State report: Catholic church kept hundreds more abusers than previously known

HANNAH MEISEL

Capitol News Illinois

SPRINGFIELD – Catholic dioceses in Illinois failed to disclose hundreds of abusive clerics before the state opened what would become a yearslong investigation into sex abuse within the church, Attorney General Kwame Raoul announced Tuesday.

Included in a scathing 700-page report published by Raoul’s office at the end of the four-and-a-half-year investigation is the most comprehensive list to date of Catholic priests and religious brothers –451 in Illinois – who abused nearly 2,000 victims since 1950.

When former Attorney General Lisa Madigan initiated the investigation on her way out of office in late 2018, only the Archdiocese of Chicago and the Diocese of Joliet disclosed the names of clergy with substantiated sex abuse allegations against them. Between the two dioceses, they disclosed 103 names.

During the course of the investigation, the other four dioceses began listing their own names of known child sex abusers who ministered within their purviews, eventually upping the number of disclosed clergy with substantiated sex abuse claims against them to 320. The original 103 names disclosed by the Archdiocese of Chicago and Diocese of Joliet had some overlap with lists of names disclosed by the other four dioceses.

But Tuesday’s report names 149 more abusive clergy members than the dioceses had ever disclosed.

“Decades of Catholic leadership, decisions and policies have allowed known child sex abusers to hide, often in plain sight,” Raoul said at a news conference in Chicago. “And because the statute of limitations has frequently expired, many survivors of child sex abuse at the hands of Catholic clerics will never see justice in a legal sense. But it is my sincere hope that this report will shine a light on those who violated their positions of power and trust to abuse innocent children, and on the men in church leadership who covered up that abuse.”

A 2017 law eliminated Illinois’ prior statute of limitations for child sex abuse, under which a 20-year clock began ticking on a victim’s 18th birthday. But that law was only prospective; a 2009 Illinois Supreme Court decision affirmed that attempts to alter the statute of limitations retroactively violated the due process rights of the accused.

Asked Tuesday if he would support an amendment to the state’s constitution to allow older victims to file lawsuits, Raoul declined to give an answer.

“I’m not going to speak to that,” he said.

Raoul and Assistant Chief Deputy Attorney General Thomas Verticchio on Tuesday said investigators referred certain cases to local law enforcement any time they had reason to believe the statute of limitations window may have still been open. But they couldn’t say how many cases were actionable.

The attorney general’s office made “more than 600 confidential contacts” with survivors of child sex abuse by church leaders, including in-person, video and phone interviews, in addition to messages left on the attorney general’s hotline, plus emails and letters.

The dioceses cooperated in the investigation, giving staff in the attorney general’s office access to thousands of files and allowing diocese leadership to sit for interviews with investigators.

“It’s important to note, when we say substantiated, we were not calling balls and strikes,” Raoul said “The Church is, in the end, substantiating.”

According to the report, 22 clergy members associated with dioceses in Illinois had

Survivors’ accounts

The report is full of anecdotes and direct quotes from survivors interviewed by the attorney general’s office.

In one heart-wrenching story, a woman referred to by the pseudonym “Shanice” recounted how she was repeatedly raped by Father Robert Boley in the late 1980s when she was a fifth grader at Saint Cyril in Chicago’s Woodlawn neighborhood.

Boley’s abuse began with inappropriate touching behind his desk while the rest of the class worked on math problems. But eventually Boley would regularly hold Shanice back from going to recess, raping her in the empty classroom.

“He told me I was bad,” Shanice told investigators from the attorney general’s office. “He told me that Jesus made me bad, that he was there to help me.”

Shanice said she both trusted Boley and feared him. She also said she knew she wasn’t the only one of her classmates targeted by Boley.

“I think that what people don’t understand is when you are a child, you don’t separate a priest from God,” she was quoted as saying in the report. “He was God. To me, he was God’s worker.” preyed on five or more children.

According to Shanice, another priest even caught Boley one day, bursting into the empty classroom at recess and witnessing Shanice on his lap. But instead of doing anything about it, Shanice recalled the other priest asked Boley a question, then locked the door behind him on his way back out.

However, they did say the most recent abuse detailed during the investigation occurred in approximately 2010.

The investigation spans more than seven decades, with some of the oldest priests named in the report having been ordained in the 1910s. Raoul on Tuesday confirmed that the majority of those named in the report – 330 – were already dead.

“These perpetrators may never be held accountable in a court of law, but by naming them in this report, the intention is to provide public accountability and a measure of healing to survivors who have long suffered in silence,” Raoul said.

Nine of those had at least 10 victims during their careers, and one former priest – Joseph Fitzharris of Chicago – had at least 20 victims dating back to his first assignment in Puerto Rico in the late 1960s.

Fitzharris spent 17 years associated with eight churches in the Chicago area before moving on to Missouri, Indiana, California and Colorado, where he continued abusing children until the mid1980s, according to the report. He was convicted of sexual abuse of a minor in Illinois in 1987, removed from public ministry in 1991, resigned in 1995 and was finally laicized by Pope Benedict in 2009.

Boley was moved to three other assignments before ending up back in Illinois, where he worked at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Darien in 2002 when another woman accused him of abusing her when she was a young girl in the 1980s, close to the time of Shanice’s abuse.

After decades, Shanice finally told her mother about the abuse in 2019, and eventually agreed to a settlement with the Archdiocese of Chicago in 2022.

According to the report, Boley was removed from public ministry in 2006 and is “on a safety plan.”

CHLOE WOLFE opinion editor

Rachel Brady started dancing at a young age. At all stages of her life dance has guided her towards the places she needed to be. Today, Brady teaches the love of dance to others in her hometown of Alton, IL.

Brady said she got into dance the “typical way;” her mom signed her up for it when she was three. She liked to dance, so she continued it throughout her childhood.

When it came time for Brady to go to college, she decided to continue with dance because it was what she felt most comfortable doing.

“It was what I knew the best,” Brady said. “I mean, I sometimes consider myself lucky because I found that niche. I found a place where I felt like I belonged before I even had to explore those options in college.”

Brady began her college experience at Oklahoma City University, which shook the foundations of her easy decision on what to study. She said that although the college had one of the best dance programs, they had concerning restrictions.

“The first line of my acceptance letter after I auditioned said ‘Due to your weight you can take dance classes, but you can’t be a full-fledged dance major,’” Brady said. “I was thinking about changing my major because I still hadn’t made weight (during my first semester), and I was by no means overweight.”

As Brady was struggling with her decision to study dance, her family was struggling to support her financially.

“I was the firstborn, the first one they sent to college, and it ended up being a little too much financially,” Brady said. “So they had to sit me down and have this big discussion that I think about a lot still.”

After talking with her parents, Brady decided to go to SIUE where her father had received his master’s in fine arts.

“He was working at the steel mill here in town [Alton], and he still did his art,” Brady said. “But he told me, ‘Well, if you love it, you’ll keep doing it, you’ll find a way to keep doing it.’”

So Brady started classes at SIUE where she found a love for dance again.

“My parents felt awful that they couldn’t send me back (to Oklahoma City University), and I went in with just an awesome positive attitude,” Brady said. “I had really great teachers at SIUE and got a lot of individual attention and discovered modern dance. I didn’t even know about that and that’s where I feel the most comfortable now. It ended up being a good thing.”

Professors Brady cited as most influential during her time at SIUE include Calvin Jarrell who, according to Brady, taught modern dance before becoming SIUE’s Director of dance, Paula Beals who taught modern and ballet and Kerry Shaul who taught ballet and jazz.

At SIUE Brady was also a part of many productions put on by the departments of theater and dance productions. She remembers during one of the performances she had to do a quick change of costumes in between dances.

“I had a solo that was very heavy and deep. I wore coveralls zipped up and a stocking cap and mirrored sunglasses,” Brady said “So I got dressed and I forgot to zip up the coveralls. I had on a leotard and tights underneath, so thankfully everything was still covered.”

After graduating with a bachelors of arts in dance, Brady spent the next few years in St. Louis working with different dance companies.

Eventually, Brady and her then-boyfriend, now husband, decided to move to New York City after a few years.

“The goal to move to New York,” Brady said “I don’t think in my heart I ever had intentions of staying forever. Like a five year plan or a couple years. I was looking at it as kind of like graduate school, take some good classes and get some more performance experience.” both were done and wanted to come home.”

Even though Brady felt it was the right time to move back to Alton, she regrets the fact that her children did not get to experience the diversity found in New York City.

“Coming back to the Midwest was the right choice,” Brady said. “I was like, ‘Oh, I want my kids to see all of this. But at the same time, I don’t want to push a stroller and wait for a person to help me down the subway steps.”

After moving back, Brady opened her own non-competitive studio, The Creative Dance Studio.

Brady chose to not make her studio competitive because she sees dance as more of an art form rather than a sport.

“There’s an athleticism to what we do, definitely,” Brady said. “But I think, for me, it’s about expressing something. Even then, sometimes it’s not about expressing something, sometimes it can just be about line and form and movement of bodies through space.”

Today, Creative Dance Studio offers classes to people of all ages, mostly taught by Brady with occasional help from her daughter, Anna Brady. Dance classes offered include ballet, tap, jazz, modern, point, swing and musical theater.

The company is very active across the Metro East holding dance recitals for students to showcase their talents. They also do volunteer work to showcase the art of dance to the public.

Brady said that she and her husband spent a lot of the time working jobs just to be able to afford to live in the city. She described teaching many dance classes at the West Side YMCA, working at a bridal shop and a boutique paper store.

While working, Brady said that she still found time to show her work through the various dance showcases which were held every weekend across the city.

Eventually, Brady and her husband decided to move back to the metro east because they were struggling to feel settled in New York.

“It felt like we weren’t settled. Being away from family made everything harder. We had a crummy apartment. Just to get settled into a nicer apartment was going to be expensive.” Brady said. “And we felt like we

Brady said that the company will rehearse pieces and perform them for the community. She mentioned performing at nursing homes during Christmas and street fairs throughout the year.

Prior to COVID-19, Brad said that they toured local elementary schools and performed a piece based on Dr. Seuss’s My Many Colored Days.

Brady said she loves the connections she makes with her students. She said most of her students start when they are young so she gets to watch them grow up.

“They always keep me on my toes,” Brady said. “It’s silly every week with the younger ones.”

Her favorite part is sharing her love of dance with her community through recitals and volunteer work.

“Dance is an art, it’s not like So You Think You Can Dance or whatever those shows are,” Brady said. ”These are real dancers doing real good.”