OAN’s Noah Herring
3:25 PM – Tuesday, May 22, 2023
An investigation from the attorney general’s office in Illinois found 451 Catholic clergy had sexually abused nearly 2,000 children over a 70-year span.
The report, which was released on Tuesday, has suggested that the abuse was “significantly more extensive” than what the dioceses had previously disclosed in 2018 when Attorney General Lisa Madigan started the report.
Since taking over as Attorney General, Kwame Raoul has continued the investigation and revealed in a news conference that the clergy abused 1,997 children in Illinois between 1950 and 2019.
“It is my hope that this report will shine light both on those who violated their positions of power and trust to abuse innocent children, and on the men in church leadership who covered up that abuse,” Raoul said in the news conference. “These perpetrators may never be held accountable in a court of law, but by naming them here, the intention is to provide a public accountability and a measure of healing to survivors who have long suffered in silence.”
Those whom the report cited as accusers have dealt with suicidal thoughts after being abused, as well as used drugs and alcohol to cope with “anxiety and feelings of unworthiness.”
“Survivors spoke of years, and often decades, struggling with challenges including insomnia, anxiety, trust issues, nightmares, suicidal ideation, guilt, addiction, alcoholism, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, issues creating and maintaining relationships, and sexual side effects,” the report stated.
The state’s Catholic dioceses released summaries of their current progress and have stated that the attorney general has prompted a review of their policies and unspecified changes.
“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,” Blase Cupich, the archbishop of Chicago, Blase Cupich, said in the statement.
Another statement was released Tuesday from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) calling the report “stunning”. SNAP has also called on other attorney generals and prosecutors to organize similar investigations of Catholic dioceses.
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