If you were an altar server or a kid in the parish under Father Marion Snieg, we believe you.

Five parishes, 1955 to 1993, most of them on the Northwest Side, and a cottage in Galena he took boys to. Sixteen people have since reported him, by the Attorney General's count. In December 1984 parishioners at St. Rosalie wrote the dean about him, and he was still their pastor nine years on. He's dead now, since 2005. The Archdiocese that left him there is very much alive.

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Looking for the Archdiocese page? Archdiocese of Chicago survivors.

This applies to you no matter what

Sixty years back, maybe closer to seventy. Fine. The man the Archdiocese paid in 2003 was talking about 1959, and the Attorney General's own window on Snieg opens in 1955 and closes in 1984, so old is the normal case here. Not the exception.
He is dead. He died in June 2005, three years after the Archdiocese pulled him from ministry. The claims that were paid on his name were paid by the Archdiocese, and the Archdiocese is still at 835 North Rush Street.
Your parents went to the rectory about it, or to the dean, or wrote a letter, and were told it would be handled. One father was told exactly that in 1959. Parishioners wrote in 1984. Say so on the call; it matters more than you'd think.
It wasn't at the church. It was the cottage in Galena, a trip to Iowa or Indiana or Canada, his car, a pool. The Attorney General's entry lists all of those places.
You are asking for a brother, a husband, a father in his seventies who can't make this call. Reach out anyway.

Father Marion Snieg: what the public record says, and when

None of what follows is ours. It's the Archdiocese's own file, the Attorney General, the Archdiocese's list, and the reporters who covered them, and every line links to where it came from. Snieg was never charged with a crime. What the Archdiocese found, it found under its own process; what the Attorney General found, he found under his. The word for everything below is allegation, except where the Archdiocese's own letters speak for themselves.

1955 to 1993

Ordained May 3, 1955. Associate at St. Jane de Chantal on the Southwest Side until 1960, then St. William (1960–66), Maternity BVM (1966–76) and St. Constance (1976–81), all on the Northwest Side, and pastor of St. Rosalie in Harwood Heights from 1981 to 1993. The Attorney General lists conduct in every one of those stretches, and in Galena, Stockton, Iowa, Indiana and Canada besides. Assignment record (from Archdiocese documents).

December 1984

Parishioners at St. Rosalie wrote to the dean, Father Thaddeus Jakubowski. One letter: "There are a few boys who spend a great deal of time with father... I know for a fact that these young boys accompany him to his home in Galena." Another: "I have often seen him give beer to these young boys at parish functions." Snieg later told the Archdiocese he had taken boys to the cottage "on 3 or 4 occasions." He stayed pastor. Archdiocese of Chicago file on Snieg, released 2014.

February 22, 1987

A letter reached Cardinal Bernardin from a man who said Snieg had assaulted him at St. Jane de Chantal in 1956 and 1957; he'd been 13, then 14. Weeks later Snieg was "placed under a canonical mandate to avoid any unsupervised contacts with young people." The Cardinal's note to a colleague, same file: "I am encouraged, though, that he was so candid with you. It does seem that everything is now under control." On May 29 the Cardinal told Snieg to "refrain from all unsupervised activity with young people under eighteen years of age." He was reappointed to a second six-year term at St. Rosalie in 1989. Archdiocese of Chicago file on Snieg.

June 2002

The Archdiocese's Professional Fitness Review Board found "reasonable cause to suspect" sexual misconduct with minors in the 1950s and withdrew him from ministry at Addolorata Villa in Wheeling, where he had been chaplain since leaving St. Rosalie in 1993. He had retired that January. In July 2003 Cardinal George sent the case to Rome asking permission for a penal trial. Archdiocese of Chicago file on Snieg.

October 2, 2003

The Archdiocese agreed to pay slightly more than $8 million to 15 people over 11 priests, Snieg among them, in shares from $200,000 to $1.7 million. One of the 15, Mike Nugent, then 58, said Snieg abused him in 1959 at St. Jane de Chantal, just after eighth grade; he told his father, "who contacted church officials and was later told the archdiocese would 'take care of' Snieg." Chicago Tribune, October 3, 2003.

March 20, 2006

His name went onto the Archdiocese's public list, the one for clergy with substantiated allegations of sexual abuse of a minor. Its current list gives the five parishes, "Limited Ministry with Restrictions & Monitoring 2/1987, Removed from Public Ministry 6/2002," and "Deceased 6/2005." Archdiocese of Chicago list, February 10, 2025.

January 21, 2014

Under a settlement, the Archdiocese released its files on 30 priests, Snieg's among them. The Christian Science Monitor picked out a March 2002 letter alleging abuse in 1958 and 1959, and the Cardinal's "everything is now under control" line from 1987. Christian Science Monitor.

May 23, 2023

The Illinois Attorney General's Report on Catholic Clergy Child Sex Abuse lists Marion Joseph Snieg as substantiated: 16 reported survivors, conduct from 1955 to 1984, a first report to the Archdiocese in 1984. The report's Chicago history table dates the Archdiocese's first notice to December 1984. Illinois Attorney General, Snieg entry.

We checked this on September 11, 2026, and the newest thing in it is from May 23, 2023. When something new gets filed or decided, it goes in here within 72 hours, with the link.

Who answers for what Father Snieg is accused of

Not Snieg. He's been dead since June 2005 and a dead priest's estate isn't where any of these cases go. They go where the 2003 money came from, which is the Archdiocese of Chicago (on paper, the Catholic Bishop of Chicago, a corporation sole) and, usually, the parish named right beside it, whichever of the five it was: St. Jane de Chantal, St. William, Maternity BVM, St. Constance, St. Rosalie. The theory is plain enough. The Archdiocese assigned him. It got a father's report in 1959 and, by his son's account, said it would take care of it. It got the St. Rosalie letters in December 1984, the beer and the Galena cottage, and left him pastor. It got a man's letter in 1987 about 1956, put Snieg under a canonical mandate, called the situation under control, and gave him a second six-year term two years later. That is the knowledge element, and it's in the Archdiocese's own handwriting.

Two things worth knowing. The Archdiocese has never litigated this name to a verdict; it paid. Fifteen people in 2003, Snieg's accuser among them, and the Attorney General counts 16 reported survivors, so there are people the 2003 deal didn't reach. And the Archdiocese has no bankruptcy, no claims deadline, and by its own statement has paid more than $400 million to survivors since 2001. What to do with the 1984 letters is a lawyer's job. Yours is one phone call.

Your deadline: the Illinois statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse

Born 1983 or later is the rough line for having no deadline at all. That's because of a change Illinois made on January 1, 2014: every childhood sexual abuse claim still alive that day stopped having a clock. The catch is that word, alive. Claims that had already run out under the old rules stayed run out. And almost nobody who was a kid under Snieg was born as late as 1983, so the easy version, filing on age alone, is not the version for this page.

Here is the version that is. Born before 1983 and the clock turns on two things. When you first understood that what happened is tied to the harm you carry, which for a lot of people is decades later, and whether the Archdiocese knew and kept quiet. Illinois keeps a separate door open when an institution concealed what it knew, and on this name the concealment facts aren't a theory, they're the Archdiocese's file: a report in 1959, letters in 1984, a canonical mandate in 1987, a pastor until 1993. The Archdiocese paid a 1959 claim in 2003 without ever getting a court to say it was too late.

In plain words. There's probably no clock for the youngest people on this page (the statute, if you want it, is 735 ILCS 5/13-202.2) and a real path for everyone else, but which path, and whether it holds, is a lawyer's call on facts only you have. Not something you settle from a web page.

Your situation still qualifies even if

It wasn't Snieg. Another priest at the same parish, a nun, a coach. The case is against the Archdiocese either way.
You have never said it out loud. Most of the 16 hadn't, for forty years.
Altar boy or not, it doesn't matter. One pool trip, one ride in his car, one weekend in Galena, that's plenty of reason to ask.
Some lawyer told you, years back, that you'd missed it. That was before 2014, when Illinois changed the law. Ask again.
You still go to Mass. Plenty of the people in these cases do.
You live in Wisconsin or Indiana or Arizona now. Most Northwest Side kids from those years do.

Where he was

St. Jane de Chantal, Chicago (1955–60) · St. William, Chicago (1960–66) · Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Chicago (1966–76) · St. Constance, Chicago (1976–81) · St. Rosalie, Harwood Heights (1981–93, pastor) · Addolorata Villa, Wheeling (chaplain, 1993–2002) and weekend help at St. Thomas of Villanova, Palatine · his cottage in Galena, and the trips the Attorney General lists to Stockton, Iowa, Indiana and Canada. If your contact with him was somewhere else, tell us anyway.

Questions people are asking

Who was Father Marion Snieg?

The pastor of St. Rosalie in Harwood Heights from 1981 until 1993, which was the end of 38 years in five Chicago parishes, starting the year he was ordained, 1955. Everything the Archdiocese did about him, and when, is in the record above. What matters most for this page is the Attorney General's count: 16 reported survivors, and conduct that runs from 1955 all the way to 1984.

Can I still sue if Father Snieg is dead?

Yes, and that's because the case was never really about him. It's the Archdiocese, with the parish, that gets named, the same Archdiocese that in 2003 paid on a St. Jane de Chantal claim going back to 1959. No bankruptcy filing there. No claims deadline hanging over anyone, either.

Did Father Snieg ever face criminal charges?

No. Nothing we've read shows a criminal charge, ever. What exists is the Archdiocese's own finding in 2002, its list, the Attorney General's entry, and the claims the Archdiocese settled in 2003. Civil, all of it. Which is where this lives.

Am I too late under Illinois law?

Maybe not. It turns on your birth year and on what the Archdiocese knew, and when. Illinois removed the deadline on January 1, 2014 for every claim that was still alive that day; the ones that had already lapsed before then need discovery facts or concealment facts to reopen, and for Snieg's years that's nearly everyone. The 1984 letters and the 1987 mandate are exactly the kind of facts a lawyer looks for.

Marion Snieg and the Archdiocese of Chicago list: is he on it?

He is. The Archdiocese added him on March 20, 2006, and if you open the version it published on February 10, 2025 you'll find him there still, five parishes and all, with the restrictions of February 1987, the June 2002 removal and his death in June 2005 noted beside them. The Attorney General lists him separately. Neither is a court finding; each body ran its own process and reached its own conclusion.

How much does a sexual abuse lawyer cost?

Nothing, here. Every case is on contingency. The lawyer is paid only out of what is recovered, and if nothing is recovered you owe nothing. Not for the call, not for the review, not for the case.

Who sees your form

Kerim Eravci · Survivor Advocate · Not a lawyer

I was a victim, and I waited. Not because I didn't know what happened to me (I knew every day), but because I'd decided it was over, mine to carry, nobody's business. When I finally went looking for a lawyer, the answer came back in two words I'd never thought about: statute of limitations. My time had run out while I was busy getting through it.

What that has cost me since is a long story, and I'll tell you the whole thing in private, if you want it. The short version is the reason my name is on this page: I'm here to help people do what I wish I'd done, which is find out where you stand while the door's still open.

I'm not a lawyer. I read what you send, I call you once, on your terms, and nothing gets filed unless you say so. Ask sooner than I did.

Kerim Eravci is not an attorney. He's a survivor.

What happens next. Three steps, nothing more until you say so.

You answer 6 questions. Nothing is filed. Nothing starts.
A survivor calls you, once. Not a robot, not a call center. Someone who has been where you are.
You decide. You find out your options. If you want to stop there, you stop there.

How this works

ME2 Survivors Alliance protects the heart. Licensed Illinois attorneys do the legal work. We are not lawyers and we don't pretend to be.

You never pay a dollar

Every case is on contingency. There is no charge for the call, the review, or the case. The firm is paid only out of a recovery, and if there is no recovery you owe nothing.