Victims' advocacy group accuses Joliet Diocese of continuing to protect, hide abusive clerics
CREST HILL, Ill. (CBS) -- Last week, a 696-page report was released detailing child sex abuse committed by Catholic clerics in Illinois - following a nearly-five-year investigation by the Illinois Attorney General's office.
As CBS 2's Tara Molina reported, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, is taking issue with the bishop in one of the state's six Catholic dioceses. The group claims the bishop of the Diocese of Joliet is not being forthcoming.
SNAP says abusive clerics are still being protected or hidden in the Diocese of Joliet. They are calling for all the abusive priests' names to be shared and posted publicly.
Of course, we brought those claims directly to the diocese.
Members of SNAP stood outside the Diocese of Joliet on Tuesday, calling for complete transparency from Bishop Ronald Hicks.
"There's a discrepancy between the number of predator priests in this diocese according to the Attorney General, and a much smaller number by the Joliet bishop," said David Clohessy, the former national director and spokesman for SNAP.
The discrepancy is that the Diocese of Joliet has shared a list of 52 abusers. But the Illinois Attorney General's report, released last week, identified 69.
That is why this group traveled to Joliet from across Illinois. Some even came from Missouri.
"The Bible tells us that the truth shall set you free," Clohessy said, "not 60 percent of the truth, not 80 percent of the truth, not 85 percent of the truth if the Attorney General is breathing down your neck."
Clohessy has been working with SNAP for decades. It's personal for him.
"I was abused by our parish priest, who went on to molest three of my brothers," Clohessy said. "One of my brothers became a priest himself and molested kids himself."
SNAP accused Bishop Hicks of "continued secrecy and deceit."
Clohessy says he won't stop fighting.
We reached the Diocese of Joliet with all of SNAP's claims and concerns – repeatedly. There had been no response late Wednesday.
But Bishop Ronald Hicks with the Diocese did share a video response after the Attorney General's report was published last week.
In the video posted to YouTube, Hicks says, "The report challenges us to remain committed in our efforts to make sure it never happens again."
Hicks also issued a lengthy written statement last week.
Before the Illinois Attorney General's investigation began in 2018, the six Catholic dioceses in Illinois listed 103 substantiated child sex abusers.
But the Attorney General's investigation found an additional 348 clerics who abused kids between 1950 and 2019.
Of the 451 abusers identified in the report, who abused nearly 2,000 children, 330 of them have died, according to the Attorney General.
"If one more child molester is exposed, and one more kid is spared, that's what this is all about," Clohessy said.
Again, we made several efforts to connect with the Diocese and Bishop Ronald Hicks on Wednesday, and there was still no response to these claims this afternoon.