Jul 2, 2007 5:50 am US/Central
Former Chicago Priest To Plead Guilty To Abuse
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Former Priest Daniel McCormack (File)
CBS
Former Chicago priest Daniel McCormack is expected to plead guilty to abuse charges on Monday.
Back in March sources told CBS Chicago that Daniel McCormack's lawyers might have been ready to talk with prosecutors about a guilty plea.
This weekend the Sun-Times reported the disgraced priest is ready to strike a plea deal, but word of a possible five years behind bars doesn't satisfy critics.
Barbara Blaine, President of the Survivor's Network of those Abused by Priests said, "It just seems whenever a priest is involved in a crime there seems to be a different standard. If a layman who was a teacher had abused and admitted to abusing five children ... my suspicion is the sentence would be longer."
McCormack is charged with sexually abusing five boys he came in contact with either at Our Lady of the West Side School or St. Agatha Church.
When some of the cases came to light, it's alleged another priest had already been monitoring McCormack because of other abuse accusations.
Back in May, Francis Cardinal George said one of his biggest regrets was not having acted faster in the McCormack case.
The year before he said, "Every time one hears of this, you're devastated. This is a cancer that eats away at all of us because in the church we're connected and in the society we're connected."
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