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AG Raoul’s Catholic clergy report coverage roundup
Wednesday, May 24, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller * Here you go…
* Tribune | Scope of clerical sex abuse against children in Illinois widens with release of new report: The investigation determined that Catholic leaders in Illinois have vastly underreported clergy sex abuse against children, finding that “decades of Catholic leadership decisions and policies have allowed known child sex abusers to hide, often in plain sight,” according to the report. The 700-page document revealed the names and detailed information of 451 Catholic clerics and religious brothers who abused at least 1,997 children across all six dioceses in Illinois, between 1950 and 2019. * Time | 4 Major Takeaways from Illinois’ Investigation Into Child Sex Abuse in the Catholic Church: The report includes detailed narrative accounts from survivors from all six dioceses and shows a pattern of the church failing to support survivors, covering up reports of abuse, and re-victimizing survivors who came forward to report being abused. The dioceses also publicly undercounted the number of child sex abusers in the clergy on their websites. […] The report detailed the long-term impacts the abuse had on survivors, reporting that nearly every survivor interviewed noted struggling with their mental health in the years and even decades after the abuse. Survivors struggled with challenges including insomnia, anxiety, suicidal ideation, addiction, depression, and PTSD. * AP | Catholic clergy sexually abused Illinois kids far more often than church acknowledged, state finds: The lengthy report describes Illinois church leaders as woefully slow to acknowledge the extent of the abuse. It also accuses them of frequently dragging their feet to confront accused clergy and of failing to warn parishioners about possible abusers in their midst, sometimes even decades after allegations emerged. […] In a statement released Tuesday, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests called the report “stunning” but emphasized that the numbers of victims and abusers cited by Raoul are likely undercounted. The group also called on state and local officials to conduct similar reviews. * NYT | Sex Abuse in Catholic Church: Over 1,900 Minors Abused in Illinois, State Says: Most of the abuse documented in the report happened decades ago. The report acknowledges that criminal prosecutions and civil lawsuits will be impossible for many victims, because of statutes of limitations and the fact that the majority of the perpetrators have died. Some states, including California and New York, have enacted a “look-back window” allowing victims of child sex abuse to bring civil claims that would otherwise be barred by statutes of limitations, but Illinois is not among them. * USA Today | Nearly 2,000 children abused by more than 450 Catholic leaders in Illinois: The Archdiocese of Chicago, and the dioceses of Belleville, Joliet, Peoria, Rockford and Springfield issued a joint statement regarding the findings. […] “At this time, working with the Office of the Attorney General of Illinois, the leaders of all six Illinois dioceses endeavored to make clear and update our approach, mindful of our lived experience and best practices in this field. Our common goals in doing so are to ensure we offer pastoral support to those affected by this tragedy and to work diligently to prevent it from occurring again.” * WCIA | State report shows Catholic Diocese underreported number of abusive Illinois clergy, advocacy group responds: The Attorney General noted that the Springfield diocese does not include nine of the abusive clergy members and eight listed for the Peoria diocese. “The Diocese of Springfield refuses to include [Father John] Beatty on its list of substantiated abusers, because “Beatty did not hold a parochial ministry in this diocese,” referring to a parish ministry, the report reads. “But Beatty taught for years in a Catholic high school in Springfield, with day-to-day access to children.” * WAND | Raoul releases report naming 451 Illinois Catholic leaders who sexually abused nearly 2,000 children since 1950: In a statement Tuesday, Bishop Thomas Paprocki said he cannot undo damages of the past. However, the Springfield Diocese leaders stressed that he has been and will continue to be fully committed to ensuring the diocese does everything it can to prevent abuse from happening again. Paprocki also said he is not aware of a single incident of sexual abuse of a minor by clergy in the Springfield Diocese in nearly 20 years. Paprocki said the Diocese credits the Attorney General’s office for bringing about greater transparency and keeping the spotlight on this issue to guard against any future threat of abuse. * ABC Chicago | Survivors of sex abuse by Catholic priests in Joliet diocese react to Illinois AG’s report: The Illinois attorney general’s scathing 700-page report on Catholic Church abuse was particularly critical of the Joliet diocese, especially under Bishop Imesch’s leadership. The report said, “The diocese covered up abuse committed by Joliet priests by shifting them off to new parishes without relaying their history of abuse.” […] The Joliet diocese’s new Bishop Ronald Hicks was not available for an interview, but did release a lengthy written statement expressing profound remorse over any failure to respond to an allegation of abuse with prompt and compassionate attention. * Shaw Local | Illinois AG report documents 69 priest abuse cases in Diocese of Joliet: “The total number of priest and brother child sex abusers peaked in 1984 with a total of 211,” according to the report. “Most of the abusers were local diocesan priests, averaging about 77% of all priests and brothers that were abusers.” * Daily Herald | Far more Catholic clergy sexually abused Illinois kids than dioceses acknowledged:According to the report, former Joliet Bishop Joseph Leopold Imesch failed to protect children from even convicted sex abusers on several occasions “by giving these abusers the green light to minister in the diocese.” Imesch — who served as the diocese’s bishop from 1979 to 2006 — covered up for abusers by sending them to new parishes without relaying their history, the report states. When that practice came to light, “Imesch caused further harm by casting blame on others and mistreating abuse survivors,” according to the report. * Tribune | Search Catholic clergy named in Illinois attorney general abuse report for Archdiocese of Chicago: Illinois state investigators revealed on Tuesday the names and details of 451 Catholic priests and religious brothers who abused at least 1,997 children across all dioceses in Illinois.
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- Cubs in '16 - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 12:52 pm:
Pedophilia is a mental disorder. That doesn’t excuse the behavior of the pedophile clergy but provides some context. In my mind, the intentional covering up and indignant attitude by Catholic leadership is even more egregious. I do not understand how anyone could continue taking moral or spiritual guidance from the Church. They put financial considerations above the health and safety of their flock. As someone commented yesterday, the Catholic Church should no longer be looked to as a moral compass for anything.
- Rudy’s teeth - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 1:08 pm:
In January, 2003, Paprocki was appointed auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Chicago. During this time Dan McCormack was suspected of abusing boys at St. Agatha in Chicago.
Why did Paprocki not take steps to remove Dan McCormack when Paprocki was aware of McCormack’s predilections? As Paprocki knew of these behaviors, he is equally responsible for the damage caused to these young boys.
When will Paprocki be held responsible for his lack of action?
- Donnie Elgin - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 1:10 pm:
“Pedophilia is a mental disorder”
It well may be that, but it is first and foremost a despicably criminal act. Abuse of children by priests who are in positions of trust and power over their victims should be charged tried, and locked up for a long time.
- Big Dipper - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 1:16 pm:
It would be interesting to know whether pedophiles knew that the Catholic Church was a safe haven for them or whether the unnatural forced celibacy of the clergy caused them to look for outlets where they could keep their noncompliance with the rule quieter.
- Mr. Morris - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 1:30 pm:
==Why did Paprocki not take steps to remove Dan McCormack when Paprocki was aware of McCormack’s predilection==
As an Auxiliary Bishop Paprocki lacked the canonical function remove priests from the ministry per Canon Law 1740 that decision rests solely with the Diocesan Bishop, in this the Archbishop of Chicago.
- OneMan - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 1:42 pm:
I mentioned most of this on another thread but Channel 5 in Chicago did all of about 90 seconds about it and did reference the report mentioning an improvement in the Chicago archdiocese.
- TheInvisibleMan - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 1:42 pm:
As bad as this is, and it is incredibly bad. It’s still much much worse. This report only looked at priests. It didn’t look at anyone else within the church or any credible accusations against them.
As I pointed out yesterday, there was a teacher here in the Joliet Diocese(Jeremy Hylka - google it) who was finally caught. Prior to that, there were DOZENS of reports by 20 young men in the latest group, to try to come forward and get justice for what had been done to them. He’s far from the only one in the diocese doing these things to children, but without any charges or convictions for them yet, I’m not going to mention any of their names directly. None of them are mentioned in these investigations.
The group of young men went to the State’s Attorney, Jim Glasgow, who did nothing but bury it. The Diocese started threatening the woman who was reaching out and organizing all these young men to come forward. (search Jeremy Hylka on the twitter, and you will see those threads)
He was eventually caught by an outside vigilante group, not the local authorities, and convicted in court - but was given probation by the Will County court system. Without that vigilante group Glasgow would have been able to protect another abuser in the church.
All of this happened in the years 2020-2023. This isn’t a ‘thing of the past’ as the Joliet Diocese has repeatedly tried to claim to attempt to diminish any current responsibility on them.
The problem is much worse than just priests. The report touched on the main issue, and it is deeply systemic in the church. The church will by default protect the church and its reputation over everything and everyone else. It doesn’t matter even a little bit to them if that means threatening people in the community they claim to be serving to stay silent. The church will lie right to your face that they are changing, but their actions continually and repeatedly betray their true intent.
If I remember the minutia of Illinois law correctly, the state AG can’t even do anything about this without first asking the county SA if the AG office can proceed. After seeing Glasgow torpedo cases against the diocese for years, frankly Glasgow will be lucky to get out of his current term without being swept up in this situation in a significant way.
- Rudy’s teeth - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 1:54 pm:
Perhaps Paprocki should have shared his concerns with the Archbishop of Chicago regarding the safety and security of children at St. Agatha’s parish.
It is not my job is not an excuse for this egregious behavior.
- j - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 1:56 pm:
How many more rounds of this will it take before the church is RICOed?
- Google Is Your Friend - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 1:58 pm:
==- Rudy’s teeth - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 1:08 pm:==
I mean, Paprocki currently has a whole section on the Springfield diocese website about how actually sexual abuse in the church is not a problem, it’s actually only a problem everywhere else. The guy is a very bad egg.
https://dio.org/promise/ (scroll to the bottom)
- Give Us Barabbas - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 1:59 pm:
Paprocki claims to be a shepherd of souls. I don’t know of any Shepard who knows about a wolf in his fold and just lets it stay… And tells the sheep “it’s all good, don’t worry”.
- DuPage Saint - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 2:07 pm:
What I have never understood is how a diocese can go bankrupt to avoid civil judgments. It would seem to me that the Church is the Church and should be ultimately liable for any of its parts
- Amalia - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 2:13 pm:
It will be difficult for anyone to put money in the collection basket, to send their children to school (which costs money), to rely on spiritual comfort from clergy in that church. Yes, I know, not all whatever in the church, but increasingly the fish rots from the head, and the tail, and the body, most sadly the body.
- TheInvisibleMan - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 2:19 pm:
–It would seem to me that the Church is the Church–
Take a look at your local counties assessors office and tax rolls. You will start to see how they structure their organization and finances. There’s more to it, but you will start to get a picture by starting there. It’s deliberate - to avoid the very liability you speak of. Even they know they are guilty.
- Henry Francis - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 2:42 pm:
The Catholic Church has consistently prioritized itself over its victims. They have refused to make any changes until required to do so by outside forces.
10 years ago I was coaching my son’s 6th grade basketball team at his Catholic school. Before the season, all of the coaches had to attend a 3 hour training one Saturday morning on how to recognize and combat child sexual abuse. The moderator played a video that had actors playing out various scenes. One scene involved a teacher being inappropriate with a child. The next scene involved a coach being inappropriate with a child. The 3rd scene involved a parent being inappropriate with someone else’s child. After each scene, the video would cut away to a kindly old priest, indentifying the troubling examples that each of the predators exhibited in the scenes we just saw.
After the video the moderator asked for our thoughts. I raised my hand and said essentially, “why is the church focused on coaches/teachers/other parents being the threats to our kids. We all know why the archdiocese is making us sit through this training - it’s not because teachers/coaches/parents are a threat to our kids. And it offends me that the church would respond to their self created crises by making us parents have to go through “training”, especially one where the priests are portrayed as the heroes.”
There was a heavy pause where entire room was silent, and then the moderator finally fumbled out a response like “that’s an interesting perspective, I will mention it back at the office”.
On yesterday’s list there was a priest from my grade school parish, a priest from my high school, and a priest from my kids’ grade school parish.
Having “company men” like Paprocki still in power illustrates how the church is still not taking this seriously.
- Sir Reel - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 2:56 pm:
Church leaders still consider these crimes as “sins.” These criminal priests confess their sins, say some Hail Mary’s, and all is good. A corrupt organization.
- Rudy’s teeth - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 3:08 pm:
Henry Francis—-
The three hour training mentioned in your comment is Virtus Training.
When I was hired to teach at a school nearJackson/Laramie (a Jesuit institution), I asked for a waiver. I explained that I will not accept the teaching position if I am required to take the training.
The school provided a waiver from training after I mentioned my experience with the pedophile Dan McCormack after teaching at another school in Chicago.
- Henry Francis - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 3:22 pm:
Thanks for reminding me of the name Rudy.
Iirc - Virtus was essentially the Catholic Church’s self insurance fund that they created to pay of all of the settlements, so these trainings were because of the Church’s insurance requirements.
And to prove the Church’s primary focus is protecting the kids, they made sure to register as trademarks “Virtus” and “Protecting God’s Children”. smh
- O'Veraught - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 3:27 pm:
How many children passed through Catholic liturgies, Sunday Schools, parochial schools and camps in the last seventy years (the scope of this study)? Over three generations of a 12 million state that is more than a quarter Catholic would point to about nine million.
And of that number, after this full dredging, we get “at least 1,997 children” sexually accosted to whatever degree. Too many, to be sure. But about 0.02%
It seems that other institutions may be less well behaved than the unified and constant target that is the Church.
- clec dcn - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 3:28 pm:
Yes it seems that many do not trust or like the catholic Church. The only thing I can say is that it is a Church full of sinners. I suspect most churches fall in this catagory of sinners but it does not excuse the grave problem.
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 3:29 pm:
===It seems that other institutions===
Yeah. Go with misdirection. That’ll work.
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 3:33 pm:
If you’re “whatabouting” child sex abuse…
- Cubs in '16 - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 3:47 pm:
If you’re going to frame 1,997 as a relatively small number consider this. Only a small percentage of victims report abuse. When the perpetrator is clergy or some other authority figure, the percentage is even smaller. Even if the percentage were relatively small, that doesn’t address the Church’s willful deceit and lack of character in covering it up.
- Appears - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 3:49 pm:
The report shows that the administration of the Catholic Church in IL was at least an accessory to this behavior because they knew it was happening and hid it. They transferred the guilty so that the crime spree could continue. They victim-shamed the victims. They operated above the law because they thought they could.
- Jibba - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 3:50 pm:
Big Dipper…I previously have given a lot of thought to your question, and to me the only answer is that when you tell people that their natural human emotions are inherently sinful, that conflict potentially causes psychological problems when the individual cannot live up to unrealistically high church expectations. In priests and brothers, being especially pious, that failure hits doubly hard, and the repressed emotions leak out in unacceptable ways. The fault is inherent in the teaching and dogma, and no amount of training will end it.
- TheInvisibleMan - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 4:06 pm:
–But about 0.02%–
And now we see why the massive under-reporting of abuse was so important for the church. I’m somewhat amazed it took the apologists so long to find this blog. They always sound exactly the same when they go into damage control mode.
You are commenting on a story that is showing the church lied about this deliberately, and had a policy of underreporting and covering up.
These apologist attempts that may have worked in years past, no longer work.
In retail, the metrics are that for every one customer you hear a complaint from, there are 9 others who won’t even bother. That’s just how humans behave in large groups. And that’s without an attempt to cover anything up.
Multiply your ‘at last 1997′ by 20 on the low bound, and 40 on the high bound to get a proper range. Then, for your total population remember the church changed its rules to prevent people from leaving as a member. Like me - The church counts me as a member even though I would rather get a root canal than ever set foot on one of their properties, much less in one of their buildings. They decided I was a lifetime member of their club when I was a minor.
The church isn’t very good at data analysis, and as evidence has piled up over the past 2 decades, they have run out of room to hide. I’m kind of glad they don’t understand the tide has turned, as the apologists are now going to be seen for what they are by a majority of people. So yes, please keep trying to minimize this. Tell as many people as you can, what you just tried to do here, to their faces preferably.
- DuPage - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 5:03 pm:
I don’t trust the church to conduct their own investigations.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/18/us/father-michael-pfleger-chicago/index.html
- Dotnonymous x - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 6:49 pm:
- It seems that other institutions -
When you think you’re speaking down to a gullible audience…but then get caught trying to pull a sneaky switch…heh.
- Jim - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 8:10 pm:
Paprocki could have stood up on the steps of his church any Sunday and told the gathering people the names of the child molesting priests he knew, and begged them keep their children away from these criminals. He didn’t. If he had spoken up he would not be Bishop today.
- low level - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 8:41 pm:
There was one preist i knew at my parish years ago on the list. He should be held liable. That said, I’m also not going to forget all the good works by good religious I’ve also known over the years.
- Cosgrove - Friday, May 26, 23 @ 8:24 am:
RIP Barbara Blaine.