Providence's Fr. McGrath Resurfaces In Chicago

NEW LENOX, IL - Ever since Father Richard McGrath abruptly retired following allegations of child pornography on his cellular phone, there were few sightings of the 71-year-old long-time former principal and president at Providence Catholic High School. The Midwest Augustinians religious directory still lists him as being assigned to Providence Catholic in New Lenox, where a parent recently reported seeing him checking up on ongoing construction at the campus.

On Wednesday, following up on a source's tip, Patch confirmed that McGrath is living in Chicago in the Hyde Park area. He is residing at St. John Stone Friary, located in the 1100 block of East 54th Place. The friary is about a 45-minute drive to New Lenox.

The general phone line for St. John Stone Friary includes a listing of two digit extensions for about 10 priests and brothers in residence. However, Patch discovered that Father McGrath's phone extension is not listed on the general answering machine message.

But when Patch called back in the afternoon, one of the priests immediately picked up the general phone and answered. When told the call was for Father McGrath, the Augustinian priest said he would transfer it to McGrath's extension at his room in the Chicago friary.

Seconds later, Father McGrath picked up the call. Once he was told it was the editor for the New Lenox and Joliet Patch calling to interview him, McGrath abruptly said he had no comments to make. Told that a source had also seen him checking in on the $6 million student commons and cafeteria construction project at Providence, he again said he had no comment.

Last September, McGrath participated in the groundbreaking ceremony for the future 21,800-square-foot building. But after his forced resignation in December, many parents, faculty, students and alumni figured McGrath was gone for good.

This month, a concerned parent was shocked to spot McGrath visiting the campus and snapped a photo when he was not looking, the source told Patch. The photo has been circulated among a number of concerned parents, faculty and alumni who view McGrath to be a child sexual predator.

In April, former Providence student Bob Krankvich, standing with his attorneys at Jeff Anderson & Associates, announced the filing of a lawsuit against the Order of the Augustinians in regard to McGrath. Krankvich, who is now in his mid-3os and resides in Crest Hill, revealed during the Chicago press conference that Father McGrath forced him to perform various sexual acts including sodomy while he was in his early teens, in 1995 and 1996.

"I had questioned my sexuality for years ... When I got out of the Marines, I should have been this manly man, but then inside, I was feeling a child, like I was weak and I couldn't handle anything and I tried to commit suicide numerous times. The only way I knew how to deal with it was to mask feelings and my hurt with drugs and alcohol," Krankvich told journalists in April.

This spring, attorney Jeff Anderson told Patch it's clear the Augustinians have known for years that McGrath is a dangerous child molester but the order kept quiet, keeping parents and vulnerable students in the dark at St. Rita High School in Chicago, where McGrath previously served, and later at Providence Catholic, where McGrath was principal and later president between 1985 and 2017.

In February, New Lenox chief of police Bob Sterba told Patch that McGrath refused to be interviewed by the New Lenox Police Department for their ongoing criminal probe concerning suspected child pornography seen on the priest's phone on Dec. 8 during a wrestling match at Providence. The images were reportedly seen by a student.

An adult affiliated with Providence told New Lenox Police late last year how the teenage girl "came back (and) she was visibly shaking." The adult asked the student "what was wrong and (the student) said that she had just seen Father Richard McGrath's phone, which he was looking at, and there was a naked boy on it," New Lenox Police reports state.

The student then relayed to the Providence staffer that "the boy was standing up with his hands down to his sides, was naked and she believed him to be 13 years of age," police reports state.

Police told Patch that as part of their criminal investigation, McGrath refused to provide the detectives with his cellular phone, the device that allegedly contained inappropriate images. No criminal charges were brought against McGrath in connection with the cell phone incident.

Besides visiting Providence Catholic this summer to monitor the ongoing campus expansion project, sources said McGrath attended the funeral service in late May for Pamela Kettwig at St. Mary Magdalene Church on Joliet's Briggs Street. Kettwig was a long-time secretary in the dean's office at Providence. At the funeral, Father McGrath was dressed in a suit; he was not wearing his traditional priestly garb such as a black shirt and white collar, sources said.

A letter from the Augustinian Order that was included in April's edition of the Providence alumni newsletter stated, "You should know that, for the time being, Fr. Richard McGrath is not permitted to exercise public priestly ministry and has been suspended from all offices and responsibilities at Providence. I pray for healing that will help the Providence community to move on."

But since Father McGrath's ouster from Providence in December, his whereabouts were mostly a tightly guarded secret.

The April edition of the Providence Alumni newsletter, for instance, did not mention where he ended up.

A recent check of the diocese's directory of Catholic priests did not list McGrath, but it did list McGrath's replacement, Father John Merkelis, as well as other Augustinian priests who are living at the Providence rectory including long-time Providence faculty, Father Gerald Nicholas.

For years, Father McGrath often said mass during the weekdays and on weekends at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Mokena. However, in wake of his scandal, Mokena removed dozens of his homilies which had been recorded and were uploaded to the church's website.

RELATED PATCH COVERAGE OF FATHER MCGRATH:

• Lawsuit: McGrath Sexually Assaulted Former Male Student
• Providence's McGrath Allegedly Had Naked Boy Photos
• A Suspicious Rectory Fire Death: Part 1
• Brother Newton's Suspicious Death At Providence: Part 2
• Providence's Father McGrath Steps Down

Main image of Father McGrath provided last spring via Anderson & Associates law firm