Watseka: Embattled Priest Passed a Polygraph

By Dennis Yohnka
Daily Journal
September 22, 2012

http://www.daily-journal.com/archives/dj/display.php?id=497016

Last week's on-again, off-again reinstatement of the Rev. Lee Ryan, former pastor of St. Edmund Catholic Church in Watseka, reopened the emotional wounds of a parish.

It also brought a new voice into a generally stifled discussion of the priest's innocence or guilt -- a matter that will never come to a real courtroom.

Ryan, 79, was removed from the ministry in May 2010, based on claims of sexual abuse filed by a Florida man, now 52. The accusation stems from an alleged incident when Ryan served at Providence Catholic High School in New Lenox, around 1974.... For the unabridged version of this story, subscribe to The Daily Journal's print edition or E-edition.

dyohnka@daily-journal.com or 815-937-3384