CRYSTAL LAKE (IL)
Northwest Herald
April 5, 2019
By Katie Smith
Local, diocesan officials weigh in on Catholic Church clergy abuse
Parishioners at St. Mary Catholic Church in McHenry are looking forward to celebrating the church’s 125th anniversary later this year.
Hanging over their festivities, however, is a reminder that their church, and several others in McHenry County, once housed leaders who faced accusations of abuse.
In the wake of a sweeping report that revealed the names of 395 Catholic church members accused of child sexual abuse, some Catholic leaders and residents in McHenry County are wrestling with the importance of airing out the Catholic Church’s past and moving beyond decades-old allegations. Included in the report where clergy members who worked at St. Mary Catholic Church in McHenry, St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Woodstock, St. Thomas the Apostle in Crystal Lake, St. John the Baptist in Johnsburg and Marion Central Catholic High School in Woodstock. The majority of accusations occurred in the 1970s and 1980s. In two of the six cases tied to McHenry County, allegations did not surface until years after the accused clergy members died.
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