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AG Raoul pushes back against Cupich claims

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Illinois

* Associated Press…

Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich urged the Illinois attorney general on Thursday to provide information about newly uncovered cases of clergy sexual abuse that were included in a statewide investigative report, saying he would gladly add the names on his list of credibly accused priests if the claims were substantiated.

In his first interview since the report was released Tuesday, Cupich expressed surprise that the 125 new cases involved some priests he had never heard of. He voiced dismay that the attorney general’s office hadn’t forwarded the new claims to the Archdiocese of Chicago to look into, as it had done during the five-year investigation.

“We thought we had that kind of relationship with the attorney general and so are disappointed that we’re hearing these for the first time,” Cupich said. […]

Cupich said he would gladly add the names onto his list but needed information on how Raoul’s investigators substantiated the claims. Asked why it wasn’t sufficient for the church to accept cases that the attorney general’s office had substantiated, Cupich said the archdiocese just needed to understand the process.

* AG Raoul…

Attorney General Kwame Raoul today released the following statement expressing surprise and dismay at comments made by Cardinal Blase Cupich. In comments to the media, Cardinal Cupich claims to be have been unaware of names included in the Attorney General’s Report on Catholic Clergy Child Sex Abuse in Illinois, which was released May 23.

“I am surprised and dismayed by the cardinal’s claim in the media that he and the Archdiocese of Chicago ‘had never heard of’ the priests and religious brothers listed in the group of 125 substantiated child sex abusers named in the report my office issued this week. The cardinal’s statements, including that he needs information on how our investigators substantiated the claims, are particularly perplexing because many of those 125 names – 62 in fact – came directly from an archdiocese spreadsheet entitled, ‘Religious Order Clerics With a Substantiated Allegation of Sexual Abuse of Minors Who Served within the Archdiocese of Chicago.’

“As my office explained previously, all 451 listed clerics and brothers included in our report have been substantiated by a Catholic source, either by an Illinois diocese, a non-Illinois diocese or a religious order. And as our report explains, many of those allegations were substantiated after my office’s investigators presented evidence to church representatives one file at a time. In his comments to the media, Cardinal Cupich said that if the cases are substantiated, the names will be added to the archdiocese’s website. The archdiocese itself confirmed to my investigators that 62 of the 125 priests and religious brothers in question were substantiated child sex abusers who ministered in the Archdiocese of Chicago. I am calling on the archdiocese to immediately add at least those 62 names to its online list of substantiated child sex abusers.

“At best, the cardinal’s claims of being blindsided are misleading. At worst, they are more of the same, a continuation of the church’s decades-long pattern of turning a blind eye and covering up allegations of child sex abuse to the detriment of survivors. We released this report to give a voice to survivors and to shine light on the church officials who covered up child sex abuse in the church, allowing child sex predators to continue to abuse children who trusted them.

“Once he returns from his trip abroad, we look forward to continuing our dialogue with the cardinal regarding the remaining names on the list of 125 substantiated child sex abusers, which we previously addressed with archdiocese representatives.”

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, May 26, 23 @ 12:40 pm

Comments

We’re, what, about 35 years into widespread child abuse by Catholic priests becoming public knowledge, and the Church is still trotting out “Gosh, I wish somebody would have told us about all this” as an excuse?

Can’t fathom why the pews get a little emptier and the assembled a little older with each passing Sunday.

Comment by Roadrager Friday, May 26, 23 @ 12:46 pm
== “At best, the cardinal’s claims of being blindsided are misleading. At worst, they are more of the same, a continuation of the church’s decades-long pattern of turning a blind eye and covering up allegations of child sex abuse to the detriment of survivors.==

Yup. The AG’s office was too kind in not using more applicable characterizations such as “shameless” or “soulless”.

Comment by Henry Francis Friday, May 26, 23 @ 12:47 pm
One of them is lying. Which one has more to gain from the dishonesty?

Comment by Cubs in '16 Friday, May 26, 23 @ 12:49 pm
“Unsubstantiated claim” is a pretty small fig leaf, Cardinal

Comment by High Socks Friday, May 26, 23 @ 12:59 pm
Like Rr said, the Catholic church doesn’t know when to stop digging.

AG Raoul should have started his presser by saying, “Speaking of disappointed…”

Comment by Jocko Friday, May 26, 23 @ 1:12 pm
oooh Cupich, don’t poke the bear. SNAP head gave Raoul a roadmap in today’s Trib editorial…..

Comment by Amalia Friday, May 26, 23 @ 1:18 pm
This touches on yet another problem with the Church. You can almost hear the arrogance that the church sees itself as above law enforcement.

Story time.

In the early 00s there was an incident with a church youth group leader at St. Marys in Plainfield. He decided it would be a fun game to dress young boys up in womens pantyhose. One of the boys didn’t feel comfortable, and tried to avoid participating in this ‘game’. He was forced to anyway.

The parents found out, and filed a police report.

The church response? They kicked the entire family out of the church, because in their words they were disappointed the family didn’t come to them and discuss the situation instead of going to the police. That was, and here’s the big problem AGAINST THE RULES for them to go to the police as members of the church.

Do not ever believe a single word a church leader says regarding abuse. They have policies in place designed to protect themselves, not you or your children.

Comment by TheInvisibleMan Friday, May 26, 23 @ 1:20 pm
comments flying on Twitter about the hate for private schools, that this investigation is nothing new. denial.

Comment by Amalia Friday, May 26, 23 @ 1:29 pm
AG Raoul, as a lifelong Catholic with children in Catholic schools, is the nightmare adversary for the Church. He has the force, the voice and well placed anger to rip the lies and coverups. Where were the priests who did not molest/rape, but lacked the spine to do the right thing? “Bad Apples” applies to all those two camps: those who “did” and those that “did nothing”.

Comment by Sayitaintso Friday, May 26, 23 @ 1:30 pm
Only a Cardinal can act like the true victim when 125 individuals in their diocese have been identified as sexually abusing children. Church leadership is the very definition of an echo chamber.

Comment by NIU Grad Friday, May 26, 23 @ 1:30 pm
== particularly perplexing because many of those 125 names – 62 in fact – came directly from an archdiocese spreadsheet entitled, ‘Religious Order Clerics With a Substantiated Allegation of Sexual Abuse of Minors Who Served within the Archdiocese of Chicago.’ ==

It came from a spreadsheet from the archdiocese, so technically the AG’s office didn’t share that spreadsheet with them.
or
Cardinals are not allowed to use Excel

We will let you pick

Comment by OneMan Friday, May 26, 23 @ 1:36 pm
Rich, why are you so anti-Catholicly selective? You allow snark from Amalia and grim “fry them all” rush to judgment from Henry Francis but you won’t let me analogize to the abuse of military whores in Israel or point out that the guilty go free when the innocent pay, e.g., the spurious recantations by Cardinal Bernardin’s accusers.

You run an echo chamber.

Comment by Am Aliyah Shekinah Friday, May 26, 23 @ 1:47 pm
Obfuscation (from the Latin obfuscates) is the Catholic Church’s and the Cardinal’s modus operandi in dealing with the pedophile scourge.

Hope that AG Raoul will continue to pressure and shine a light on these horrific instances of child abuse.

Comment by Rudy’s teeth Friday, May 26, 23 @ 1:51 pm
Excuse typo—should be obfuscatus. Years of studying Latin comes in handy once in a while.

Comment by Rudy’s teeth Friday, May 26, 23 @ 1:54 pm
I don’t know which is worse, the continued instances of abuse or the churches continued inability to acknowledge and deal with the issue. With comments like those we’re hearing from Cupich, we should have no reason to believe that the church will be addressing their problems any time soon.

Comment by Pundent Friday, May 26, 23 @ 2:17 pm
Does Raoul imply that Cupich is correct as to 63 of the 125 names?

Comment by Original Anon Friday, May 26, 23 @ 2:24 pm
That Eighth Commandment is optional?
Who knew?

Comment by Teacher Lady Friday, May 26, 23 @ 2:31 pm
Disappointed in Blase Cardinal Cupich

What more can be said?

I think the Cardinal’s words speak to the position as he’d like, and are there to be taken.

Disappointed, for me, begins my thoughts

Comment by Oswego Willy Friday, May 26, 23 @ 2:38 pm
=Does Raoul imply that Cupich is correct as to 63 of the 125 names?=

Yes, and he wants the benefit of the doubt on the rest. He believes the AG owes him the courtesy of telling him which priests are going to be publicly disclosed and/or revealed as abusers for the first time. He’s clearly more concerned about the reputation of his institution than the perpetrators and victims.

Comment by Pundent Friday, May 26, 23 @ 2:42 pm
Since there is so much land available on the grounds of the Cardinal’s mansion near the corners of State Parkway, North Avenue, and Astor Street, the Church should construct a facility for wayward priests on this space.

Preferably, this facility would have bars on windows and doors.

Comment by Rudy’s teeth Friday, May 26, 23 @ 2:58 pm
Remember, Springfield Bishop Paprocki was Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago from 2003 to 2010, when much of this happened. From SJR “Clohessy said Paprocki is the only one of the Illinois bishops who refuses to reveal the parishes and other sites where child molesting clerics have served.”

Comment by jimbo26 Friday, May 26, 23 @ 3:14 pm
But we’re any of them drag queens?

Comment by Just Me 2 Friday, May 26, 23 @ 3:16 pm
I’m Disappointed by the Cardinal’s response as well: he was the first in a long time of more progressive, liberal-thinking Cardinals in Chicago, and I often watch his Homilies online. His response to this crisis is out of character for him, which of course does not excuse it.

A shepherd who lets wolves stay in his flock is a failure. If the shepherd protects the wolves, he isn’t a shepherd at all. The Church hierarchy is dead set on protecting itself from lawsuits and scandals, as a matter of policy, and it warps everything they do. A priest would tell a penitent parishioner to confess their sins, regret them, resolve not to repeat, The Church itself can’t get past step one: confessing. Because it’s going to cost them a lot of money. Bottom line.

Comment by Give us Barabbas Friday, May 26, 23 @ 3:34 pm
Time to clean house in the Chicago and Springfield dioceses.

Comment by Walter Friday, May 26, 23 @ 3:36 pm
@Rudy’s Teeth
Coincidentally, that’s the exact spot where I met my wife.
I second your proposal.

Comment by Proud Papa Bear Friday, May 26, 23 @ 4:21 pm
When you don’t have a leg to stand on.

Comment by Dotnonymous Friday, May 26, 23 @ 4:32 pm
To Original Anon —

No, AG Raoul is not implying that there is a single name that the Church was not fully aware of.

Here’s his last sentence:

“Once he returns from his trip abroad, we look forward to continuing our dialogue with the cardinal regarding the remaining names on the list of 125 substantiated child sex abusers, which we previously addressed with archdiocese representatives.”

To take a step back, it is a real public service for the people that the AG’s office took the time to dig up methodically the full list of criminals and predators that the Church had protected for so many decades — and were fully aware of their existence.

I mean, I get forgiveness is a big part of the faith, but it’s time for a full reckoning of the cover up culture with consequences for those who are complicit so that the good work of the largest membership organization in the world can grow without the stains of these sins.

Comment by Dan Johnson Friday, May 26, 23 @ 4:39 pm
A problem with true believers is that the ends justify the means. It also helps that money and power are being preserved by the church through their obfuscation. This is what happens when you abandon your morals to retain the authority.

Comment by Jibba Friday, May 26, 23 @ 5:07 pm
snark? facts. Cupich got all high and mighty and the AG answered. SNAP in the Trib has more ideas of how to make the RC church change. who knows what the AG can do. Other states have done more. Denial from the Twitters, happening. But But others are bad. You know what, root out sexual abuse everywhere. But when the organization in question has a record of tragedy and coverups including from Cardinals in multiple US cities and overseas, get religion. seriously.

Comment by Amalia Friday, May 26, 23 @ 5:18 pm
Only acceptable response from the Cardinal would’ve been “We appreciate the work the AG has done to uncover these truly heinous deeds done over the years that have damaged the lives and stolen the innocence of so many, by men using the cloak of Jesus to cover their evil. We will continue to support the AG’s mission of justice for the victims and do all we can to root out this evil.”

Or, you know, something like that.

Comment by NotYourGramma Friday, May 26, 23 @ 5:58 pm
Time to tax the church to pay for these investigations.

Comment by doug Friday, May 26, 23 @ 6:09 pm
Also, anyone notice that the list ISNT titled “62 men we turned over to the authorities for abusing minors because we had proof and now they’re in prison”? It’s just a…. list.

Comment by NotYourGramma Friday, May 26, 23 @ 6:17 pm
There’s forgiveness from God, but that’s not a replacement for civil accountability. Just because a criminal gets absolved of a sin, doesn’t mean there’s no longer accountability in a court. Which everyone is going to re-discover. Paprocki is also a lawyer. He knows better.

Comment by Give Us Barabbas Friday, May 26, 23 @ 7:08 pm
===They kicked the entire family out of the church, because in their words they were disappointed the family didn’t come to them and discuss the situation instead of going to the police. That was, and here’s the big problem AGAINST THE RULES for them to go to the police as members of the church.===

They will quote 1 Corinthians 6:1-8 in support of this, and it. is. infuriating.

Even the devil can quote Scripture to his purpose.

Comment by Suburban Mom Tuesday, May 30, 23 @ 2:45 pm