Archdiocese settles sex abuse suit for $1.2 million

The Archdiocese of Chicago has agreed to pay $1.2 million to a man who alleged that he was sexually abused when he was 12 by a priest who later was defrocked and convicted of sexually abusing several boys, the man's attorney announced on Tuesday.

The settlement of the case before a lawsuit was filed was announced in a news release by attorney Lyndsay Markley and marks the latest chapter in the story of Daniel McCormack, one of the most notorious pedophiles in the history of Chicago's archdiocese.

McCormack, who pleaded guilty in 2007 to sexually abusing five children while he was a priest at St. Agatha parish in Chicago, was released from prison last fall and has registered as a sex offender with the Illinois State Police. According to published reports, he was listed at that time as living in Chicago's Near North neighborhood.

The settlement follows other similar settlements in which the archdiocese has agreed to pay men who alleged they were abused by McCormack when they were children.

In all, the archdiocese has paid well over $12 million that that the archdiocese has paid in to men who filed lawsuits ore settled cases before filing lawsuits.

Like many of the other victims, the man who filed the most recently settled lawsuit said that he was sexually abused while McCormack was a priest at St. Agatha. According to the news release, the man said he was attending an after-school program at the parish when McCormack sexually abused him on multiple occasions in 2005.

The archdiocese declined to comment on the settlement.