Roughly 140 Catholic clerics credibly accused of molesting children have served as military chaplains over the years — including 10 priests who also ministered in Illinois and, altogether, may be responsible for sexually abusing more than 50 kids, according to a Chicago Sun-Times analysis.
But you wouldn’t know that from the Archdiocese for the Military Services, the arm of the Catholic church for the U.S. Armed Forces, Veterans Affairs hospitals and federal employees serving outside the country.
Headed by Archbishop Timothy Broglio and ministering to about 1.8 million people, the military archdiocese maintains no public list of credibly accused clergy — among just three major U.S. ecclesiastical jurisdictions without one.
A number of Catholic leaders and reformers, along with some of the faithful in the pews, have encouraged dioceses and religious orders to come clean about sexually abusive members in the name of healing and atonement over a crisis that’s unfolded over decades and ruined many lives.
To date, 31 U.S. archdioceses have done so, posting publicly available lists or personnel files of credibly accused clergy online, with San Francisco and Miami the only ones, along with the military, not to do so.
Continue reading at Chicago Sun-Times
TAKE ACTION: Contact Archbishop Broglio at tpbroglio@milarch.org or 202-719-3600 and ask him to release the names of sexual abusers.