Bishops won’t discuss clergy abuse report at retreat

CHICAGO – The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago says when bishops from around the United States gather in a suburban seminary next month, they won’t talk about a state investigation that found Illinois dioceses failed to disclose the names of at least 500 clergy accused of sexually abusing children.

Archdiocese spokeswoman Anne Maselli tells the Chicago Tribune that the retreat hosted by Cardinal Blase Cupich at Mundelein Seminary will “strictly be a time for prayer, fasting and spiritual lectures.”

A spokeswoman for Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan calls it “disappointing and absurd” not to discuss the findings at the gathering. Pope Francis convened the retreat in response to a grand jury report in August that found church leaders in Pennsylvania for decades covered up clergy sexual abuse of more than 1,000 children.