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Cardinal tried to spring sex abuser, then changed view

Posted August 13th, 2008 by Mike Steigerwald

CHICAGO ARCHDIOCESE | Cardinal tried to spring sex abuser, then changed view after 'more accusations came forward'

byANDREW HERRMANN AND CHRIS FUSCO Chicago Sun-Times Staff Reporters

Cardinal Francis George (right) responds to the news of the settlement reached between The Archdiocese of Chicago and 16 people. The photo on the left shows Therese Albrecht at her First Communion with the Rev. Robert Becker, who she says abused her when she was 7.Cardinal Francis George acknowledged Tuesday that he and other Archdiocese of Chicago officials had worked to reduce the prison sentence of sex-abusing priest Norbert Maday, who is believed to have molested children dozens of times.

In a letter dated March 6, 2000, to Maday -- formerly an associate pastor at a Chicago Ridge parish who was sentenced in 1994 for molesting two boys -- George writes, "Hopefully, some good souls will see that the six years of incarceration you have already endured are enough to satisfy the state and any sense of justice. . . . It would be a great fulfillment of the millennium spirit to see your captive heart set free.''

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