Latest news with #Grieco
Chicago Tribune
15 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
After a lawsuit alleging sexual abuse decades ago at Maryville Academy, a Lake Zurich priest is placed on leave for the third time
The letter arrived in late July with the tone of the two before it, the ones that announced the Rev. David Ryan, a longtime Chicago-area priest, had been placed on leave amid allegations of child sexual abuse. This one, like those previous, came with a sense of the somber, an acknowledgment of the severity of the accusations and a reminder of the presumption of innocence. The letter was dated July 29, with Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, the archbishop of Chicago, addressing the St. Francis de Sales parish community in Lake Zurich. It marked at least the third time since 2020 that Cupich had sent such a note acknowledging the accusations that have embroiled Ryan. The cardinal opened this latest letter with a line that now felt familiar amid controversy that refuses to fade: 'It is with great difficulty that I write to share news about your pastor …' The archdiocese first placed Ryan on leave in 2020 amid allegations that he abused a minor at Maryville Academy, then a church-run home for troubled youth in Des Plaines. He was reinstated in September 2021, only for Cupich to address the congregation days later with the revelation of 'additional information, not previously provided … that will mean delaying Father Ryan's return.' In February, 2023, he was reinstated, again, with Cupich making a plea: 'We must keep our word,' he wrote, 'and do everything possible to restore Fr. Ryan's good name.' Now there's another allegation that in the mid-1990s, during his years on staff at Maryville Academy, Ryan sexually abused a child. The allegation is part of a civil complaint that Chicago lawyer Mike Grieco filed against Maryville last week in Cook County. These days, Grieco, 35, describes a sense of urgency surrounding the matter. He said he has tried to 'push the archdiocese' to examine testimony that Ryan recently provided in a deposition concerning the alleged abuse at Maryville. Grieco said he questioned Ryan in June at the office of Ryan's defense attorney and that Ryan's answers reflected 'the issues on campus' at Maryville during his tenure there. Ryan's attorney did not respond to requests for comment. Grieco and his firm, Stinar Gould Grieco & Hensley, represent about 30 individuals who allege they suffered sexual abuse while they attended Maryville decades ago. Most of those allegations surround the Rev. John P. Smyth, a Chicago archdiocese priest who spent more than 40 years in leadership roles at Maryville, including that of executive director. Smyth, who left Maryville in 2004, died in April 2019, around the time accusers began to emerge claiming that he'd sexually abused them when they were children. Lawsuits that Grieco and his firm filed in recent months detail sordid accusations against Smyth, including those of rape and molestation. Ryan served as Smyth's co-director at Maryville in the 1990s, when much of the abuse is alleged to have occurred. In the complaint filed last week, a former Maryville resident, identified in court documents as John Doe 6, alleged that he was sexually abused by Smyth and Ryan after being placed at Maryville in 1996. The lawsuit states the alleged abuse took place for about a year when the boy was around 11 years old. The filing also contains accusations from nearly a dozen other victims, identified only by number. Victim No. 11, as the lawsuit describes him, claimed that Smyth and Ryan made him 'feel like a 'sex slave'' while he lived at Maryville. John Doe 6 is 'working through' the trauma detailed in the lawsuit, Grieco said. Grieco and his associates have been 'trying to build as much credibility and rapport as we can with him, to (help him to) open up,' the attorney said. 'You know, people don't want to talk about this stuff,' Grieco said. 'They don't want to trust somebody new. They don't want to do it if they don't think it's going to actually bring justice. I think he's struggling from an emotional perspective. He's a single guy, no family, but he's kind of working through it, and he's been in some therapy, as well.' The previous allegations against Ryan led to suspensions but, ultimately, his reinstatement as pastor at St. Francis de Sales, where he was first appointed in 2006 and reappointed in 2012. In 2023, upon Ryan's most recent reinstatement, Cupich in his letter to the church community cited a lack of cooperation from Ryan's accusers. Cupich referenced what he described as a 'thorough investigation' by the archdiocese before reaching his decision to reinstate Ryan. Contacted by email about the most recent allegations against Ryan, an archdiocese spokesperson wrote that 'we do not comment on investigations' but shared a flowchart detailing its internal investigative process. According to the document, allegations of child sexual abuse first make their way into the archdiocese's Office for the Protection of Children & Youth, which then launches a child abuse and investigations review. In addition to being investigated for its veracity, the allegation is shared with law enforcement and the archbishop at the review stage. The archdiocese's Independent Review Board evaluates the investigation and then 'determines whether there is reasonable cause to believe that the abuse occurred.' In the final part of the process, the IRB makes a recommendation to the archbishop about the accused individual's 'fitness for ministry.' In his 2023 letter, Cupich wrote that Ryan's accusers 'refused to cooperate with both civil and church investigations.' As a result, he wrote, 'the IRB finds that there is not sufficient reason to suspect Father Ryan is guilty of sexually abusing a minor and recommends he be returned to ministry and that the files be closed on these two claims due to the lack of cooperation of those making the accusations.' 'Therefore, I am pleased to inform you that I have accepted this recommendation and I am reinstating Father Ryan as your pastor, effective immediately.' Grieco said Ryan's newest accuser is willing to cooperate with investigators, and that 'we are setting a date for the (archdiocese) review board to take his statement.' The alleged victim will also provide a statement to police, said Grieco, who expressed skepticism about the archdiocese's ability or willingness to investigate Ryan. 'I believe there's some bias to it,' Grieco said, arguing that 'the process needs to go beyond, 'Did you do it?' 'That's not a question and answer session that gets to the truth.' He said he 'would encourage (the archdiocese) to look at this holistically, too' and take into account the troubled history at Maryville. It opened in 1883 as St. Mary's Training School, an orphanage that 'was a place for dependent and neglected boys,' according to its website. It began accepting girls in 1911. In the early 2000s, a series of 'grim headlines,' as the Tribune characterized them at the time, rocked the campus. A 14-year-old died by suicide and was found hanging in a shower. An 11-year-old was allegedly raped. Smyth, the longtime priest who was then the executive director, resigned in disgrace. Fifteen years later, in 2019, allegations of sustained and habitual sexual abuse emerged — first levied at Smyth and then his longtime right hand, Ryan. Megan Biasco, the director of development at Maryville, wrote in an email last week that 'our mission is to protect children.' 'We were made aware of the allegations from more than 20 years ago,' she wrote. 'We are looking into it.' The accusations have reopened old wounds, if they ever healed. In his most recent letter to the St. Francis de Sales community, Cupich referenced the recent past: that both Ryan and his church have 'experience with our processes for handling allegations' concerning child sexual abuse. Cupich wrote that Ryan 'strenuously denies this allegation, and states that he has never harmed a child,' and once again noted that the archdiocese's investigative process begins 'with the presumption that one is innocent until proven otherwise.' In the civil complaints he has filed, meanwhile, Grieco and his team have referenced a tortured past and the difficulty the Catholic Church has had confronting a notorious legacy of child sexual abuse. Some of the filings reference a report Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, then the archbishop of Chicago, commissioned in 1992 that offered a plan for addressing 'clerical sexual misconduct' involving children. Among those interviewed for the report was Smyth, who then was more than 20 years into his tenure as the executive director at Maryville. Smyth told the report's authors that 'the archdiocese invests considerable resources in the seminary system, but virtually nothing to support and supervise priests after ordination.' According to the lawsuit, Smyth said that 'priests are vulnerable to false accusations.' But also, that 'some children can be seductive, and priests naive.'
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
DeSantis poised to sign legislation banning psychedelic mushroom spores in Florida
Psilocybin via Drug Enforcement Administration website Gov. Ron DeSantis said last week that he will soon sign legislation that, among its provisions, would ban trafficking in psychedelic mushroom spores. That measure is part of an omnibus 'Florida Farm Bill' (SB 700) sponsored by Central Florida Republican Keith Truenow that is best known for including a ban on certain additives like fluoride in the drinking water supply. Psilocybin mushrooms are illegal in the United States for possession and sale, because psilocybin is considered a controlled substance. Psilocybin spores, the small reproduction units that get dispersed by fungi, are legal, however, because they don't contain psilocybin, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. As the bill's House analysis says, 'Certain mushroom spores and mycelium, which is a type of fungi, can be propagated and grown into mushrooms that have psilocybin properties. But the spores do not contain any psilocybin properties themselves and therefore could be considered legal under current law.' A violation of the new ban would be a first-degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail and a fine of $1,000. The decision is disappointing to those who believe the use of psychedelic mushrooms can help people experiencing treatment-resistant depression. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2018 bestowed a 'breakthrough-therapy' designation to a British life sciences company for its psilocybin therapy for treatment-resistant depression. The FDA designates a drug as such if preliminary clinical evidence shows it may demonstrate substantial improvement over available therapy. Small clinical trials have shown that individual doses of psilocybin, given in a therapeutic setting, can make major changes in people suffering from treatment-resistant major depressive disorder, CNN reported in 2022. That's what led former Miami Beach Democrat Mike Grieco to introduce legislation back when he served in the Florida House of Representatives a few years ago to direct the Florida Department of Health and the Board of Medicine to study the therapeutic efficacy of alternative therapies like psilocybin. That legislation didn't advance. 'Despite my legislation from a few years ago not gaining traction, we have seen throughout the country and internationally expanded acceptance of psilocybin and other psychedelics in the mental health and the therapeutic space,' Grieco told the Phoenix. 'It's a shame that Florida has not taken advantage of the psilocybin redesignation by the FDA that allows for research and clinical studies. I would love to see our state make these therapies available to our veterans and first responder organizations.' Grieco's bill called for the Department of Health, in collaboration with the Board of Medicine, to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of alternative therapies, including the use of MDMA (a/k/a ecstasy), psilocybin, and ketamine in treating mental and other medical conditions, including depression, anxiety, PTSD, bipolar disorder, chronic pain, and migraines. A significant setback for the movement to bring psychedelics into the mainstream of mental health care took place last summer after the FDA opted not to approve MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD. Instead, the agency asked Lykos Therapeutics to further study the safety and efficacy of the treatment, according to CNN. As the House bill analysis says, 'psilocybin, also known as 'magic mushrooms,' are naturally occurring and consumed for their hallucinogenic effects.' Under Florida law, psilocybin and psilocyn are classified as Schedule I substances. Possession of psilocybin in Florida is a third-degree felony. Those who work in the psychedelic space think it's a poor move by the Legislature. 'Florida is trying to outlaw the literal roots of the psychedelic renaissance — the mycelium that connects hope, healing, and nature itself,' said Peter Sessa, a lead organizer for Cannadelic Miami, a cannabis and psychadelics expo that will take place later this month at the Miami Airport Convention Center. 'This bill doesn't just ban mushroom spores – it bans connection, curiosity, and the future of mental health.' Carlos Hermida owns Chillum Mushrooms and Hemp Dispensary, which has locations in Tampa and St. Petersburg. 'I don't think lawmakers should be making the potentiality of something illegal,' he contends. 'Are we going to start making it illegal because we think someone could grow up to rob a liquor store or something like that?' Hermida adds that Mycelium is a fungus that grows in the ground. 'This particular fungus grows in manure. Is manure now illegal in Florida? Is rotting manure now illegal. Is that what's going on?' There was no public debate on the provision during discussion of the farm bill in the Legislature. It consists of just eight lines in the 111-page bill. In recent years, Oregon and Colorado passed legislation decriminalizing psilocybin and legalizing its supervised use. Cities like Berkeley, Seattle, and Detroit have also decriminalized the psychedelic mushrooms. Calls to U.S. poison centers involving psilocybin among adolescents and young adults rose sharply after several U.S. cities and states began decriminalizing the substance, University of Virginia School of Medicine researchers found in a 2024 study. Ellen Snelling of the Hillsborough County Anti-Drug Alliance said that she wasn't that familiar with the measure banning psilocybin spores, but had a bigger concern about alternatives to psilocybin. 'A variety of psychedelic mushroom products are sold in smoke shops in Florida. An emergency room doctor told me he's seeing more people coming in after using mushrooms,' she said. Once the measure is signed by DeSantis, Florida will join states like Georgia and Idaho in tightening regulations on psychedelic mushroom spores. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Local Italy
07-03-2025
- Politics
- Local Italy
Are Europe's ties with United States set to worsen?
Europeans have been caught off guard under a tirade of insults, the threat of steep customs duties and notably disagreements on the war in Ukraine. But the wind was blowing in that direction even before Donald Trump's return to power. The world's leading superpower believes it has better things to do than to keep paying for a Europe in economic decline, seeing it as freeloading on defence and not doing much for it commercially in return. Since Trump's re-election, the tectonic shift has become an earthquake, particularly over Europe's exclusion from peace talks on Ukraine between Washington and Moscow. The Republican leader has said the EU was "formed in order to screw the United States" while his Vice President JD Vance has plunged the future US military presence in Europe into doubt. At the same time, Trump acolyte Elon Musk called German Chancellor Olaf Scholz "an incompetent fool". "There was already a trajectory of distancing that (Joe) Biden embodied politely and (Kamala) Harris would have embodied politely," said historian Frederic Fogacci, from the Charles de Gaulle Foundation in Paris. "Trump's approach is more brass, more abrasive," added Kelly Grieco, a US foreign and defence policy specialist at the Stimson Center think-tank in Washington. 'Frustration' in Washington "There's enormous frustration on this side of the Atlantic about (defence) because there's repeatedly been a warning that Europe needs to step up and prepare for this kind of moment," she said. "They haven't prepared anything." Europeans only began the debate about security without US support under pressure, and are still trying to keep Washington on-side. "It's no wonder that Americans look down on Europeans as dependents," said Stephen Wertheim, from the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "Europeans present themselves as dependents. If Europe provides for its essential defence needs, that might just breed self-respect and inspire a new respect in Washington and the wider world," he added. On Ukraine, the European approach is "not necessarily helpful", said Grieco. "It seems to be still very focused on some kind of US security guarantee for Ukraine and pushing the administration for that," she said. "The more they're pushing the administration in that direction, the more it is creating more of a widening gap between the two sides." 'Freedom fries' Tensions between the two allies are not new. In 2018, during Trump's first term, the New York Times mused: "Is the Trans-Atlantic Relationship Dead?" "Let's not forget 'freedom fries'," said Grieco, recalling the time in 2003 when the US Congress renamed French fries because of France's refusal to back the war in Iraq. There was also friction during the Cold War, with the Suez Crisis a symbol of "geopolitical schooling" by Washington, said Fogacci. The United States and the Soviet Union demanded the withdrawal of French, British and Israeli troops from the Suez Canal, weakening the influence of London and Paris in the Middle East in the process. "During the Cold War, we operated in exactly this way. Moscow and Washington, in the end, settled the issue between themselves," said geopolitics scholar Frederic Encel. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, "the Americans were wary of a Europe that was integrating too widely towards the east", said Fogacci. "With the war in the former Yugoslavia, they took precedence over Europeans divided by old historical interests and without sufficient military capacity." Europe and US are 'natural allies' In his book "The Grand Chessboard", published in 1997, former US president Jimmy Carter's national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski said: "Europe is America's natural ally. "It shares the same values; partakes, in the main, of the same religious heritage; practices the same democratic politics." Nearly 30 years later, the waters are more muddied. "Across Europe, free speech, I fear, is in retreat," Vance said in February, citing as an example the refusal of Germany's mainstream parties to govern along with the far-right. Grieco said there was now a clear difference between the two sides on values and the way to express them. That contrasted the situation in the 1980s, said Fogacci, when "the neoconservatives had an idea of democracy quite compatible with the European one, their equation being that political liberalism leads to economic liberalism and vice versa". For Trump, "a country has weight through what it knows how to do, what it can offer or its capacity to cause harm," he added. "It's an 'ahistorical' vision, reducing democracy to decontextualised principles." Trump, he added, "does not look at states but land and resources". Convergence is still possible on the question of China, said Grieco. "In many ways, Europe still remains a natural ally of the United States in the sense that our interests are aligned on many issues. There's a potential alignment on China," she said.
Local Norway
07-03-2025
- Politics
- Local Norway
Are Europe's ties with United States set to worsen?
Europeans have been caught off guard under a tirade of insults, the threat of steep customs duties and notably disagreements on the war in Ukraine. But the wind was blowing in that direction even before Donald Trump's return to power. The world's leading superpower believes it has better things to do than to keep paying for a Europe in economic decline, seeing it as freeloading on defence and not doing much for it commercially in return. Since Trump's re-election, the tectonic shift has become an earthquake, particularly over Europe's exclusion from peace talks on Ukraine between Washington and Moscow. The Republican leader has said the EU was "formed in order to screw the United States" while his Vice President JD Vance has plunged the future US military presence in Europe into doubt. At the same time, Trump acolyte Elon Musk called German Chancellor Olaf Scholz "an incompetent fool". "There was already a trajectory of distancing that (Joe) Biden embodied politely and (Kamala) Harris would have embodied politely," said historian Frederic Fogacci, from the Charles de Gaulle Foundation in Paris. "Trump's approach is more brass, more abrasive," added Kelly Grieco, a US foreign and defence policy specialist at the Stimson Center think-tank in Washington. 'Frustration' in Washington "There's enormous frustration on this side of the Atlantic about (defence) because there's repeatedly been a warning that Europe needs to step up and prepare for this kind of moment," she said. "They haven't prepared anything." Europeans only began the debate about security without US support under pressure, and are still trying to keep Washington on-side. "It's no wonder that Americans look down on Europeans as dependents," said Stephen Wertheim, from the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "Europeans present themselves as dependents. If Europe provides for its essential defence needs, that might just breed self-respect and inspire a new respect in Washington and the wider world," he added. On Ukraine, the European approach is "not necessarily helpful", said Grieco. "It seems to be still very focused on some kind of US security guarantee for Ukraine and pushing the administration for that," she said. "The more they're pushing the administration in that direction, the more it is creating more of a widening gap between the two sides." 'Freedom fries' Tensions between the two allies are not new. In 2018, during Trump's first term, the New York Times mused: "Is the Trans-Atlantic Relationship Dead?" "Let's not forget 'freedom fries'," said Grieco, recalling the time in 2003 when the US Congress renamed French fries because of France's refusal to back the war in Iraq. There was also friction during the Cold War, with the Suez Crisis a symbol of "geopolitical schooling" by Washington, said Fogacci. The United States and the Soviet Union demanded the withdrawal of French, British and Israeli troops from the Suez Canal, weakening the influence of London and Paris in the Middle East in the process. "During the Cold War, we operated in exactly this way. Moscow and Washington, in the end, settled the issue between themselves," said geopolitics scholar Frederic Encel. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, "the Americans were wary of a Europe that was integrating too widely towards the east", said Fogacci. "With the war in the former Yugoslavia, they took precedence over Europeans divided by old historical interests and without sufficient military capacity." Europe and US are 'natural allies' In his book "The Grand Chessboard", published in 1997, former US president Jimmy Carter's national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski said: "Europe is America's natural ally. "It shares the same values; partakes, in the main, of the same religious heritage; practices the same democratic politics." Nearly 30 years later, the waters are more muddied. "Across Europe, free speech, I fear, is in retreat," Vance said in February, citing as an example the refusal of Germany's mainstream parties to govern along with the far-right. Grieco said there was now a clear difference between the two sides on values and the way to express them. That contrasted the situation in the 1980s, said Fogacci, when "the neoconservatives had an idea of democracy quite compatible with the European one, their equation being that political liberalism leads to economic liberalism and vice versa". For Trump, "a country has weight through what it knows how to do, what it can offer or its capacity to cause harm," he added. "It's an 'ahistorical' vision, reducing democracy to decontextualised principles." Trump, he added, "does not look at states but land and resources". Convergence is still possible on the question of China, said Grieco.
Local Sweden
07-03-2025
- Politics
- Local Sweden
Are Europe's ties with United States set to worsen?
Europeans have been caught off guard under a tirade of insults, the threat of steep customs duties and notably disagreements on the war in Ukraine. But the wind was blowing in that direction even before Donald Trump's return to power. The world's leading superpower believes it has better things to do than to keep paying for a Europe in economic decline, seeing it as freeloading on defence and not doing much for it commercially in return. Since Trump's re-election, the tectonic shift has become an earthquake, particularly over Europe's exclusion from peace talks on Ukraine between Washington and Moscow. The Republican leader has said the EU was "formed in order to screw the United States" while his Vice President JD Vance has plunged the future US military presence in Europe into doubt. At the same time, Trump acolyte Elon Musk called German Chancellor Olaf Scholz "an incompetent fool". "There was already a trajectory of distancing that (Joe) Biden embodied politely and (Kamala) Harris would have embodied politely," said historian Frederic Fogacci, from the Charles de Gaulle Foundation in Paris. "Trump's approach is more brass, more abrasive," added Kelly Grieco, a US foreign and defence policy specialist at the Stimson Center think-tank in Washington. 'Frustration' in Washington "There's enormous frustration on this side of the Atlantic about (defence) because there's repeatedly been a warning that Europe needs to step up and prepare for this kind of moment," she said. "They haven't prepared anything." Europeans only began the debate about security without US support under pressure, and are still trying to keep Washington on-side. "It's no wonder that Americans look down on Europeans as dependents," said Stephen Wertheim, from the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "Europeans present themselves as dependents. If Europe provides for its essential defence needs, that might just breed self-respect and inspire a new respect in Washington and the wider world," he added. On Ukraine, the European approach is "not necessarily helpful", said Grieco. "It seems to be still very focused on some kind of US security guarantee for Ukraine and pushing the administration for that," she said. "The more they're pushing the administration in that direction, the more it is creating more of a widening gap between the two sides." 'Freedom fries' Tensions between the two allies are not new. In 2018, during Trump's first term, the New York Times mused: "Is the Trans-Atlantic Relationship Dead?" "Let's not forget 'freedom fries'," said Grieco, recalling the time in 2003 when the US Congress renamed French fries because of France's refusal to back the war in Iraq. There was also friction during the Cold War, with the Suez Crisis a symbol of "geopolitical schooling" by Washington, said Fogacci. The United States and the Soviet Union demanded the withdrawal of French, British and Israeli troops from the Suez Canal, weakening the influence of London and Paris in the Middle East in the process. "During the Cold War, we operated in exactly this way. Moscow and Washington, in the end, settled the issue between themselves," said geopolitics scholar Frederic Encel. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, "the Americans were wary of a Europe that was integrating too widely towards the east", said Fogacci. "With the war in the former Yugoslavia, they took precedence over Europeans divided by old historical interests and without sufficient military capacity." Europe and US are 'natural allies' In his book "The Grand Chessboard", published in 1997, former US president Jimmy Carter's national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski said: "Europe is America's natural ally. "It shares the same values; partakes, in the main, of the same religious heritage; practices the same democratic politics." Nearly 30 years later, the waters are more muddied. "Across Europe, free speech, I fear, is in retreat," Vance said in February, citing as an example the refusal of Germany's mainstream parties to govern along with the far-right. Grieco said there was now a clear difference between the two sides on values and the way to express them. That contrasted the situation in the 1980s, said Fogacci, when "the neoconservatives had an idea of democracy quite compatible with the European one, their equation being that political liberalism leads to economic liberalism and vice versa". For Trump, "a country has weight through what it knows how to do, what it can offer or its capacity to cause harm," he added. "It's an 'ahistorical' vision, reducing democracy to decontextualised principles." Trump, he added, "does not look at states but land and resources". Convergence is still possible on the question of China, said Grieco.
