While church officials have publicly identified 185 clergy members in Illinois as having been “credibly” accused of child sexual abuse, the Illinois attorney general's office states that it found allegations of abuse by at least 500 more.
Adopting the practices of the restorative justice movement could help re-establish the church’s moral credibility on preventing and responding to sex abuse.
Prosecutors investigating a sexual abuse case against a Houston-area priest searched the offices Wednesday of the local archdiocese, which is led by the cardinal who is heading the Roman Catholic Church's response in the U.S. to sexual misconduct.