Posted on May 31, 2023
What a new report reveals about the Belleville Diocese child-sex-abuse cases
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The public has been hearing about child sex abuse in the Catholic Diocese of Belleville since the early 1990s, when church officials acknowledged that some of its priests had been “credibly accused.”
A report released last week by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office is peeling back a few more layers.
The report examines problems in all six Catholic dioceses in the state. The section on the Belleville Diocese contains disturbing narratives on six former clergy, describing sexual encounters between children and priests in graphic detail, as well as cover-ups by past church leaders.
“Diocese leadership, including multiple bishops, knew of, and participated in, the transfer of a known child sex abuser from parish to parish, over a course of decades,” according to a history on the Rev. Raymond Kownacki.
The late priest was removed from ministry in 1995, nearly 23 years after the first allegation against him, the report states.
A report released last week by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office is peeling back a few more layers.
The report examines problems in all six Catholic dioceses in the state. The section on the Belleville Diocese contains disturbing narratives on six former clergy, describing sexual encounters between children and priests in graphic detail, as well as cover-ups by past church leaders.
“Diocese leadership, including multiple bishops, knew of, and participated in, the transfer of a known child sex abuser from parish to parish, over a course of decades,” according to a history on the Rev. Raymond Kownacki.
The late priest was removed from ministry in 1995, nearly 23 years after the first allegation against him, the report states.
What a new report reveals about the Belleville Diocese child-sex-abuse cases
Posted from news.stlpublicradio.org
Belleville
Religion
Christianity
Children
Sexual Assault
Posted 1 y ago
Responses: 3
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."We have no record of him living or ministering in the Belleville Diocese,” Myler said. “... “Our attorney’s talked to priests, office workers, people who have been here for 30-plus years. No one has any recollection of this man.”
Myler said someone found a reference to Lenczycki serving as a chaplain at “Deaconess Hospital in Belleville,” but he noted that the hospital is actually in St. Louis.
Lenczycki’s file on Bishopaccountability.org includes a transcript of a DuPage County Circuit Court hearing in 2004, when the priest pleaded guilty to sexually abusing three boys. The prosecutor listed 14 assignments for him, including the Pastoral Center in Belleville from August 1991 to July 1992.
The attorney general’s office included Lenczycki as an accused priest in the Belleville diocese section of its report. Spokeswomen Annie Thompson said investigators got the information from the DuPage County court case.
“The transcript indicates that neither Lenczycki nor his attorney objected to or clarified the listed assignments,” she wrote in an email, adding that a Catholic directory also stated that he was assigned outside of the Joliet Diocese from 1991 to 1992.
Myler said it hasn’t been the practice of the Belleville Diocese to place names on its public list of credibly-accused clergy if it has no record of people serving in southern Illinois.
“If we somehow get information that proved (Lenczycki) lived here or worked here, we would go through the steps, and he would be listed,” Myler said. “But right now, we have absolutely nothing on this man.”
..."We have no record of him living or ministering in the Belleville Diocese,” Myler said. “... “Our attorney’s talked to priests, office workers, people who have been here for 30-plus years. No one has any recollection of this man.”
Myler said someone found a reference to Lenczycki serving as a chaplain at “Deaconess Hospital in Belleville,” but he noted that the hospital is actually in St. Louis.
Lenczycki’s file on Bishopaccountability.org includes a transcript of a DuPage County Circuit Court hearing in 2004, when the priest pleaded guilty to sexually abusing three boys. The prosecutor listed 14 assignments for him, including the Pastoral Center in Belleville from August 1991 to July 1992.
The attorney general’s office included Lenczycki as an accused priest in the Belleville diocese section of its report. Spokeswomen Annie Thompson said investigators got the information from the DuPage County court case.
“The transcript indicates that neither Lenczycki nor his attorney objected to or clarified the listed assignments,” she wrote in an email, adding that a Catholic directory also stated that he was assigned outside of the Joliet Diocese from 1991 to 1992.
Myler said it hasn’t been the practice of the Belleville Diocese to place names on its public list of credibly-accused clergy if it has no record of people serving in southern Illinois.
“If we somehow get information that proved (Lenczycki) lived here or worked here, we would go through the steps, and he would be listed,” Myler said. “But right now, we have absolutely nothing on this man.”
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The church did not help its reputation by transferring problems instead of dealing with them
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