DEKALB COUNTY (IL)
Daily Chronicle
January 3, 2019
By Katie Smith
A Chicago law firm has vowed to release the names of more than 300 Catholic clergy members with whom they’ve settled sexual abuse allegations.
Attorneys Jeff Anderson and Marc Pearlman, of Anderson and Attorneys, made the announcement at a news conference Thursday morning. They expect to release the report Feb. 11, complete with the names, histories and photos of each priest they’ve settled with over the past 20 years.
“There are over 300 survivors who had the courage to come to us privately and work with us,” Anderson said. “Most all of those offenders…we made known public. But not all of them.”
None of the settlements were confidential, Anderson said.
The attorneys also urged each of the Illinois Catholic dioceses to publicly identify more than 500 unnamed clergy members whose identities church officials intentionally keep under wraps, according to Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan.
Last month, Madigan released the preliminary findings of her investigation of sexual abuse claims within the Catholic church and claimed to know of more than 500 unidentified clergy members accused of sexually abusing minors. The investigation is expected to continue under the eye of Illinois Attorney General-elect Kwame Raoul.
Madigan’s report did not include the accused clergy members’ names or confirm which Illinois diocese they belonged to.
The Catholic Diocese of Rockford responded to the report with skepticism, and said it has fully cooperated with the attorney general’s investigation.
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