BELLEVILLE (IL)
News Democrat
December 20, 2018
By Joseph Bustos
The Catholic Diocese of Belleville, which covers southern Illinois says it has been up front about sexual abuse by priests, and is disagreeing with an assessment released by the Illinois Attorney General’s Office.
In a preliminary report released Wednesday, Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office said the Catholic dioceses in Illinois have not released the names of at least 500 clergy accused of sexually abusing children.
“The Attorney General’s preliminary report cites combined statistics for all six Illinois dioceses of the Province of Chicago without delineating between them,” the diocese said in a news release on Thursday. “This could give the false impression that a significant number of credibly accused Belleville clergy has not been disclosed. This is incorrect. The Diocese of Belleville has publicly identified all members of its clergy who were credibly accused and removed from ministry, and the Attorney General’s Office has not advised the Diocese of any perceived omissions or errors in its public listing.”
The Belleville diocese formed a review board in 1993 to investigate allegations childhood sexual abuse, and removed 17 members of the clergy from ministry. The removals were publicly announced when they occurred and the names were posted on the diocese’s website.
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