ROCKFORD (IL)
WIFR-TV, Ch. 23 [Rockville IL]
September 20, 2024
Some families of students who attended Boylan Catholic High School receive an email regarding an ongoing investigation involving a priest who taught and served as assistant principal at the school.
The letter was sent to families Sept. 19 by the Diocese of Rockford. A news release was also published Friday on the Diocese of Rockford website.
The diocese says it was “recently informed Father Matthew DeBlock is under investigation for an allegation of sexual misconduct with a minor.” The diocese says the alleged misconduct reportedly happened at the time Father DeBlock served at Boylan, between 2012 and 2014.
No criminal charges have been filed against the priest at this time. Local law enforcement agencies either openly denied an investigation or shared that they would comment only if charges were announced.
According to the letter, the diocese says Father DeBlock resigned from his assignment as parochial vicar at St. John Neumann in St. Charles. He is also prohibited from engaging in ministry at St. John Neumann or any other parish, school or diocesan entity during the duration of the investigation. The news release from the diocese says statements regarding Father DeBlock’s status were issued to all other parishes and schools where he had been assigned since his ordination as a priest in 2008.
Anonymous sources who attended Boylan during the 2012–2014-time frame tell WIFR it always felt like personal issues were something that needed to be kept hush-hush.
“There was a little group you could opt to sign up for if you wanted like a group for anxiety and it would be like you and 6 other people. You didn’t tell anyone if you were a part of that,” says one source. “You would like sneak away for like half an hour and go to this little group with one teacher that led it. You felt like there was something wrong with you.”
Another source says, “That was my first reaction is that I’m not surprised. If it were talked about, I think Boylan would do everything to keep this under wraps. We now as a society have become more open about talking about these kinds of issues rather than concealing them.”
The Diocese of Rockford says it will provide updates to families when it is able to do so.
It also encourages anyone who has been a victim of sexual abuse by an employee or member of the clergy of the Diocese of Rockford to contact law enforcement and call the Diocese of Rockford’s hotline number at 815-293-7540 or email reportsexualabuse@rockforddiocese.org
When a survivor makes a report to the diocese’s hotline or email, the diocese says a victim advocate will contact them within 24 hours. Any help after that may be funded in part by the diocese.
Allegations like these have surfaced within the Diocese of Rockford before.
In May 2023, the Office of the Illinois Attorney General released a report following a multi-year investigation into child sex abuse by members of the Catholic clergy in Illinois’ six Catholic dioceses, including the Diocese of Rockford. In that report, the Illinois Attorney General’s Office named 24 abusive clerics and religious brothers, ten of whom were connected directly to Boone, Lee, Ogle, Stephenson and Winnebago counties.
In April 2024, the Diocese of Rockford updated its own report outlining the history of sexual abuse within its organization. That report lists 25 names.
The Diocese of Rockford has a section on its website about how it works to keep children and young people safe as well as more information on how it handles reports of sexual abuse.
