The Archdiocese of Chicago said Wednesday it plans to publicly list the names of “credibly accused” priests belonging to religious orders after questions over the archdiocese’s transparency.
In 2018, a bombshell grand jury report out of Pennsylvania revealed alleged sexual abuse by more than 300 priests, including at least seven with ties to Illinois.
At the time, the Archdiocese of Chicago reaffirmed its policies of referring allegations of abuse to civil authorities, but a Chicago Sun-Times article published Feb. 5 says while the archdiocese has received reports of priests in religious orders accused of sexual abuse, the archdiocese hasn’t publicly identified the clergy members in question.
In a statement sent Wednesday to WTTW News, an Archdiocese of Chicago spokesman said plans are in place to publicly list “credibly accused” members of religious orders.
“We have been in discussions with religious orders about how their members, under their jurisdiction and control, who are credibly accused, are to be publicly listed,” the spokesman wrote in an email. “We anticipate that these matters will be resolved soon.”
Religious orders are groups of priests or clergy that operate independently of the archdiocese. Reporter Robert Herguth said some religious orders didn’t submit names of accused priests to the Archdiocese of Chicago, headed by Cardinal Blase Cupich.
“In 2018, Cupich called on the religious orders that do not answer to him but do operate within his jurisdiction to be transparent — to release public lists of their offending clergy,” Herguth said. “A number of orders have done that and a number have not – and they’re not required to even.”