Seven New Lawsuits Accuse the Archdiocese of Chicago of Ignoring Decades of Abuse at a Shuttered South Side Parish

Chicago attorneys have filed more than half a dozen lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Chicago that accuse church leaders of knowing for decades that priests were abusing children at a South Side parish and doing nothing to stop it, WTTW News reported on Oct. 13. The lawsuits, announced at a press conference the same day, allege the priests effectively operated what the filings describe as a "sex ring" at the parish, according to WTTW's account of the complaints.

WGN-TV, which also covered the announcement, reported that seven suits were filed Tuesday and that they focus on the former Holy Angels parish, where attorneys allege dozens of Black children were sexually abused by several priests between 1969 and 2002. According to WGN, lawyers for the plaintiffs said roughly 30 people are connected to the current filings and that the number has continued to grow, and that they are working with more than 100 people in similar cases.

The attorneys framed the litigation as an institutional failure rather than a series of isolated acts, arguing the archdiocese breached a decades-long duty to protect children in predominantly Black and historically underserved South Side neighborhoods, WGN reported. The accused clergy are not named here as a matter of site policy. The allegations in the lawsuits have not been tested in court; readers can find the full reporting at the source link.