By Kim Carollo
WHOI [Peoria IL]
January 7, 2007
http://www.hoinews.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=24851M
Peoria -- A protest was held outside St. Mary's Cathedral in Peoria and in dozens of other cities across the country Sunday.
Some of the protesters claim to have been victims of sexual abuse at the hands of priests, and now want to bring attention to the issue.
One man says he was abused by a Peoria priest more than 40 years ago.
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They chose this weekend because it's the fifth anniversary of the first news article exposing sexual abuse by a priest.
They say they want Catholic officials to hold the priests accountable and acknowledge their alleged crimes.
"We're here in this vigil to try and get the bishops to come forward and release the names of the predator priests. The only way it's going to stop is if they get into their secret files and release the names of these priests so that we can put an end to this," said Jeff Jones, who says he was a victim of abuse by a Peoria priest.
The Catholic Diocese of Peoria says it will not respond to the group's allegations.
Similar vigils were held in more than 50 cities across the country.
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