Father Ronald Kondziolka is heading back to the pulpit after an independent church panel found no reasonable cause to support a decades-old sexual abuse allegation against him. The Archdiocese of Chicago said Kondziolka had stepped away from parish duties last August while both civil authorities and church investigators examined the claim, and Archbishop Blase Cupich has now accepted the Independent Review Board's recommendation to close the case and restore him to active ministry.
According to FOX 32 Chicago, the Independent Review Board concluded there was no reasonable cause to believe Kondziolka sexually abused the person who made the accusation and recommended that the file be closed. The archdiocese said Kondziolka cooperated with investigators and was restored to ministry on Saturday.
Allegation traced to St. Brendan in Englewood
The accusation dates back more than 40 years and was reported to have occurred while Kondziolka served as administrator at St. Brendan Parish in the Englewood neighborhood. That now-closed church once stood near Marquette Road and Racine Avenue. Kondziolka has denied the allegation and has served in various pastoral and chaplain roles across the Chicago area, most recently as an associate pastor at St. Veronica through June 2023, as reported by the Chicago Sun-Times.
Archdiocese letters and review process
When the allegation first surfaced, the Archdiocese circulated letters to multiple parishes and health centers, directing Kondziolka to refrain from parish and school activities while the matter was investigated, according to the Archdiocese of Chicago. Those letters and related documents were later presented to the Independent Review Board as part of its review.
This is not an isolated outcome
Cardinal Cupich and the archdiocese have in recent months accepted Independent Review Board findings that closed other decades-old files when the board found insufficient evidence, a pattern that has brought relief to some parishioners and demands for greater transparency from others. For example, the archdiocese reinstated Monsignor Daniel Mayall after a review last August, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
The archdiocese emphasized that the safety of children remains its top priority and encouraged anyone who believes they have been abused by clergy, deacons, religious or lay employees to come forward so reports can be received "with dignity and compassion," according to FOX 32 Chicago. Civil authorities were involved when the allegation first surfaced, and the archdiocese said it would continue to cooperate with any new information that emerges.
