Poised to shutter Catholic parishes, Joliet bishop tight-lipped on financial impact of the priest sex abuse scandal

Joliet Bishop Ronald Hicks may consolidate 16 Joliet-area congregations and eventually close other parishes and schools, with “budgetary issues” a factor. (Diocese of Joliet)

In a report earlier this year by the Illinois attorney general, the Diocese of Joliet was criticized for continued secrecy over the extent of child sex abuse by priests and religious brothers who served in the ecclesiastical jurisdiction.

“The diocese has demonstrated slavish adherence to off-the-books, unwritten policies that derail justice for abuse survivors and much-needed institutional transparency,” Attorney General Kwame Raoul said in the May report, adding that the diocese’s “current approach to abuse allegations against a religious order priest who ministered in the diocese are particularly opaque and ill formed.”