Joliet Diocese says man’s priest sex abuse claims credible, he wants apology

Shanahan leveled serious accusations more than five years ago against the Rev. James Burnett, a former local priest.

Shanahan said Burnett abused him sexually in the late 1970s and early 1980s while Shanahan was an altar boy at St. Mary Catholic Church in Mokena.

In 2007, the Diocese said Shanahan’s claims weren’t credible. And a DuPage County judge dismissed his lawsuit against the Diocese because it came too long after the alleged abuse.

But last fall, Bishop J. Peter Sartain penned the letter Shanahan’s attorney read to him over the phone. It said the Diocesan Review Committee had reversed its previous ruling.

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