By Jennifer Keiper, WLS-AM 890 News
(CHICAGO) Illinois’ Attorney General says the Catholic Church, in this state, has dramatically underreported the number of priests with sexual misconduct allegations.
In a report released by her office, Lisa Madigan says the six dioceses in Illinois have publicly identified 185 clergy members as having been credibly accused of child abuse. However, she says that the diocese have received allegations of sexual abuse of at least 500 additional priests and clergy members.
Madigan says “that allegations frequently have not been adequately investigated by the dioceses or not investigated at all”.
She says the Catholic church is supposed to be putting survivors first, “But it is very clear to me and it’s very clear to my lawyers that the priority of the Church has been to these criminal clergy members and it has been trying to maintain the assets of the Church,” said Madigan.
Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich has issued a statement saying that he “wants to express again the profound regret of the whole church for our failures to address the scourge of clerical sexual abuse. It is the courage of victim-survivors that has shed purifying light on this dark chapter in church history.”
According to the Associated Press, Bishop Thomas Paprocki of the Springfield diocese says Madigan’s inquiry prompted a review of all priests back to 1923 and “motivated us to redouble our commitments” to stopping abuse.
The Joliet diocese says Madigan’s office gave no indication it had inadequately investigated or that there were problems with its online list of credible allegations.
@ 2018 WLS-AM
