Report on decades of Illinois clergy sex abuse confirms claims, leaves other questions
Warning: This story contains graphic descriptions of sexual abuse.
CHICAGO (CBS) – It took five years for the state Attorney General's Office to compile the bombshell report on Catholic church sex abuse in Illinois. The report found nearly 2,000 victims in all and added the names of hundreds of abusers to the list of those already known.
CBS 2 Investigator Brad Edwards has been investigating the church in the Joliet area for years.
The damning 700 pages put to rest some decades-old questions but left others unanswered. In 2018, CBS 2 started with a small question in Joliet for Bishop Robert Daniel Conlon, although he never spoke to us.
CBS 2 wanted to know about Father James Nowak.
Per the attorney general's report, Nowak had 28 reported accusers. He was removed from the ministry in 2012.
But six years later, in 2018, Nowak was staying at the St. John Vianney Villa in Lisle. The problem was the villa was next door to a school. A local cross-country team ran outside his door. CBS 2 even spotted a boy scout troop's trailer nearby.
When CBS 2 asked questions, Nowak was moved, first to a convent and then the Diocese of Joliet put him up in a motel.
CBS 2 asked the diocese about Bishop Conlon's whereabouts.
"So, he's leaving for Ireland right now," a former spokesperson for the diocese told CBS 2 back in 2018. But Colon hadn't left and was still in town days later officiating a mass.
Today, Conlon is no longer the bishop and Nowak has since died.
CBS 2 also wanted to know about Joliet Diocese Father Richard Jacklin, a Nowak housemate at the villa. Jacklin, according to prosecutors, admitted to assaulting a resident at the state-run facility, a partially paralyzed man with an IQ of 47, but he was out and about when CBS 2 looked for him.
Then there was the story of Father John Smyth. He turned the once money-hemorrhaging Maryville orphanage into a gold standard.
"And the children that come here really blossom," Smyth once said about the orphanage.
Smyth was celebrated by a 9-foot-tall statue. But by the time he died, he had more than 20 accusers. There were four six-figure settlements from the Catholic Church. He was still praised at his funeral in 2019.
Some of Smyth's alleged victims spoke with CBS 2 about the abuse. (Warning: the following is graphic.)
Mark: "When I went home on the weekend, it was blood in my stool."
Sam: "He put his finger in my rectum."
Edwards: "When you see that picture of Father Smyth, you think what?"
Sam: "I trusted you.
"I just thank God I didn't act out on what I thought, you know?"
Edwards: "What, did you want to kill him?"
Sam: "Yeah, I wanted to kill him. Absolutely."
The 9-foot statue that stood over Maryville for so long was removed after CBS 2 started asking questions.
Smyth is not named in the attorney general's report though, nor is Jacklin, who was accused of molesting the partially paralyzed man in 2017. He was finally convicted in January of 2023 and sentenced to 18 years in prison.
It was one of the rare cases of a priest being sent to prison for a sex crime.
On Tuesday, the archdiocese told CBS 2 the allegations against Smyth are continuing to be investigated by their review board and they continue to receive complaints from more accusers.
CBS 2 also reached out to some of the survivors of Nowak. Their cases are included in the report but they worry there are still more survivors out there who aren't included in the new numbers.
"It was unbelievably shocking, but not surprising," said Eddie Burkel, a survivor. "All of this information has just gotten worse over the years and we have learned really more of it. The diocese has just not been honest about the extent of the abuse."
Another survivor, Steve Janik, said he feels validated by the report and saw it as a step towards holding the abusers accountable.
"There's always an inkling in your mind that somehow you're responsible for it, but it took me a long time to get over that I wasn't responsible as a 13-year-old," Janik said.
The Diocese of Joliet's Archbishop Ronald Hicks said in a statement on Tuesday that they've cooperated with the attorney general's investigation for the past four years. Hicks said the Joliet Diocese created its first policy on clergy abuse of minors in 1990 and has revised it several times, mostly recently in 2018.
