Former Sauk Valley clergy named in Catholic clergy sexual abuse report

The Diocese of Rockford, which covers Lee, Whiteside, Ogle, Carroll and seven other counties, had 24 substantiated child sex abusers, according to Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s report.

Of those, five clergymen at one time served in parishes in one or more of the four counties. They are:

Harlan B. Clapsaddle

Clapsaddle was ordained in 1977, and among others, was assigned to St. Anne parish in Dixon.

There were at least six reported survivors of abuse that occurred from the 1960s through the early 1990s. The diocese’s claim of first report – the date the diocese reports having first received a child sex abuse claim, or claim of inappropriate behavior with a child – was in 1992.

Clapsaddle was placed on its public list of substantiated child sex abusers on Nov. 14, 2018.

He was removed from the ministry in 1997.

He died Dec. 17, 2018, according on online records for Calvary Cemetery in Winnebago County.

William I. Joffe

Joffe was ordained 1957, and among others was assigned to St. Patrick in Amboy, St. Flannen in Harmon, St. Patrick in Maytown, St. Mary in Walton, St. Mary in Morrison, St. Patrick in Dixon, and St. John the Baptist in Savanna.

There were at least 10 survivors, with abuse reported in Lee County in 1966 or 1967. The diocese’s claim of its first report was in 1993.

Joffe was placed on its public list of substantiated child sex abusers on Nov. 14, 2018. He was removed from the ministry in 1993, and died in 2008.

Joseph J.M. Tully

Tully was ordained in 1925, and among others, he was assigned to St. John the Baptist in Savanna, St. Andrew in Rock Falls, St. Wendelin in Shannon and St. Patrick in Dixon.

There were at least seven survivors, one from at least one from Whiteside County. The diocese’s claim of first report was in 1948.

Tully was placed on its public list of substantiated child sex abusers on Nov. 14, 2018. He retired in 1971, and died in 1982.

William D. Virtue

Virtue was ordained 1975 and 1988, and among others, he was assigned to St. James in Lee, St. Flannen in Harmon, St. Patrick in Maytown, and St. Mary in Walton.

There was at least one survivor. The diocese’s claim of first report was in 2006, which is when he was removed from the ministry.

Virtue was placed on its public list of substantiated child sex abusers on Nov. 14, 2018.

Aloysius Piorkowski

Piorkowski was ordained 1935, and among others he was assigned to St. Wendlin in Shannon, Sts. John and Catherine in Mount Carroll, St. Mary in Polo and St. Mary in Sterling.

There were at lease two survivors, with abuse reported from 1949 to 1964. The diocese’s claim of first report was in 2020.

Piorkowski was place on its public list of substantiated child sex abusers on Aug. 30, 2020. He died in 1978.