Lake Zurich pastor, Fr. David Ryan, faces sexual assault allegations again, Archdiocese says

ByABC7 Chicago Digital Team WLS logo
Sunday, September 18, 2022
Lake Zurich pastor, Fr. David Ryan, faces sexual assault allegations again, Archdiocese says
The latest allegations comes a year after the priest, Father David Ryan, was reinstated after similar allegations were found to be untrue.

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A priest in the Chicago suburbs is on leave once again after sexual assault allegations, according to the Archdiocese of Chicago.

Father David Ryan, the pastor at Saint Francis de Sales Parish in Lake Zurich, has been asked to step aside until an independent review board can investigate the allegations, church officials said Saturday.

"We have appreciated your patience with this process in the past and your understanding that only with an impartial and thorough effort can we fulfill our duty to protect the young people in our care and, if the investigation warrants, restore the good name of the one so accused," Cardinal Blase Cupich said in a letter to parishioners.

The latest allegations come a year after the priest was reinstated after similar allegations were found to be untrue.

RELATED: Saint Francis de Sales Parish pastor investigated in decades-old child sexual abuse allegations

Cardinal Cupich said Father David Ryan was assigned to Maryville Academy in Des Plaines during the time of the alleged incident, which is said to have occurred approximately 25 yea

At the time, an independent review board determined that there was "insufficient reason to suspect" Fr. Ryan had sexually abused minors 25 years earlier.

Saturday, the Archdiocese said it received two allegations of sexual abuse of a minor against Fr. Ryan from decades ago.