A newly filed lawsuit is accusing the Catholic Archdiocese of Springfield of enabling and concealing the repeated sexual abuse of a young altar boy by Father John O’Connell at St. Mary’s Catholic School and Parish in Taylorville.
The lawsuit filed by Gould Grieco & Hensley PLLC in The Circuit Court of Sangamon County alleges the unnamed victim was sexually abused multiple times between 1991 and 1994 by Fr. O’Connell at St. Mary’s Catholic School and Parish, where the victim served as an altar boy and attended school.
The lawsuit claims the abuse happened on church grounds, including during altar boy training and preparation for Mass.
“This was about power and access,” said GGH Founding Partner Michael Grieco. “A priest took advantage of his authority to abuse a child while the Church looked the other way.”
The accused priest, Father John O’Connell, died in 2002. Attorneys say his death does not eliminate the need for accountability and the Diocese has not identified Fr. O’Connell as a priest with allegations of sexual misconduct against minors.
“A simple policy or procedure that prohibited priests from isolating children from other children or isolating them from a situation in which there are multiple adults or other people present would have helped prevent this,” said Charlie Terry, a partner at GGH. “And unfortunately, the Diocese of Springfield did not enact that.”
According to the complaint, the Diocese:
- Allowed clergy to be alone with children without supervision
- Failed to implement safeguards to prevent abuse
- Failed to report misconduct to authorities
“Parents place an extraordinary amount of trust in their church and religious leaders,” said GGH Attorney Georgia Booth. “Here, that trust was violated in the most devastating way possible. Institutions that fail to protect children must be held accountable.”
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