Group says Catholic Diocese of Peoria in 'lowest tier' of handling sex abuse claims
The Catholic Diocese of Peoria ranks among the "lowest tier" of Catholic dioceses in how it has handled claims of sexual abuse by its clerics, according to one outreach group that is calling it to do more to protect children.
David Clohessy, the former national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said Monday in Peoria that there are "many, many" clerics from the Catholic Church who have molested children and are still living free with access to minors.
Priest Thomas Miller is accused in a lawsuit of sexually abusing Michael Eckert between the years 1997 and 2003 beginning when Eckert was just 8 years old.
Clohessy said Monday that not only was Peoria's diocese among the "lowest tier" in the country for handling these cases but added that Tylka "like all his brother bishops" has helped "cover up" for predators.
SNAP wrote a letter to Tylka, which they slid under the door of the Catholic Diocese of Peoria headquarters on Monday, in which they asked him to take five steps to condemn the alleged actions of Miller and protect children from him.
Those steps included visiting every parish where Miller worked to encourage victims to come forward and contact police; make every priest in the diocese do a verbal pulpit encouraging victims to come forward; ask all church employees to spread the word about Miller; use the news media to spread the word; and send Miller's complete personal file to police and prosecutors.
The 2023 report detailed how 51 clerics in the Peoria Catholic church system had raped, sexually assaulted, molested or harassed children within their diocese and were often doing so with impunity from leadership in the church.
Later that year a Tazewell County man came forward to the Journal Star with his own claims that he was abused by a priest in the Catholic Diocese of Peoria only to have the church deny and reject his claims after having signaled it would help.
https://www.pjstar.com/story/news/local/...497599007/
The Catholic Diocese of Peoria ranks among the "lowest tier" of Catholic dioceses in how it has handled claims of sexual abuse by its clerics, according to one outreach group that is calling it to do more to protect children.
David Clohessy, the former national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said Monday in Peoria that there are "many, many" clerics from the Catholic Church who have molested children and are still living free with access to minors.
Priest Thomas Miller is accused in a lawsuit of sexually abusing Michael Eckert between the years 1997 and 2003 beginning when Eckert was just 8 years old.
Clohessy said Monday that not only was Peoria's diocese among the "lowest tier" in the country for handling these cases but added that Tylka "like all his brother bishops" has helped "cover up" for predators.
SNAP wrote a letter to Tylka, which they slid under the door of the Catholic Diocese of Peoria headquarters on Monday, in which they asked him to take five steps to condemn the alleged actions of Miller and protect children from him.
Those steps included visiting every parish where Miller worked to encourage victims to come forward and contact police; make every priest in the diocese do a verbal pulpit encouraging victims to come forward; ask all church employees to spread the word about Miller; use the news media to spread the word; and send Miller's complete personal file to police and prosecutors.
The 2023 report detailed how 51 clerics in the Peoria Catholic church system had raped, sexually assaulted, molested or harassed children within their diocese and were often doing so with impunity from leadership in the church.
Later that year a Tazewell County man came forward to the Journal Star with his own claims that he was abused by a priest in the Catholic Diocese of Peoria only to have the church deny and reject his claims after having signaled it would help.
https://www.pjstar.com/story/news/local/...497599007/
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
