Chicago priest strongly denies allegations of child abuse in state, archdiocese says

CNA Staff, Sep 12, 2024 / 2:30 PM

A recently ordained Chicago priest is denying allegations by Illinois state officials that he abused a child during a recent penance that reportedly took place at a youth retreat.

A letter from Chicago Archbishop Cardinal Blase Cupich to St. Josaphat Parish, posted on the Archdiocese of Chicago website this month, states that the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) “has launched an investigation into allegations of child exploitation and child abuse” allegedly committed by Father Martin Nyberg.

The incident is said to have taken place during a “public penance service”, the archbishop said. Nyberg has been working as an assistant pastor at St Josaphat in the Sheffield district of the city since July of this year, the prelate said.

The 28-year-old priest “strongly denies the allegations,” Cupich wrote, though the archdiocese “has reported the allegations to civil authorities and offered assistance to the accusers” in accordance with archdiocesan policy.

“I have asked Father Nyberg to step down from office until civil authorities have completed their investigation and our independent review board has presented its recommendations to me,” Cupich wrote.

“Father Nyberg has agreed to cooperate fully with this process, and we will provide him with pastoral support as he awaits the outcome.”

The archbishop sent a similar letter to members of St. Paul of the Cross parish, where Nyberg was a deacon from 2023 to 2024.

The Archdiocese of Chicago did not immediately respond Thursday to a request for comment on the timeline of the independent review board’s investigation, nor to a question about the nature of the “public penance.”

But CBS News Chicago reported that the alleged incident reportedly occurred during an eighth-grade retreat in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, in late August.

Students reportedly “said they were asked inappropriate sexual questions during the aforementioned confession service during the two-day retreat,” while some said they were “touched inappropriately by Nyberg.”

DCFS spokeswoman Heather Tarczan told CNA Thursday that the department’s investigation “has just begun and we are working with local law enforcement.”

“At this point we can’t say exactly how long it will take,” she said.

According to the Chicago Catholic, Nyberg was born in Chicago and attended the Catholic University of America and the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary.

On May 18 of this year, he was ordained a priest and celebrated his first Mass at St. Edward’s Parish in Chicago.