The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockford and an Algonquin man suing it over unflattering remarks made about him during a homily were ordered Wednesday to meet with a mediator to try to resolve their differences. Over the diocese's objection, McHenry County Judge Maureen McIntyre ordered the two sides into the settlement talks, siding with lawyers for plaintiff Angel Llavona who believe mediation could help them strike and out-of-court agreement.
Llavona is suing the diocese and the Rev. Luis Alfredo Rios of St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Crystal Lake for at least $50,000 over comments the priest made about his during an October 2006 Mass.
According to the lawsuit, Rios criticized Llavona's work with the church's religious education program and asked fellow parishioners: "What should we do, send him to hell or another parish?"
The remarks, the suit states, came in retaliation for a phone message Llavona left Rios that was critical of his sermons. Rios played that message for the congregation during the same October Mass at which he criticized Llavona, the suit states.
Rios made the comments, Llavona alleges, to intentionally inflict emotional distress. Other portions of the suit, alleging the remarks damaged Llavona's reputation as a good Catholic and high school teacher, were dismissed by McIntyre in March.
Diocese attorney Greg Snyder said today his clients are not opposed to discussing a settlement, but wanted to conduct negotiations through the judge instead of a mediator.
"We had been scheduled for a pre-trial conference (with Judge McIntyre) Friday," he said. "We'd like to get it resolved sooner rather than later."
The judge, however, said she would rather not participate in the settlement talks if one side preferred mediation instead.
"If they're going to go into it halfheartedly, that's not going to solve the issue," she said.
Through the mediation process, both sides will meet separately through a court-approved mediator who will try to get them to agree to settlement terms. Both parties are due back in court June 16 to report on the talks' progress.
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