"A pastor of a west suburban church who was accused of molesting a 13-year-old Polish immigrant two decades ago filed a lawsuit against his accusers in Cook County Circuit Court on Friday, alleging they intentionally ruined his reputation. [The priest . . .] was accused of molesting a 13-year-old Polish immigrant two decades ago filed a lawsuit against his accusers in Cook County Circuit Court on Friday, alleging they intentionally ruined his reputation. The lawsuit comes about a month after the sex-abuse case was dismissed. It accuses the immigrant, his lawyers, and the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) of defamation, malicious prosecution, intentional infliction of emotional distress, among other claims. The Rev. Chester Przybylo, 59, is asking for at least $500,000 in compensatory and punitive damages.
'It is a matter of clearing his name, setting the record straight,' said Przybylo's lawyer, Walter Maksym. In 2006, Przybylo was accused of molesting the teen while serving at Five Holy Martyrs parish in Chicago in the late 1980s. The Chicago Archdiocese was named as a defendant. Przybylo, who for the last decade has been pastor of the Shrine of Christ the King in Winfield, denied the allegations. The archdiocese settled with Przybylo's accuser for nearly $1.4 million. But Maksym successfully moved to have the case against Przybylo dismissed in December based on an Illinois Supreme Court ruling that clarified the time frame in which sexual-abuse survivors can file lawsuits.
Przybylo is claiming that he 'suffered and endured acute nervousness, bodily pain and ruination and impairment of his reputation for honesty and integrity' because of the accusations and media attention. Barbara Blaine, president of SNAP, called the accusations 'frivolous' and defended the attention that her group paid to the allegations of abuse. An attorney for the accuser stressed that Przybylo's case was thrown out based on a technicality and not on its merits."
_____________________________________________
Disclosure: I know and I have worked with Barbara Blaine. She is a courageous lawyer, a social activist and one of the real reasons priests and the Catholic Church are held to account for sex crimes against children not just in the United States, but all over the world.
Father Przybylo has just stupendously blundered, and the attorney who filed this lawsuit is going to rue the day he drank Father Przybylo's koolaid.
Your archdiocese does pay a victim a million dollars+ away for no reason, had Father Przybylo actually been exonerated he would not be working a "shrine." In my opinion, Father who skated on a "statute of limitation" defense is confusing a dismissal based on the elapse of time with being deemed exonerated. Idiot!
Here's what would not surprise me. The archdiocese of Chicago is in the long drawn out process of "laicizing" or defrocking, Father Przybylo--who won't go quietly; Przybylo is fighting the archdiocese's canon lawyers who are seeking to defrock him. The civil lawsuit is part of his clerical defense. Do not be at all surprised when Przybylo quietly dismisses the defamation lawsuit. You see, when Przybylo filed this lawsuit and made allegations about his mental health, he opened himself up to "discovery" and suddenly every document in the hands of the archdiocese, every document in Father Przybylo's custody is suddenly fairgame in the defense of his accuser and SNAP. Not only that, Father Przybylo is subject to being psychologically assessed by the expert of the each of the named defendants, depending on how many named defendants, Father can be required to attend and submit to multiple evaluations. Father Przybylo will have to undergo deposition and answer all sorts of questions, that he apparently, thus far avoided by virtue of the statute of limitations defense.
I'm not a fortune teller, but I predict that Father's little legal show will go away quickly and quietly. It was ill-advised.
Posts
I'm not sure this priest is an idiot. He knows that even one victim could put him behind bars. So if he can intimidate just one person into staying silent, especially until the criminal statute of limitations runs out, he's home free.
ReplyDeleteIf this indeed is Przybylo's motivation, let's hope it backfires.
David Clohessy, National Director, SNAP- Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, 314 566 9790, snapclohessy@aol.com; SNAPnetwork.org
David Clohessy is one of the other great men of the movement of those motivated to expose sexual abuse and cover up by priests (and other institutionally protected perpetrators.) His personal story and that of Barbara Blaine have been featured in national and international publications and I am sure you can easily navigate to information about SNAP and it's advocates.
ReplyDeleteSNAP is one of the real pioneering organizations to systematically address child sex abuse and the sexual abuse of parishoners by priests. They have amassed a central body of historical knowledge about these issues which David, by his kind attention to this post has provided you with direct access.
Thank you for posting on Bad Lawyer, David.
BL
Not only are the men and women who head SNAP amazing people who spend their lives for survivors, but this "priest" is just a horrible person. He was not acquitted, he was not declared "not guilty," the statute of limitations ran out. For him to sue his accusers is to abuse them again. If the archdiocese paid out over 1 million dollars, then he is guilty. I used to believe there were no evil people in the world, just people who do evil things. Now I know that there are truly evil people, and Przybylo is definitely one of them.
ReplyDeleteYes, It is all about Fear and Intimidation. But what most people don't understand is that the process to file such a claim of sexual victimization against the Catholic Church is a long hard road of psychological testing, intrusive questionnaires, depositions, paperwork, more paperwork and still more paperwork; and then, endless waiting.
ReplyDeleteOther clergy have tried to sue their "Alleged" victims and it just doesn't hold up in court. Especially in such a case as this where money has changed hands.
A lawyer with any common sense, would not have taken this case. A priest that has been hanging around with homosexuals for the last 10 years, that I know of, speaks for itself.
ReplyDeleteThere was an Auxiliary Bishop A. James Quinn who was the "hit man" for the National Confereence of Catholic Bishops who liked to raise the spectre of suing victims "based on false allegations." Seems to me, he had to admit under oath when asked about these not-so-veiled threats, he had neve come across a "false allegation."
ReplyDeleteBL
This priest did sexually abuse me as I stated in my lawsuit against him. It took a lot of therapy and help from people like Barbara and David to get thru this and I truly thank them.
ReplyDeleteNow he is trying to rape me again, but that's OK chester, I am a much stronger man now. I won't cry myself to sleep every night or try to kill myself again. You can't choke and beat me again. You can't threaten me with deportation of my mother. YOU WILL NOT RAPE ME AGAIN. And I will not let you touch another child again.
I wish we did end up in a courtroom, because maybe, just maybe you will end up where you belong, prison.
Peter Galica
God bless, you, Peter. Stay the course, dear Man, you have powerful friends who will stand with you. You are a tremendous power of example to others and you inspire me to hope and pray for you and others and continue to urge others to continue the fight. Thank you, for honoring this Blawg with your contribution as a witness.
ReplyDeleteBL
Peter,
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning i was so mad that you received that money which was our money that we give to he church and now you have to return it. How does it feel now? You falsly accused the priest and we all know it. I'll be glad once this is all resolved and you pay for what you deserve. You were only looking for a way to make money the easiest we all know what kind of worker you are always trying to find an easy way out...
@Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteNormally I would not respond to this kind of post, I've learned to deal with the fact that some poeple just simply refuse to believe the fact that there are some bad apples within the church and YES they do very bad things.
You took a little personal shot at me and I just have to fire back a little.
First of all, you refer to "we all know", what do you mean by "we all". I have a letter in my hand from the archdiocese that states: "the board (of review) determined that there is cause to suspect that the alleged misconduct occurred", so again, what do you mean by "we all"
Then you say "we all know what kind of worker you are ", what do you mean by "we all". You would've had to work for me in the past 16 years to know what kind of worker I am. As it stands, I have been self employed that long and managed to somehow make my company a pretty successful one.
Thirdly, WE ALL KNOW, you have a mental problem that you need to get checked out. (just could not resist that one)
Peter Galica
I just have a few thoughts. Now that it is LENT and we all have to do our soul serching, are we not guilty of automatically judging people before they even have been found guilty? I find doing this is a sin just as well.
ReplyDeleteThere are abusers and molesters, there are victims, and then there are the falsely accused who became victims. We may never know (unless there is some videotape or pictures) if the abuse took place or not.
There are people that wake up in their 50's, broke, and retirement is around the corener and they have not put any money away. So, they sue a priest because it seams to become very popular and lucrative lately.
What I am saying is that people who have been proven guilty must pay. People who have been wrongfully accusing good priest should also pay.
Ultimately, we will all stand in front of God with our sins and each person will get the punishment that they deserve.
I don't understand why people do jump to conclusions before they hear all the facts, or even without personally knowing the accused or accusors. Often the papers talk about the 'victims' and the 'accused' before the trial is even over. It could sometimes turn out that the accused is the victim and that the accuror is the criminal. I would hate to think that this could ever happen to me or my child that we would be condemend by society, reputation ruined. Who will return all the heartache and slander to the inoscent?
MH
Anon 3:15
ReplyDeleteI accpet that your remarks are genuinely motivated by a sincere heart and hope that the priests of your and my Cathoic Church are innocent of accusations of child abuse. But that hope flies in the face of facts and in nearly every case, the truth. While I will allow that false allegations are made, in fact I've documented irrefutable proof of fasle allegations made against persons including some who have gone to jail; as I've also said on this Blawg, we are not talking in most instances of childe sex abuse allegations against priests of a stray or isolated accusation. In most instances there are well-documented multiple allegations coming from multiple unrelated sources. The various Diocesan and Order authorities maintian "secret archival" files and they usually know who is a problem priest and who is not. Frankly, it can no longer be seriously debated that these authorities systematically covered up for pedophile priests. So my friend, you wish to hope that some allegation is dreamed up by some penniless, exploiter out to make a fast buck--you go with that, but my friend you are deluding yourself.
BL
You know,there are some saying that I made false accusations. Because of the Anderson Cooper story on CNN you get to meet another victim, Paul. You get to see the documents that the archdiocese had on Chester. You get to see that the archdiocese made a statement that they have enough evidence to substantiate the allegations and they believe the abuse occured. Finally they settled for almost 1.4 milion.
ReplyDeleteI have a question and a challenge to anybody who says I made false accusations.
Do you actually thing for even a minute that the archdiocese would settle for that kind of money without doing exhaustive investigations into the matter?
Do you think that this settlement happened overnight?
I sued both the archdiocese and Chester. Chester claims his innocence on the fact that his case got thrown out statute of limitations.
You have two victims now speaking out about horrific things this priest did to us, you have the documents, and you have the archiocese statement that they believe abuse happened. Yet there are still some who say I did it for a fast buck, it's just sickening.
I pray every day that none of you have to go through what I went thru, but try to go back to when you were 12 years old and imagine being sodomized by someone. over and over and over again.
Peter Galica
All commenting here please charitably allow my intrusion into this discussion, even though I am not immediately connected, and furthermore I live in Canada and not Chicago. From a few links I have followed since seeing this story on the S.N.A.P. website, I have found this blog this morning March 19th. I also watched the Anderson Cooper video postings on Chester Pryzbylo.
ReplyDeleteFrankly, I will not call this man a priest, Catholic or otherwise, for the simple reason that he was ordained in Poland in 1976, several years after the Vatican II 'fallout' changed the "form" of the words of priestly ordination so that they are no longer valid.
Correspondence of Pryzbylo, Bishop of Joliet Joseph Imesch, and SSPX Father Peter R. Scott of Kansas City, among others, are posted at www.angelusonline.org -- dated from 1999. I would assume this timeframe was shortly after Pryzbylo became the celebrant at the independent Shrine of Christ the King in Winfield, Illinois.
At that time Pryzbylo was attempting to bring the Shrine of Christ the King under the official control of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Joliet, even though the Shrine had been a refuge for Traditional Catholics since, as best as I can tell, approximately 1982. Whatever the status of the Archdiocese's file on the complaints against Pryzbylo for sexual abuse, that issue had apparently no bearing on the overtures he was making to the Roman Catholic hierarchy in 1999.
Scripture tells us "a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways" (James 1:8). Here in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada, I had a letter published in the Telegram newspaper late last year in which I stated my opinion that the desecration of the Catholic Faith by the Vatican II conspirators (including the present heretical Pope Benedict XVI, who has already automatically excommunicated himself according to Canon Law) had the additional effect of destroying priests and prospective priests spiritually, with the outcome being their proclivity to Satanic sexual perversion, including but not limited to pedophilia.
As a staunch 13TH-CENTURY CATHOLIC MYSELF, baptized as a middle-aged adult in Quebec City in 2008 as a Roman Catholic, under trying circumstances considering my personal conscience and scruples in 2009, I rely on my love for Jesus Christ, the Rosary, the intercession of Our Holy Lady Mary, and the merits of genuine saints who were canonized before the present apostasy. My confessor is Padre Pio in the Church Triumphant.
Tsk, tsk Peter....another lie...read on...you said:
ReplyDeleteThen you say "we all know what kind of worker you are ", what do you mean by "we all". You would've had to work for me in the past 16 years to know what kind of worker I am. As it stands, I have been self employed that long and managed to somehow make my company a pretty successful one.
Peter Galica
How sad...Peter, I am holding in my hand Federal Bankruptcy Court filing Number: 04-20822. Filed May 20, 2004 and listing liabilities of $287,248.00. This case was filed by you Peter. I put the case number on so anyone can look it up at US Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of Illinois. Chapter 7 in fact. I bet there were a lot of angry creditors eh Peter?
Peter, this does not seem like the successful business man of 16 years clearly stated in your comment above. In fact it is frankly, a bald faced lie. So if you are lying here, what else are you hiding/lying about Peter?
It's clear you were desperate for money. And then perhaps along comes your savior, one Barbara Blaine. You cling to her bosom as the possibility of a big pay day, courtesy of the parishioners of the Chicago Archdiocese, is laid out before you.
With a little coaching, you learn to say things like: "You can't choke and beat me again. You can't threaten me with deportation of my mother. YOU WILL NOT RAPE ME AGAIN. And I will not let you touch another child again."
Well you lied here, and anyone who wants to check your lie out can by contacting the court. Peter the rest of your lies are perhaps about to consume you? I suggest you ask Fr.'s Forgiveness. It's not too late. Don't be the fall guy. You can get on the bus, or be tossed under the bus by...well it won't be by me, and it won't be by Fr. I think you know who will do the tossing should they have need to protect themselves.
Attorneys are like that Peter. They might say: "I was mislead by my client your honor. I am as shocked as the court at these revelations."
If you start to feel the heat, I'll toss you a fire extinguisher. Send a letter to my postal forwarding service: The Equalizer. 1218 E Broadway #325, Long Beach, CA 90802. It will get to me. In fact I ask anyone with information on the case to do just that. Anonymous leads are fine. I never contact anyone without their permission first.
I just found out about this scandal. My brother and I were Peter's best friends back in those days. I was 10 years old. Thinking retrospectively which is always 20/20, there was definitely something going on with that priest and Peter. Why don't you ask the priest why he let Peter drive his car when Peter was only 13 years old? (and I was stupid enough to go on joy rides with him, but that's another story) No this priest didn't give out Snicker bars, he gave him his car to keep him quiet. This explains why he was such a frequent flyer at your house and the other two brothers. Funny how this priest only became good friends with parent who had boys 10-14 years old. I mean, this priest was over for dinner at these people's homes! If it's any consolation, 25 years later, although I never seen it with my own eyes, I believe it Pete. "M" brothers.
Delete@ the equalizer
ReplyDeleteThe BK was a personal one and had nothing to do with the business, and there is nor was any secrecy about it. You have to subtract $250,000 from your above number, as it is mortgage and never was considered for the BK.
I was never coached or told what to say by anybody, that includes Barbara and my attorneys. There was an investigation done by the archdiocese and the outcome is well known.
While I appreciate SNAP and what they do for the victims, I do not participate in their organization, so alleging that I am somehow being manipulated by SNAP or Barbara is totally untrue.
The only person who has lies to content with is chester. I truly hope this new case he filed against me goes all the way to court and I finally get a chance to tell my side under oath.
Thanks for the fire extinguisher, but it's chester who needs it.
Peter
Where can i find a good lawyer in Chicago. I need to get a quick divorce. Pls help.
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