#USA #IL – The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Chicago faces a new wave of civil lawsuits as of October 2026 that alleged priests sexually abused more than 100 African-American children over more than three decades at the former Holy Angels Parish in Bronzeville.
Attorneys with the law firm Hart McLaughlin & Eldridge filed seven lawsuits in Cook County Circuit Court on October 13 and announced plans to file dozens more. The complaints centered on alleged abuse that occurred between 1969 and 2002 at the parish and its school, involving children as young as 5 and up to age 14. The firm said it represented more than 100 clients tied to the predominantly African-American South Side community.
The lawsuits named four deceased priests: Fr. George Clements, Fr. Paul Smith, Fr. John Calicott, and Fr. Kenneth Brigham. Attorneys described the parish as having become “a sanctuary for sexual predators protected by the Chicago Archdiocese.” They accused the priests of carrying out repeated sexual abuse, including groping, oral sex, and rape, sometimes under pretexts such as discipline, altar-boy duties, chores, mentorship, or Boy Scout activities.
Clements, who served as pastor from 1969 until 1991 and was widely known as a civil rights advocate and the first Catholic priest to adopt a child, drew particular attention. Lawyers called him an “imposter” and claimed he had helped orchestrate what they described as a “decades-long child sex ring.” They alleged he and Smith, who served as school principal, had abused children together, and that the Archdiocese had failed to act in part because of Clements’ political influence. Clements had faced prior abuse accusations before his death in 2019; the Archdiocese later reached a settlement related to one of those earlier claims.
Calicott, who followed Clements at the parish, had previously been accused of abusing multiple children. Church records cited by the attorneys indicated he was removed from ministry in 1994 after allegations surfaced, then reinstated the following year before being permanently removed in 2002. He died in 2024. Smith was murdered in his home in 1996, and Brigham died years earlier.
Attorney Steven Hart said at a Loop news conference that “Holy Angels was not a sanctuary for children, it was a sanctuary for sexual predators.” Fellow attorney Sean O’Malley added that the alleged abuse reflected the Archdiocese’s indifference and that the firm sought both financial compensation for survivors and an acknowledgment that the institution had failed to protect them. The attorneys said they had spent more than two years reviewing documents and conducting interviews and claimed they possessed evidence that church officials knew of allegations against the priests.
A spokesperson for the Archdiocese declined to comment specifically on the pending lawsuits. In related statements, the Archdiocese noted that many allegations it receives involve events from decades earlier, emphasized its child-protection policies in place since the early 1990s, and said it reports claims to law enforcement and offers support services to survivors. Only Calicott appeared on the Archdiocese’s public list of clergy with substantiated allegations of sexual abuse.
The new filings added to a long history of litigation against the Archdiocese over historical clergy abuse claims. As of the days immediately following the October 13 announcement, the cases remained in their early stages, with the allegations unproven in court.
Cover Image: Holy Angels Parish in Bronzeville, Chicago, now known as Our Lady of Africa Parish.
