What the Attorney General found
In May 2023 the Illinois Attorney General concluded a multi-year investigation into child sexual
abuse by Catholic clergy in Illinois. Across the state’s six dioceses the report identified
451 clerics and religious brothers with substantiated claims, and at least
1,997 children abused between 1950 and 2019.
In the Diocese of Joliet, the report named 69 clerics, 15% of the
statewide total. Second only to Chicago in the number of clerics named.
The diocese covers DuPage, Ford, Grundy, Iroquois, Kankakee, Kendall and Will counties.
What that scale means for finding records
Joliet covers the collar counties that grew fastest as Chicago expanded outward, so many of its parishes and schools were founded or expanded within living memory. Personnel records from that period are typically more complete than those of older, smaller dioceses.
You do not need to have reported the abuse at the time, and no criminal case needs to have
happened. Many of the people named in the Attorney General’s report were never charged.
Questions people ask
Will my name be public?
Steps can be taken to protect your identity in the court record, and they are raised before anything is filed.
What does it cost?
Nothing up front. These claims are taken on a contingency fee, so there is no fee if there is no recovery.