CALEDONIA (IL)
JournaL Times
By Brent Killackey
CALEDONIA – Four Chicago-area men stood outside St. Rita’s Catholic Church in Caledonia on Sunday seeking potential local victims of a former priest who is accused in civil lawsuits in Illinois of molesting six children.
The lawsuits were filed earlier this month and in February by six men accusing a former priest, John D. Murphy, of abusing them in the 1970s and 1980s while they were students at St. Rita of Cascia in Chicago. One accusation deals with a trip to St. Augustine College Preparatory minor seminary in Holland, Mich.
Murphy served at St. Rita’s, 4339 Douglas Ave., in Caledonia from 1983 to 1993, performing all the roles of a priest at the church and its schools.
No one in Wisconsin has accused Murphy of misconduct.
The Chicago-area men stood outside St. Rita’s and handed out leaflets to parishioners before and after Sunday masses.
