(Chicago Tribune) Three men accused Rev. Norbert Maday of sexually abusing them more than 20 years ago at St. Bede the Venerable in Chicago and Our Lady of the Ridge in Chicago Ridge in a civil suit filed Tuesday against the priest and the Chicago Archdiocese in Cook County Circuit Court.
Maday is serving a 20-year sentence for molesting two boys during outings to central Wisconsin, where the statute of limitations applies only to residents and did not protect the South Holland priest from criminal prosecution in 1994.
Jeff Anderson, attorney for the three plaintiffs, said one of them had been engaged in a confidential mediation with the archdiocese for several years before deciding to sue.
He said the statute of limitations does not preclude the lawsuit since the statute did not run during the eight years one client served in the military.
The other two only recently realized the damage the abuse had done, Anderson said.
“I’m going to persist in not letting the archdiocese hide behind the statute of limitations,” Anderson said. “There’s going to be a battle, no doubt.”
Jim Dwyer, a spokesman for the archdiocese, said the church encourages survivors to come forward and litigation is not necessary.
“We’d prefer to avoid any litigation,” he said. “Why put any victim survivor through that?”