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 Springfield in Illinois, the report named 32 clerics, 7% of the
statewide total. Covers the state capital and the surrounding counties.
The diocese covers 28 counties across south-central Illinois, organised into five deaneries, Alton, Jerseyville, Mattoon, Quincy and Springfield, with 129 parishes. It was established in 1853 as the Diocese of Quincy, became the Diocese of Alton in 1857, and took its current name in 1923.
What that scale means for finding records
Springfield organises its 28 counties into five deaneries, Alton, Jerseyville, Mattoon, Quincy and Springfield. Deanery structure matters when tracing a cleric’s movements, because transfers were often managed within a deanery rather than across the whole diocese.
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.