Fr. William D. Virtue
Ordained: 1975
- 1976-1977: St. Mary Magdalene, Joliet, IL (JOL)
- 1978-1980: St. Dominic, Bolingbrook, IL (JOL)
- 1981: St. Mary Nativity, Joliet, IL (JOL)
- 1982: St. Mary, Mokena, IL (JOL)
- 1983-1986: Sacred Heart, Joliet, IL (JOL)
- 1987-1988: On Duty Outside the Diocese (JOL); Sacred Heart, Campus, IL (PEO)
- 1989-1990: Unknown
- 1991: Sacre Coeur, Creve Coeur, IL (PEO)
- 1992: St. Joseph’s Nursing Home, Lacon, IL (PEO)
- 1993-1996: Sacred Heart, Campus, IL (PEO)
- 1994-1996: St. Mary’s, Loretto, IL (PEO)
- 1997-1999: St. Theresa’s, Earlville, IL (PEO)
- 2000: Mount St. Mary’s Seminary, Emmitsburg, MD (BAL)
- 2000-2001: On Duty Outside the Diocese (PEO); Congregation of the Oratory
- 2001-2002: On Duty Outside the Diocese (PEO); Mount St. Mary’s Seminary, Emmitsburg, MD
- 2002: Sacred Heart, Farmer City, IL (PEO)
- 2003: On Duty Outside the Diocese (PEO); St. Flannen, Harmon, IL (RCK)
- 2004-2005: On Duty Outside the Diocese (PEO); Diocese of Rockford
- 2004-2006: St. James, Lee, IL (RCK)
- 2006: St. Theresa’s, Earlville, IL (PEO)
- 2007-2019: Unknown
Fr. Virtue was ordained for the Diocese of Joliet in 1975. The first reports of child sexual abuse by Fr. Virtue came in 1984. By 1986, Fr. Virtue had left the Diocese of Joliet and was incardinated into the Diocese of Peoria. In 2006, a lawsuit filed against Fr. Virtue alleged that he repeatedly sexually abused a 10-year-old boy at St. Mary’s in Mokena in 1981. Fr. Virtue was subsequently removed from public ministry in the Diocese of Peoria. In 2007, Fr. Virtue was reportedly working in the Diocese of Rockford but was removed from all public ministry by 2009. Fr. Virtue was named on the Diocese of Joliet’s list of “Diocesan Priests with Credible Allegation(s) of Sexual Misconduct with Minors Made Against Them While Serving in the Diocese of Joliet” with “Credible Allegations and Canonical Process Pending,” the Diocese of Peoria’s list of “Priests Removed from Ministry Due to Abuse of Minor” and the Diocese of Rockford’s list of “Religious Order Priests/Brothers or Priests of another diocese, who worked within the geographical boundaries of the Rockford Diocese or were assigned in this Diocese, against whom a substantiated allegation of sexual abuse of a minor has been reported.” At some point, Fr. Virtue was purportedly in the process of being laicized. Fr. Virtue’s status as a priest, his whereabouts, and whether he has had access to children from 2007 through the present are unknown.