Chicago Archdiocese pays $5.4 million to settle 9 sex abuse claims against 8 priests

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago has settled nine sexual abuse claims against eight priests for a combined $5.4 million, according to attorneys who announced the agreements at a news conference Thursday.

The settlements were all finalized within the past two weeks, said Marc Pearlman, one of the lawyers representing the victims. "Nobody's paying that kind of money for something that didn't happen," Pearlman said. "This is validation that it happened."

The allegations span roughly three decades, from the early 1970s to the late 1990s. The victims ranged in age from 6 to 14 years old when the abuse occurred, according to the attorneys.

The accused priests and the parishes or schools where they served include Michael Cepon of St. Mary of the Assumption Church in Chicago, Russell Romano of Quigley Preparatory Seminary South High School in Chicago, Clement Carroll of Our Lady of Peace School in Chicago, William Devereux of St. Martha of Bethany Church in Morton Grove, James Sayers of St. Joseph Parish and St. John Neumann Parish in Homewood, Norbert Mayday of Our Lady of the Ridge in Chicago Ridge, David Braun of the St. Francis Xavier campus of Saints JFX School in Wilmette, and William O'Connor of St. Paul Catholic Church in Chicago Heights. Most of the accused priests have died. Two of the nine settlements involve allegations against Mayday.

Four of the eight priests named in the settlements, Cepon, Carroll, Sayers and O'Connor, do not appear on the archdiocese's public list of credibly accused clergy members, a discrepancy the victims' attorneys pointed out at the news conference.

In a statement, the archdiocese said the timing of the claims is "consistent with the large majority of claims coming forward today" and noted that it has paid more than $400 million to survivors of clergy sexual abuse to date. "We have paid more than $400 million to survivors and continue to ask for survivors to come forward," the statement said. "They will be received with dignity and compassion."

The nine victims were represented by two law firms, Jeff Anderson & Associates and Pearlman and Anderson, which have handled clergy sexual abuse cases for more than 25 years. Together, the firms say they have represented hundreds of victims and secured more than $130 million in settlements over that span.

Melissa Anderson, one of the attorneys involved in the case, said the settlements offer clients a measure of closure rather than a full resolution of what they experienced. "What these settlements represent to our clients is some sort of measure of justice," Anderson said. "And our hope with all of our clients is that by the time we're able to resolve their case, they're in a better place at the end than they were at the beginning."

Alongside the settlement announcement, the victims' legal team released a new searchable database of Catholic clergy members accused of sexual abuse or misconduct involving minors worldwide. The database lets users search names, parishes and dioceses to check whether a priest has faced past allegations, including cases not listed on diocesan disclosure lists such as the one maintained by the Chicago archdiocese.

The victims' attorneys said the gap between their clients' cases and the archdiocese's public list shows the limits of relying on internal church review, since such lists are compiled without reference to court findings or settlement records. The archdiocese has not said whether it plans to review or update its list in light of the new claims.

No court dates or further legal proceedings tied to these nine claims were announced. The archdiocese's statement did not specify a timeline for any additional review of the accused priests' status.