Kwame Raoul slams Blase Cupich comments on priest sex abuse report
The cardinal’s questions on how the Illinois attorney general’s abuse claims were substantiated “are particularly perplexing because many of those 125 names” came from the Archdiocese of Chicago, Raoul said.
Attorney General Kwame Raoul on Friday slammed Cardinal Blase Cupich for the top Catholic cleric in the Chicago region’s response to a blockbuster report this week by Raoul’s office showing the church had hidden the names of hundreds of child-molesting priests and others throughout Illinois.
Cupich released a written statement and posted a video on YouTube in which he called the findings “misleading” and portrayed himself as having been blindsided by them.
In response Friday, Raoul said, “At best, the cardinal’s claims of being blindsided are misleading.
“At worst, they are more of the same, a continuation of the church’s decades-long pattern of turning a blind eye and covering up allegations of child sex abuse to the detriment of survivors,” the attorney general said in a written statement.
“We released this report to give a voice to survivors and to shine light on the church officials who covered up child sex abuse in the church, allowing child sex predators to continue to abuse children who trusted them,” Raoul said.
Raoul also said, “I am surprised and dismayed by the cardinal’s claim in the media that he and the Archdiocese of Chicago ‘had never heard of’ the priests and religious brothers listed in the group of 125 substantiated child sex abusers named in the report my office issued this week.”
“The cardinal’s statements, including that he needs information on how our investigators substantiated the claims, are particularly perplexing because many of those 125 names — 62 in fact — came directly from an archdiocese spreadsheet entitled, ‘Religious Order Clerics With a Substantiated Allegation of Sexual Abuse of Minors Who Served within the Archdiocese of Chicago.’ ”
Raoul reported the investigation found that 451 Catholic clerics and religious brothers molested nearly 2,000 kids across Illinois over the last seven decades — and that until Raoul’s investigation was initiated in 2018 under his predecessor, church officials had publicly disclosed the names of only about 100.
The report also found that while the church has since added more names, there are still 160 child molesters, mostly members of male Catholic religious orders, not publicized on church websites.
“As my office explained previously, all 451 listed clerics and brothers included in our report have been substantiated by a Catholic source, either by an Illinois diocese, a non-Illinois diocese or a religious order,” Raoul said. “And as our report explains, many of those allegations were substantiated after my office’s investigators presented evidence to church representatives one file at a time.”
“In his comments to the media, Cardinal Cupich said that if the cases are substantiated, the names will be added to the archdiocese’s website. The archdiocese itself confirmed to my investigators that 62 of the 125 priests and religious brothers in question were substantiated child sex abusers who ministered in the Archdiocese of Chicago. I am calling on the archdiocese to immediately add at least those 62 names to its online list of substantiated child sex abusers.”
LISTEN: REPORTER ROBERT HERGUTH ON SLATE PODCAST
LISTEN: REPORTER ROBERT HERGUTH ON SLATE PODCAST
Click here to hear Sun-Times watchdogs reporter Robert Herguth interviewed on Slate’s “What Next” podcast about the Illinois attorney general’s investigation that found the Archdiocese of Chicago and the rest of the Catholic church hierarchy in Illinois continued to coverup clergy sex abuse.
Cupich couldn’t be reached for comment. His press office didn’t respond to emails.
Cupich was in Rome this week, where he told an Associated Press reporter he’d be willing to embrace a recommendation from Raoul that religious orders that don’t make public their abusive clergy would be barred from working in his jurisdiction.
Cupich also said he’s open to the “central office of the church” — the Vatican, where the pope sits — stepping in to get religious orders, which largely operate or staff Chicago area Catholic high schools, to be more transparent on this issue.
Dioceses are geographic arms of the church led by bishops appointed by the pope. Orders often span such jurisdictions, have a different leadership structure and hew to a particular mission or follow in the mold of a saint, though they also ultimately report to the pope.
“Once he returns from his trip abroad, we look forward to continuing our dialogue with the cardinal regarding the remaining names on the list of 125 substantiated child sex abusers, which we previously addressed with archdiocese representatives,” Raoul said.
The Catholic church’s transparency on accusations of sexual abuse by clergy members, including the Rev. Mark Santo, remains inconsistent and lacking across the United States, clouding the extent of the crisis more than 20 years after it exploded into view.
The cardinal, a close adviser to Pope Francis, is now at the church’s mandatory retirement age. He submitted his resignation letter, the Archdiocese of Chicago said, but the pope could refuse to accept it.
The Servites has had numerous priests and brothers accused of sexual abuse and faces an onslaught of new lawsuits. Unlike many dioceses and orders, the group has no public list of members deemed to have been credibly accused of sexual abuse. And other church lists are incomplete.
Rev. Goedert, a survivor of the Andrea Doria shipwreck, said in a 2007 deposition that he knew 25 priests had broken the law over the years by abusing children but never alerted police.
Rev. Richard McGrath’s name belongs on lists of abusers kept by all Catholic dioceses where he worked, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests said.
The payout is in a lawsuit regarding the Rev. Richard McGrath, an Augustinian priest who ran Providence Catholic High School — and took the Fifth when asked about child pornography.
Bishop Ronald Hicks might consolidate 16 Joliet-area congregations and eventually close other parishes and schools, with “budgetary issues” a factor. His aides won’t say how much has been spent on fallout from the sex abuse crisis.
Kenneth Lewis, 62, entered the plea Thursday to a felony count of aggravated sexual abuse in a deal with Cook County prosecutors that saw other charges against him dropped, including predatory criminal sexual assault.
“I think that they should be” posting lists of abusive members “because it’s been actually asked of us by the larger church,” the Rev. Gregory Polan told the Sun-Times.
The attorney general didn’t name John D. Murphy. The Archdiocese of Chicago settled claims over Murphy but doesn’t include him on its list. And his order hasn’t named abusers — but said Saturday it hopes to “in the near future.”
The cardinal’s questions on how the Illinois attorney general’s abuse claims were substantiated “are particularly perplexing because many of those 125 names” came from the Archdiocese of Chicago, Raoul said.
There’s no room for anything other than full acceptance of the hard, brutal truth revealed by a five-year investigation: The Catholic Church in Illinois failed to acknowledge hundreds of allegedly abusive priests and other religious figures.
At the start of a five-year investigation by the attorney general, Cardinal Blase Cupich told seminarians the Archdiocese of Chicago had “posted all of the names” of predatory clergy. As the investigation neared its end, Cupich kept adding names.
The Rev. Paul Guzman returns to his position as associate pastor at Most Holy Redeemer Parish effective immediately, according to a letter from Cardinal Blase Cupich.
In a letter Saturday, Cardinal Blase Cupich said an accusation has been reported to the archdiocese that the Rev. Paul Guzman abused a minor when he was a layman — 25 years before entering Mundelein Seminary.
The Catholic order’s Marmion Abbey has posted a list of “established offenders.” Unanswered: why Brother Jerome Skaja stayed with the order for years despite “multiple” credible accusations of molesting minors.
The Rev. Michael Pfleger, longtime pastor of St. Sabina Church, was removed pending investigation of a sexual abuse allegation from more than 30 years ago.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago has paid $800,000 this year to settle decades-old claims against the longtime Bronzeville pastor and four other priests.
The Archdiocese of Chicago for the first time has posted the names of credibly accused sex-offender priests from multiple Catholic religious orders — with many unexplained omissions.
During Sunday Mass, parishioners wore shirts saying, ‘We stand with Father Pfleger.’ The popular priest denies the latest allegation — the fourth against him.
‘Treat it as a dead subject,’ the victim says the dean of the Catholic school in Aurora told him. The Benedictines are still keeping secrets about clergy sex abuse, a Sun-Times investigation has found.
Sneed is told President Joe Biden was actually warned a year and a half ago by a top top Dem pollster that his re-election was in the doghouse with young voters. Gov. J.B. Pritzker was being urged to run in a primary in case Biden pulled the plug.
Taking away guns from people served with domestic violence orders of protection would be a lot of work. “There aren’t enough sworn officers to carry out what’s being asked here,” Pritzker said.
Deputy Sean Grayson has been fired and charged with murder in the fatal shooting of Massey, who had called 911 to report a possible prowler. He has pleaded not guilty. The family says the Department of Justice is investigating.
