Editor’s note: This story contains graphic details of sexual abuse.
The Catholic Diocese of Peoria is once again facing scrutiny for the history of sexual abuse by its clerics.
The Illinois Attorney General’s Office recently released a stunning report that found over 2,000 children have been abused within Illinois Catholic churches by over 450 clerics between 1950 and 2019.
The Catholic Diocese of Peoria, which covers 26 counties from Rock Island in northwest Illinois to Vermilion on the Indiana border, was no small player in the report.
In a scathing and detailed investigation, the state Attorney General’s Office paints a picture of how former Peoria Archbishop John Myers helped create a web of lies, mishandled accounts of abuse and ignored victims.
