Chicago Archdiocese Will Release Files on 36 Abusive Priests

By Mary Wisniewski
GlobalPost
November 6, 2014

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/thomson-reuters/141106/chicago-archdiocese-releases-files-36-abusive-priests

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago said it will release on Thursday internal files of 36 priests who church officials found had sexually abused children.

The files were to be released online at 9 a.m. CST, the archdiocese said in a statement. Together with other documents released earlier this year, they were expected to show how the archdiocese dealt with abuse allegations during the past six decades.

As part of a mediation agreement, the Chicago Archdiocese in January released files on 30 former priests accused of abusing minors. Lawyers for victims had said at the time they wanted the archdiocese to release documents on more than 30 other priests.

Thursday's release, which comes less than two weeks before the retirement of Cardinal Francis George, would be the latest in a series of such abuse disclosures by Midwest church officials.

"As we said in January, we are committed to transparency with the people we serve," George said in the statement. “We cannot change the past but we hope we can rebuild trust through honest and open dialogue. Child abuse is a crime and a sin. The Archdiocese of Chicago is concerned first and foremost with bringing healing to abuse victims."

None of the priests identified as part of Thursday's scheduled document release are still in active ministry and 14 have died, the archdiocese said. Ninety-two percent of the cases included in the thousands of pages of documents occurred prior to 1988, the archdiocese said.