Report names nearly 400 Illinois clergy accused of abuse

7 years, 7 months ago by Scott Hardy

Includes 22 in Tri-State area, 6 in Quincy and Jacksonville

A report issued by a Chicago law firm names nearly 400 Catholic priests and lay workers in all six of Illinois's dioceses who have been accused of sexual misconduct, including six who had been in Quincy.

That report, issued Wednesday by Jeff Anderson and Associates, named 22 clergy and lay workers in the Tri-States who've been accused. Besides the six in Quincy, six were also named in Jacksonville and three in Rushville. In Quincy, one priest who was named was Fr. Louis Schlangen, who was first publicly accused of sexual abuse in a 2018 lawsuit. According to the lawsuit, Fr. Schlangen and another priest sexually abused the plaintiff for two years in the mid 1970's, while she was a child living in Springfield. Schlangen later was at Immaculate Conception in Pittsfield, twice at St. Edward's in Mendon and at St. Joseph's in Quincy before retiring in Loraine. Schlangen is not on the list of names issued by the Diocese of Springfield last year of those accused of misconduct. Neither is Father Kevin Downey, who spent six years at Quincy University in the 1980's and early 1990's. The Franciscan was accused in 2016 of misconduct with a male student while at QU in 1990. Downey was removed from public ministry in 2017.

The full report is available here.

(Note: This story has been corrected, to reflect that Fr. Schlangen is still living. We regret the error)