ILLINOIS
State Journal-Register
By Chris Dettro, Staff Writer
Posted May 6, 2015
The director of a national support group for clergy abuse victims said he’s glad the Rev. Robert “Bud” DeGrand has been permanently removed as a pastor, but he wants Springfield Catholic Bishop Thomas John Paprocki to do more for victims and less for the priest accused of sexual misconduct.
“We’re glad that if Bishop Thomas Paprocki keeps his promise, Father Robert ‘Bud’ DeGrand won’t ever work in a parish again,” said David Clohessy, national director of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP.
But Clohessy urged the bishop to stop using church funds to pay DeGrand’s attorney’s fees and to post notices about DeGrand and the credible accusations against him on the diocesan website and in parish bulletins. SNAP also wants Paprocki to personally visit each parish where DeGrand has worked to encourage “all victims, witnesses and whistle-blowers to call police.”
DeGrand is alleged to have sexually abused a minor while he was serving in Jacksonville in 1980, the same year he was ordained to the priesthood.
Paprocki met Saturday with parishioners of St. Michael the Archangel in Sigel, St. Mary of the Assumption in Neoga, St. Mary Help of Christians in Green Creek and Sacred Heart in Lillyville to inform them of DeGrand’s immediate removal.
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