Twelve Priests with Local Ties Named in Sexual Misconduct Report
By Matt Hopf
Twelve priests with local connections have been named in a 182-page report naming 395 Catholic priests and lay people reportedly accused of sexual misconduct in Illinois. Seven of the names already had been released by the Springfield and Peoria dioceses in reports of substantiated claims. Named in the report are: ? Alvin Campbell, who briefly served at St. John Catholic Church in Quincy in 1952. ? Joseph Cernich, who had been a deacon at St. Mary Catholic Church in Quincy before ordination in 1983. ? Kevin Downey, who worked at Quincy College, now Quincy University, in two different stints from 1983 until 1985 and from 1986 to 1991. ? Harold Jochem, who was based at Quincy College and High School from 1932 to 1933. ? Gregory Plunkett, who served at Immaculate Conception Church in Carthage from 1991 to 1995. ? Jeffrey Salwach, who served at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Quincy from 1985 to 1987. ? Aloysius "A.J" Schwellenbach, who was based in Quincy from 1950 to 1951 and then at St. John the Baptist in Quincy from 1971 to 1984. ? Richard Slavish, who served at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church from 1993 to 1994. ? Walter Weerts, who served at St. Brigid Catholic Church in Liberty from 1981 to 1985. ? Frank Westhoff, who served at St. Mary, Holy Redeemer and Holy Family from 1977 to 1984. ? Henry Willenborg, who was at Our Lady of Angels Franciscan Seminary from 1977 to 1987. Downey, Jochem, Salwach and Willenborg, who were part of the Franciscan Order, were not included in a list of substantiated cases released last year by the Springfield Diocese. Andrew Hansen, director of communications for the Springfield Diocese, said the diocese has no record of any allegations against the Franciscans.
"For the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois, when there is an allegation, we immediately notify the order to which that priest is from and will withdraw the priest from our diocese," Hansen said in a statement to The Herald-Whig. "The order to which that clergy member is from is responsible to address the allegation with their priest, and we will fully help them in that endeavor." Advocates released the names Wednesday, a list that is twice as long as what the state's six dioceses previously released. "We've chosen to reveal this information because the Catholic bishops and the religious orders who are in charge and have this information and hold it secret have chosen to conceal it," said attorney Jeff Anderson, a Minnesota-based attorney and longtime advocate for clergy abuse victims. "We have chosen to reveal it." In a statement, the Diocese of Springfield said the "extreme hurt some of our clergy caused decades ago is a disgrace." "The Diocese of Springfield pledges continued efforts to bring healing to the victims and survivors of this evil," Hansen said in a statement. However, the diocese raised questions about the thoroughness of Anderson's report, noting that it doesn't account for some of the clergy being dead, as noted on the diocese's website. "The facts are clear in the Diocese of Springfield that the majority of instances of abuse occurred more than 40 years ago, and only one instance has occurred in the past 20 years," Hansen said. Downey was placed on leave of absence as pastor of St. Francis of Assisi in May 2016 after an allegation of sexual misconduct was made involving a male minor in 1990. A 2017 statement from the Rev. Kevin Muellen, of the Franciscan Friars Holy Name Province, to which Downey belongs, said Downey would be removed permanently from all public ministries after an investigation found the claim to be credible. Louis Schlangen, who served for St. Mary in Pittsfield, Holy Redeemer in Barry and Holy Family in Griggsville from 1985 to 1989, St. Edward Catholic Church in Mendon from 1990 to 1995 and 1998 to 2007 before retiring to the Loraine area in 2008, also was named in the report, but civil authorities did not proceed with charges. Schlangen, who died in 2018, was first publicly accused of sexual misconduct last year when a lawsuit alleged he and Stanislaus "Stanley" Yunker sexually abused a girl between 1973 and 1975 at a Springfield church. Those allegations are disputed by the diocese. "When the diocese was made aware of these allegations, diocesan officials reported it to civil authorities, and no charges were brought," he said. Hansen added that the Diocesan Review Board, which is comprised of lay people not employed by the diocese, did not find the allegations credible. Willenborg, according to the report, was suspended from ministry in October 2009 after it was reported that he had been sexually involved with a high school girl in the 1980s. It also alleged that Willenborg had a five-year relationship with a female parishioner, who gave birth to his son in 1987. The Franciscans reportedly provided some financial incentive to the boy with the stipulation that the mother sign a confidentiality agreement, which she broke in 2009 after the boy developed terminal cancer and the order refused to pay for treatment. Jochem and Salwach were accused of abusing a child at New Lenox Parish between 1974 and 1978. Salwach at the time was a religious brother before ordination. Newspaper records show that Jochem died in 1993, though the report said he died in 2004. Anderson said he and others began collecting the names from lawsuits, news reports and other sources after a blistering report by the Illinois attorney general. The report concluded that Catholic dioceses in the state had not released the names of at least 500 clergy accused of sexually abusing children and that the dioceses had done a woefully inadequate job of investigating allegations, and in some cases, didn't investigate at all. Many of those on the list are dead, and only one of the people named remains in active ministry.
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