The Illinois Attorney General released the results of a large investigation into allegations of sexual abuse by the Catholic Church on Tuesday, saying investigators found that 451 clergy members sexually abused nearly 2,000 childrenSince 1950, far more than the 103 people the Church listed when it began its state review in 2018.

At a press conference announcing his office’s findings, Attorney General Kwame Raoul credited the accusers for making the review possible. He said state investigators found out 1,997 children statewide were abused by clergy between 1950 and 2019.

“I hope this report sheds light on both those who violated their positions of power and trust to abuse innocent children, and the men in church leadership who covered up that abuse,” Raoul said.

“It is possible that these authors never be held accountable in a court of lawBut by naming them here, the intent is to provide public accountability and a measure of healing to survivors who have long suffered in silence.”

“Exceptional”

According to a preliminary investigation by Raoul’s predecessor, the state dioceses considered only 26% of the complaints received “credible” and they did not investigate nor did they find the remaining 74% unfounded.

In a statement released Tuesday, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests called the report “impressive”but he stressed that the number of victims and abusers cited by state investigators is likely an underreporting.

“There is no mistaking the facts of the report: Until 2018, when the investigation began, the bishops of every Illinois diocese kept the known abusers secret, refused to include them on their defendant lists, and refused to acknowledge the truth of those survivors. of abuses that have come forward,” the statement read.

“It is for us, in a word, Disgusting that these so-called pastors are so blatantly lying.”

A case

The preliminary report by Raoul’s predecessor Lisa Madigan found that the church’s six dioceses did a woefully inadequate job investigating the allegations and in some cases failed to investigate or notify the state child welfare agency .

The abuse allegations date back decades and were leveled against some priests who had already died, but the preliminary report did not include some key details, like when the complaints were made.

Among the documented cases is that of the priest Thomas Francis Kelly, who abused more than 15 children between the ages of 11 and 17 in various parishes in the 60s and 70s.

One of the testimonials, Joe, who was 11 when Kelly abused of him, he explains in the report, that the priest invited him to see a film and to spend the night in the rectory, where he offered him some beer.

Joe woke up in the middle of the night to find Father Kelly giving him oral sex. Other abuse victims of Kelly, who died in 1990, also share their experiences in the relationship.

The report also contains 50 pages of recommendations to dioceses to be transparent and report abuses that may occur.