Originally published at The Catholic Thing
The Archdiocese of Chicago has filed a countersuit against seven alleged victims of clergy child sex abuse. The lawsuit documents a network of at least 30 people, including convicted criminals, gang members, and friends – many with family ties to each other – who allegedly conspired to defraud the Church by a “scheme to manufacture and assert fraudulent claims of priest sexual abuse for financial gain” and alleges “a quid pro quo among coconspirators” who, planning to share settlement payouts, coached each other in successfully pursuing a claim and connect them to lawyers.
