(Chicago, IL) – Former Catholic priest, Vincent McCaffrey, came on our radar in 2001, shortly before the Boston priest abuse scandal broke. Soon thereafter, McCaffrey was arrested for child pornography. We quickly learned that McCaffrey was one of the most prolific pedophiles in the Archdiocese of Chicago, if not the country. The reckless handling and poor choices by Archdiocese leadership are the worst we have encountered. McCaffrey admits that the leadership was well aware of his problems and abuse of children but kept those issues secret from the public. They kept McCaffrey in ministry and transferred him from parish to parish when he was caught abusing children.
As a result of the courage of eight of our clients and other McCaffrey survivors who testified at McCaffrey’s sentencing hearing, McCaffrey received upward enhancements, bringing his sentence to twenty years, rather than the one year prison term that had been expected. This proves that when people come forward, things can be done to help them and protect other children.
By his own admission, McCaffrey abused over 100 children and is a predator of young boys – a predator who can’t be cured. We and our clients remain concerned because McCaffrey remains a significant risk to the communities in which he lives.
“While I’m grateful to law enforcement and the federal prosecutors for the amazing work they did to obtain a conviction, I remain gravely concerned for the safety of children now that he is no longer incarcerated. This is a man who abused so many children that he lost count. He admits he is a predator of young boys and that he can’t be cured.” – John Doe, McCaffrey Survivor
We encourage all those McCaffrey abused to come forward to us and law enforcement. Prior to his incarceration, McCaffrey served at the following parishes:
- 1979–1980: Unknown
- 1981: Our Lady of Loretto, Hometown, IL
- 1982–1989: St. Josaphat, Chicago, IL
- 1990–1991: Our Lady of the Good Counsel, Chicago, IL
- 1992–2009: Unknown
- 2010: Laicized