Accusations of sexual abuse have been raised against all Illinois Catholic dioceses in a recent lawsuit.

The claims of Catholic church sex abuse come from three men and one woman, who allege they were abused by priests decades prior. They conjointly filed legal action against the Illinois dioceses, accusing them of allegedly covering up Catholic church sex abuse by priests.

Plaintiff Darin B. stated he was abused by a priest when he was an altar boy at a Peoria church in 1979. The priest allegedly had “inappropriate conduct with children” that was “known” to the diocese, Darin says.

The other claimants allege similar experiences of Catholic church sex abuse and have decided to come forward in the wake of this litigation movement, according to Chicago’s WGN.

The Catholic church sex abuse lawsuit was filed on behalf of the claimants by an attorney who is seeking to represent victims of the clergy throughout the country. He is also trying to convince the Illinois dioceses to provide the names of the priests who allegedly committed acts of sexual abuse towards children.

“Defendants have, for decades, and continue to adopt policies and practices of covering up criminal activity… (that) have endangered numerous children in the past and these practices will continue to put children at risk in the future,” the lawsuit states.

Overview of Catholic Church Sex Abuse Allegations

According to the claim, some of the dioceses have already handed over information regarding certain priests of sexually abusing children. Other dioceses have reportedly not been as cooperative.

For example, the Belleville and Rockford dioceses have not disclosed any more than 53 priests who allegedly molested children since 1950. Along with getting justice for the victims, the goal of the lawsuit is to make the Illinois dioceses publicize a list of priests, living or dead, who were accused of sexually abusing children.

The lawyer pointed out that there had been a similar lawsuit filed in Minnesota, which forced the Archdiocese of St. Paul to add dozens of names to list of accused priests.

According to the Catholic church sex abuse lawsuit, the Archdiocese of Chicago stated that officials have yet to review the claim. Still, it has taken other steps in recent years to address the issue.

One of these steps included posting the names of priests who have been credibly accused of child sexual abuse on the church’s website. In addition, the Chicago diocese implemented a “stringent monitoring program of clergy with substantiated cases of sexual abuse against them.”

Other Dioceses like Joliet have disputed the idea that they were withholding information, with officials stating that it has kept a list of “living and deceased diocesan priests who have been credibly accused of child sex abuse” on its website since 2006.

The Peoria Diocese had reportedly defended its actions in how they handled the sexual abuse allegations against two named priests in the lawsuit, with officials reportedly placing one of the priests on leave and reported the allegations to the police.

However, the police reportedly found the allegations to be unfounded and the priest was reinstated into the ministry. In addition, the Peoria diocese the other priest had reportedly been removed from all public ministry in 2002.