha. He was sentenced to five years in prison.

Last year, McCormick was charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse in a 2005 incident involving a boy who was a minor at the time, according to the Sun-Times. He was denied bond in that case and is being held at a treatment center.

Each six-count suit seeks more than $300,000 in damages.