Roughly 140 Catholic clerics credibly accused of molesting children have served as military chaplains over the years — including 10 priests who also ministered in Illinois and, altogether, may be responsible for sexually abusing more than 50 kids, according to a Chicago Sun-Times analysis.But you wouldn’t know that from the Archdiocese for the Military Services, the arm of the Catholic church for the U.S. Armed Forces, Veterans Affairs hospitals and federal employees serving outside the country.Headed by Archbishop Timothy Broglio and ministering to about 1.8 million people, the military archdiocese maintains no public list of credibly accused clergy — among just three major U.S. ecclesiastical jurisdictions without one.A number of Catholic leaders and reformers, along with some of the faithful in the pews, have encouraged dioceses and religious orders to come clean about sexually abusive members in the name of healing and atonement over a crisis that’s unfolded over decades and ruined many lives.To date, 31 U.S. archdioceses have done so, posting publicly available lists or personnel files of credibly accused clergy online, with San Francisco and Miami the only ones, along with the military, not to do so.Most of the smaller geographic units of the church — called dioceses — also have some level of public disclosure, including the Diocese of Cleveland for which Broglio was ordained.A Broglio spokesman rejects what critics brand as needless secrecy by saying the vast majority of priests serving for the military services archdiocese are essentially on loan from other wings of the church.“Because priests who serve in the U.S. military or Department of Veterans Affairs are not incardinated in this archdiocese, they remain subject to their bishop of incardination’s practices of publishing a list of credibly accused clerics and those practices vary,” he says.“There are, however, eight clerics currently incardinated in this archdiocese: the archbishop for the Military Services, USA, four auxiliary bishops, one retired auxiliary bishop and two permanent deacons. No cleric incardinated in this archdiocese has ever been credibly accused of sexual abuse of a minor.” Archbishop Timothy Broglio meets Pope Francis in 2022.Vatican Media Yet most archdioceses that maintain a public list don’t only include their homegrown clergy. The majority also disclose those who were based or ordained outside their jurisdictions but served locally — whether “extern” priests who came from another diocese, or members of religious orders such as the Dominicans, Franciscans or Jesuits that span geographic boundaries, follow in the mold of different saints and have their own leadership structures.The Archdiocese of Chicago, the arm of the church for Cook and Lake counties led by Cardinal Blase Cupich, in 2022 began including on its public list the names of accused members of religious orders who’d served in that domain.Raoul’s pivotal report on church sex abuse and cover-upsThat was done before Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul released a critical report on the scope of sex abuse and cover-ups in the church in Illinois — and after Cupich for years argued that the semi-autonomous nature of different church organizations prevented the inclusion of anyone not directly answerable to him or his predecessors. Related Catholic priest accused of sex abuse served in 9 church jurisdictions, including Chicago. So why is he on just one abuser list? Also not long ago, Cupich began publicizing the names of local clergy with allegations substantiated after their deaths — a decision that brought to light three credibly accused priests who once served as military chaplains:The Rev. David Ball, who sometime before his death in 1999 had been a Navy chaplain and also worked at Angel Guardian Orphanage on the edge of Rogers Park and St. Lambert Church in Skokie.The Rev. William Meagher, who before his death in 1980 also had been a Navy chaplain and worked at parishes in Cicero and Wauconda and at Columbus Hospital in Lincoln Park.The Rev. Edmund Skoner, who had been an Army chaplain during World War II and worked at parishes in Chicago and Highland Park before his death in 1988.Details on what transpired with those men, and when, aren’t clear. Neither Cupich nor his aides would answer questions. Cardinal Blase Cupich, the head of the Archdiocese of Chicago.Ashlee Rezin / Sun-Times Cupich’s office, which ministers to a flock of roughly two million Catholics, announced in January that a South Side priest who previously served as a military chaplain had been accused of molesting a child decades earlier on the West Side.The priest has denied the allegations and is being sidelined amid an investigation. He has not been charged with a crime. The parish in question has been the subject of credible allegations involving another cleric in past years, as well as complaints believed to be false and money-driven.Another priest, the Rev. Michael J. Hogan, has been on Chicago’s list since 2006. He molested two boys in 1985 while assigned to a parish in Brookfield, records show.He was also a chaplain in the Air Force Reserves. Aides to one of Cupich’s predecessors, the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, told the military archdiocese in 1986 about Hogan’s misconduct when he wanted to transfer into an Air National Guard unit at O’Hare Airport and needed them to vouch for him, records show.A high-ranking military cleric wrote back: “I feel right now it is not in the best interest of all concerned that Father Hogan be in the Reserves.” Related Catholic church in Illinois vastly underreported clergy sex abuse, Kwame Raoul finds Months later Hogan resigned as an Air Force Reserves 1st lieutenant. He resigned from the priesthood in 1993 and was laicized in 2015.He couldn’t be reached for comment.140 clerics, at one point military or VA chaplains, credibly accused of abuseA Sun-Times review of dozens of church lists and other public records, along with interviews, found that about 140 Catholic clerics who at one time worked as military or VA chaplains have been credibly accused of at least one child sex offense occurring while they held that role — or before or afterward.Their names are spread across more than 70 church lists and in other records.They include: four priests who had also served in downstate Illinois parishes; one priest from the Diocese of Gary, the Rev. Ambrose McGinnity, who had also served in Gary, Hobart and Whiting; and four priests who were part of the Jesuit’s Midwest province, two of whom once served in Chicago. That includes the Rev. Thomas Powers, who worked at Loyola University Chicago in the 1980s in between two stints with the Army. He was linked to at least two victims and died in 2019.The Sun-Times found a number of other clerics have been accused in lawsuits and elsewhere, but they don’t appear on church lists for reasons not always clear. A once-secret letter shows communication between the Archdiocese of Chicago and the Archdiocese for the Military Affairs over a Chicago priest, the Rev. Michael Hogan, who had been accused of child sexual abuse.Archdiocese of Chicago files Broglio’s office said it’s aware of seven credibly accused clerics who served since 1985 “with an ecclesiastical endorsement and faculties from the Archdiocese for the Military Services.” All were out-of-state clerics.Military officials wouldn't comment.Although Broglio’s office emphasizes that no priest with a credible allegation is currently serving in his archdiocese, and most accusations in the public realm are quite old, officials won’t say how many accusations the group is aware of in total, and whether there are any contemporary incidents or claims.Even so, the Sun-Times found that many accusations from past decades have only recently surfaced, especially since the latest wave of the abuse crisis exploded in 2018. The scandal prompted criminal investigations, more victims to speak out and improved disclosure from some corners of the church as members clamored for greater transparency. The case of the Rev. Alvin CampbellThat year the Diocese of Springfield released its first-ever list, with the Rev. Alvin Campbell among those mentioned. Related Cardinal Blase Cupich is still keeping secrets on child sex abuse by order priests He was an Army chaplain between 1963 and 1977, after which the Springfield diocese took him in — knowing he might be a child molester. That’s according to Raoul’s 2023 report, which also made clear that church leaders in the military had been aware of Campbell’s misconduct and covered it up.“Prior to Campbell’s arrival, a senior Army chaplain telephoned the diocese” — then led by Bishop Joseph McNicholas — and told church officials that “Campbell has a moral problem with boys/young men and this has surfaced and was being brought against him when he chose to resign,” the report says.Also relayed to McNicholas’ office was that the “matter had been handled ‘sub secreto’ through the military delegate in Germany and there had been no scandal through publicity.”Campbell ended up serving at seven Illinois parishes — including Springfield’s cathedral — and molesting at least 33 kids. Victims described the abuse as “masturbation, group masturbation, photographing abuse acts, groping, oral sex performed on children, anal sex performed on the priest, anal sex performed on children, fondling, kissing and pornography,” records show.In 1985, he pleaded guilty but mentally ill to sexually assaulting children, and was sentenced to 14 years in prison. He died in 2002. The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Springfield, among the places child-molesting priest Alvin Campbell served after a stint as a military chaplain. He is believed to have molested at least 33 children.Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, photograph by Carol M. Highsmith The Springfield diocese’s list also includes the Rev. Joseph C. O’Brien, who served as a Navy chaplain from 1950 to 1955. He is accused of molesting at least 14 kids before his death in 1978.David Clohessy, a leader of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, says the church has a tendency to minimize clergy abuse by portraying it as a long-ago problem.But “a true shepherd” would care about even the older instances because they involve “the sheep that have been suffering the longest,” said Clohessy. His group is among those that have criticized Broglio’s operation for what is described as continued secrecy over abuse.The military archdiocese says its “worldwide mission is to provide for the pastoral care of the 1.8 million Catholics serving in the United States Armed Forces, their family members, students at the Military Academies, patients in VA medical centers and U.S. governmental personnel serving abroad.”“It is the only agency responsible for endorsing and granting faculties to Catholic chaplains and deacons in service to those populations.” Related Priest molested kids in Wisconsin: Why isn’t he on a public list of alleged sex abusers there? At last count, there were 533 Catholic priests in the military, 212 of whom are on active duty, “with the remainder in the reserves, National Guard, Air National Guard, or serving as civilians whether full or part-time,” Broglio’s spokesman says. Just over 100 are with the VA and five are with the Civil Air Patrol.Broglio was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007 to oversee the military archdiocese, and he’s also the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops that has pushed back against President Donald Trump’s administration over increasingly restrictive immigration policies, as the church sees itself as a proponent of “our most vulnerable sisters and brothers.”Clohessy says he wishes the bishops were equally as outspoken on the sex abuse front, adding that the public won’t ever know the true extent of the problem in the military — past or present — without Broglio disclosing all the names and allegations.While growing up in Missouri, Clohessy says he was molested by a priest, the Rev. John Whiteley, who served for part of his ministerial career as a military chaplain, and who’s listed as credibly accused by the Diocese of Jefferson City. A recent letter from the Diocese of Jefferson City to survivor and victim advocate David Clohessy, which states that the priest who sexually abused him decades ago had been laicized.Provided The military chaplaincy was often seen as a dumping ground in previous years for problem priests. Non-Catholic chaplains also have had abuse claims, among them a non-denominational Christian chaplain at Fort Leonard Wood base in Missouri who was convicted in 2021 of child rape, according to published accounts and interviews.Others have been convicted of crimes against adults, including a Southern Baptist military chaplain who was sentenced to prison after “pleading guilty to adultery and threatening to kill his mistress,” according to the denomination’s description of the case in a once-secret list made public in 2022.Clohessy says he was surprised to receive a letter from the church this month saying that — 34 years after he sued over his abuse — Whiteley “has recently been removed from the clerical state,” meaning that while he apparently hasn’t been in public ministry for many years, he still had been a priest on the books until now.In Rhode Island, a Diocese of Providence priest, the Rev. Edward Kelley, was pulled from public ministry in 2015, two years after he stopped being an Army chaplain, records show. Now on Providence’s public list as credibly accused, Kelley died in 2022. Related Fenwick High School is keeping secrets about teacher’s alleged sex abuse of female students The Rev. Arthur Perrault was convicted in New Mexico in 2019 of molesting a boy at Kirtland Air Force Base and elsewhere years earlier. Court records show he had been a chaplain for the Air National Guard, and was extradited from Morocco to face trial.Now 87, Perrault is in federal prison in Texas and declined to comment.He’s on public lists maintained by the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and the Archdiocese of Hartford, but neither references his military service.Records show Perrault spent time at a treatment facility for troubled priests run by a religious order called the Servants of the Paraclete that in part focuses on clergy with addiction and sexual deviancy.The priest who founded that group, the Rev. Gerald Fitzgerald, had been a military chaplain during World War II and the “personal plight” of fellow wartime priests helped inform his decision to create the specialized ministry, according to an online biography.Fitzgerald's group appears to have been funded in part with help from a late Chicago archbishop whose name is chiseled into a cornerstone of one of its buildings. A former facility in New Mexico for troubled priests run by the Servants of the Paraclete. A cornerstone of one of the buildings at the complex thanks late Chicago Archbishop William O’Brien for funding help.Courtesy of Patrick J. Wall A pattern of lack of transparency and accountabilityOver the last few years, the Sun-Times has published a series of news stories chronicling the lack of openness and accountability by the church over clerical sex abuse more than 30 years after the first wave of the scandal came to light.The articles document how disparate and incomplete lists maintained by church organizations in the U.S. have robbed the public of a full accounting — something victims say is critical to their healing.“The benefit to survivor-victims and their families, it’s so obvious and apparent that” a public list “helps persons who were abused,” says Kathleen McChesney, Chicago’s former FBI chief who’s been in involved in church reform efforts since leaving the government.“It’s very disappointing that there are archdioceses and, perhaps, several dioceses that still have not” created one.Cupich’s list — with more than 160 names, including the four ex-chaplains — is still missing some accused clerics, the Sun-Times has found.Other church lists don’t include assignment histories at all, or those not outside the local jurisdiction, so it’s difficult to gauge from public documentation all alleged priest offenders who may have been chaplains. Related Catholic order hasn’t kept promise to name abusive clergy in the Midwest A number of Catholic male religious orders — including the Servites, whose U.S. headquarters is on the West Side — have no public list and won’t explain why.If the military archdiocese maintained a public list of accused offenders, it would likely be among the largest in the U.S.The Diocese of Joliet, the arm of the church for DuPage, Kendall and Will counties with more than 500,000 Catholics, has more than 70 names.The Diocese of Rockford, the arm of the church for McHenry and Kane counties, has about 25 names.The military archdiocese was created by Pope John Paul II in 1985 after serving since World War I as a sort of satellite entity answerable to bishops from the Archdiocese of New York.A spokesman for New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan says that military “vicariate” was “a separate entity, both canonically and civilly” from the Archdiocese of New York. Accordingly, the New York public list doesn’t include the names of all offending chaplains from that era. The Rev. Arthur Perrault, shown in New Mexico in 1989. A former military chaplain, he’s now in prison for child sex crimes.The Albuquerque Journal via AP Some activists have suggested the church create a uniform or universal sex offender registry naming abusive clergy.One Vatican official told the Sun-Times that’s unrealistic as a global endeavor, saying, “It’s impossible to have such a list in many countries, certainly in the EU — as that would be against the public law.”A hodgepodge of clergy sex offender listsExperts say it’s certainly possible in the U.S., but Pope Francis has allowed local bishops and religious orders to decide if and how to publicly disclose such information, leading to a hodgepodge of often-incomplete logs, if they exist at all.Some church leaders — including Cupich, and a consortium of male religious orders called the Conference of Major Superiors of Men — have recommended that Catholic organizations come clean with names.But an arm of the Vatican recently rendered a written opinion that frowns on public lists, saying they have the capacity to damage the reputation of someone who may not have been through the legal system and, if dead, can’t defend themselves. Related Augustinian Catholic order paid $2 million settlement over rape accusations against priest but left his name off sex abuser list That’s similar logic to why San Francisco’s archbishop hasn’t created a public list, though with his archdiocese now in bankruptcy court, that may change. In other situations where church organizations sought bankruptcy protection following a deluge of potentially devastating lawsuits brought by sex abuse accusers, the groups have agreed — or been compelled — to post the names of the accused and sometimes other documents.The Archdiocese of New Orleans, which filed for bankruptcy protection in 2020 under pressure over sex abuse litigation, is still working toward financial settlements with accusers, but has agreed to publicly release once-secret files on abusive clergy and potentially add names to its existing list of reputed child offenders.Among the clerics on there since 2020 is the Rev. Brian Highfill, who worked as a priest in the New Orleans area before serving as a long-time Air Force chaplain.While New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond was investigating earlier claims of child abuse against Highfill in 2018, he reached out to Broglio, who didn’t mention Highfill had been accused of sexual misconduct with an adult years earlier, officials say.The Broglio spokesman says that’s because Aymond had only asked about abuse involving minors."The vast majority of Catholic priests who have served as U.S. military chaplains served with honor," the spokesman says, "chief among them Vietnam War hero Father Vincent R. Capodanno and Korean War hero Father Emil J. Kapaun, both of whom earned the nation’s highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor, and are now under consideration for sainthood." Related Benedictine monk pleads guilty to battery, still lands on Illinois monastery’s sex abuser list Related Chicago-based Catholic order is keeping secrets about child-molesting clergy around the United States ...read more read less