F-R-A-U-D
Attention, United States bishops: In handling alleged sexual abuse by clergy, you might consider following the lead of the Archdiocese of Chicago, who is now finally forcefully retaliating against crooked individuals who have filed bogus abuse lawsuits against the diocese. The message from Chicago is clear: It is time to get aggressive against the fraud being perpetrated against the Church.
The case in Chicago involves one we have reported on before. In 2006, now ex-priest Daniel J. McCormack pleaded guilty to criminally fondling five children at St. Agatha Church on the impoverished West Side of Chicago. Since then, however, more than 130 men have come forward to claim that they too were abused by the priest, costing the archdiocese tens of millions of dollars. Yet nearly all, if not all, of the additional claims are patently bogus.
The fraud in this case was exposed a few years back after a group of two dozen men, which included known gang members and felons, filed suit against the Church claiming abuse by McCormack. Their only problem: they had been captured on prison audio scheming to falsely accuse McCormack to score some "free-ass money," with one grifter even stating that he was all-in on accusing McCormack as long as nobody had to "touch me for real."
After the Chicago archdiocese filed a countersuit against the fraudsters last year, and the fraudsters tried to get the claim dismissed, a judge ruled just last month that the archdiocese's lawsuit against the fraudsters could continue to move forward. (This was first reported by The Pillar.)
Let's hope justice will prevail.
It is 2026 – not 1985!
Meanwhile, outside of Chicago, the bishops in the United States still appear to be doing nothing to address the current rampancy of false accusations against priests and the utter lack of due process afforded to those who are accused.
At last month's annual American conference, the bishops "updated" their notorious 2002 "Dallas Charter," which set the standards by which the Church in the United States would respond to abuse accusations against priests. The result in the nearly quarter century since the Charter was approved: the presumption of innocence for priests has been thrown out the window and the Church in the United States has doled out in the neighborhood of $4 billion of the Church's riches, usually for patently bogus or greatly exaggerated claims.
And yet the bishops' update to the Charter was largely a nothingburger providing no additional due process rights for wrongfully accused priests.
As we've demonstrated numerous times in the past, that even by the Church's own annual audit reports, as little as 6% of all accusations every year are even deemed "substantiated" by the lenient standards of diocesan review boards, with the vast majority left in a forever "limbo" in which a determination of veracity is never made. Yet in reading its "update" (pdf) last month to the Charter, too often one would think that the bishops were still at the beginning stage of addressing a burgeoning crisis, as if it were still 1985.
While the bishops make the obligatory remark that priests are entitled to a "presumption of innocence" when faced with an accusation, they also say, "We commit ourselves always to act on the presumption of the sincerity of those who bring forth a complaint of sexual abuse." But this is a complete contradiction. How can one say a priest is presumed innocent while also acting as if every accuser is certainly telling the truth? Would bishops say those fraudsters in Chicago were entitled to a "presumption of sincerity"? We would hope not.
But most troubling, the update concludes that even when an accusation against a priest "does not have the semblance of truth, then every possible step is to be taken to acknowledge the good reputation that the cleric possesses and, if appropriate, to return him to some form of ministry" (emphasis added). Wait. Why would an accused priest not automatically return fully to his position if the claims against him were completely bogus?
The bishops are way off base when they consider the possibility that a completely innocent priest not return to full ministry as he was before the allegation. The bishops' cry of "presumption of innocence" for accused priests rings hollow.
How should bishops be addressing accusations of abuse made against priests in 2026? Look to Chicago, and go after the fraud first before fully compensating all bona fide victims.
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VERY RECOMMENDED:
- !!! "Will the Dallas Charter Update Finally Give Priests Due Process?" by Msgr. Thomas G. Guarino (First Things, June 2026)
- "Opinion: The U.S. bishops missed an opportunity with changes to the 'Charter'" by Michael Mazza (Catholic World Report, June 2026)
After the years of research that you have performed, one would think that any given diocese would hire you and pay you for the research that you are doing that would be in the interest of clearing the name of the Catholic Church, not to mention the many priests who have been falsely accused, and as you say are in limbo. Perhaps WCVB TV should take up this cause Of investigationand make it public. What will it take for this to happen?