JOLIET (IL)
ChurchMilitant.com
February 6, 2019
By Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th.
Fr. Jankowski: ‘I have to answer to God about how I have lived as a priest’
A priest wanting to shield minors from potential sex abuse in the diocese of Joliet, Illinois is now on a forced sabbatical.
Father Peter Jankowski was removed as pastor from St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Joliet and put on a forced sabbatical by his ordinary, Bishop R. Daniel Conlon, last July. Jankowski, who was pastor at St. Patrick’s from 2006 until his removal, was voicing his concern over fallacious background checks conducted at his parish by its former pastor, Fr. James Lennon.
Jankowski was even more concerned by Fr. Lennon’s frequenting of his parish accompanied by clerics who had been removed from active ministry owing to credible allegations of sex abuse.
Jankowski told Church Militant, “My predecessor at St. Patrick’s (Rev. James Lennon) continuously brought these priests on church property during his tenure and mine (from 1995 through 2007 when I stopped the practice), on school days when [there were] children present, often unbeknownst to those on the property.”
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