Archdiocese paying abuse victim $3.2M

CHICAGO, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- An 18-year-old man sexually abused as a boy by a priest has won a $3.2 million settlement from the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, his lawyer said.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported lawyer William Martin said the victim was abused from the ages of 10 to 12 by now-defrocked priest Daniel McCormack.

The victim had sued the Archdiocese of Chicago and Cardinal Francis George in 2007, arguing they failed to prevent McCormack from having access to children as a priest, teacher and coach at St. Agatha Parish and Our Lady of the Westside School on Chicago's West Side.

McCormack, who pleaded guilty to charges involving five boys, including the victim who received the settlement, was arrested in January 2006 and charged with multiple counts of criminal sexual assault.

Martin said the victim who received the settlement has attended weekly therapy but still avoids even passing a church and loses his breath if he sees someone bearing a physical likeness to McCormack.

The settlement "provides a whole new set of options and opportunities for him," Martin said. "He has an opportunity, too, to end the cycle of violence that occurs with some of these kids who are victims" of child sexual abuse by continuing in therapy.