Jesuits sent abusive priests to retire on Gonzaga’s campus
This Nov. 19, 2018 photo shows the Sacred Heart Jesuit Center in Los Gatos, Calif. Abusive priests formerly at the Cardinal Bea House on the campus of Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash., were moved to the Los Gatos facility. (Emily Schwing / Associated Press)
Associated Press
On the surface, Father James Poole seemed like the cool priest in Nome, Alaska. He founded a Catholic mission radio station that broadcast his Jesuit sermons alongside contemporary pop hits. A 1978 story in People magazine called Poole “Western Alaska’s Hippest DJ. Comin’ at Ya with Rock’n’Roll ‘n’ Religion.”
Behind the radio station’s closed doors, Poole was a serial sexual predator. He abused at least 20 women and girls, according to court documents. At least one was 6 years old. One Alaska Native woman says he impregnated her when she was 16, then forced her to get an abortion and blame her father for raping her. Her father went to prison.
Like so many other Catholic priests around the country, Poole’s inappropriate conduct with young girls was well-known to his superiors. A Jesuit supervisor once warned a church official that Poole “has a fixation on sex; an obsession; some sort of mental aberration that makes him see sex everywhere.”
So, apparently, he's well qualified to be a priest!
But the last chapter in his story reveals a new twist in the Catholic abuse scandal: Poole was sent to live out his retirement years on Gonzaga University’s campus in Spokane, Washington.
For more than three decades, Cardinal Bea House on Gonzaga’s campus served as a retirement repository for at least 20 Jesuit priests accused of sexual misconduct that predominantly took place in small, isolated Alaska Native villages and on Indian reservations across the Northwest, an investigation by the Northwest News Network and Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting has found.
A trove of internal Jesuit correspondence shows a longstanding pattern of Jesuit officials in the Oregon Province – an administrative area that included Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho and Alaska – privately acknowledging issues of inappropriate sexual behavior, but not releasing that information to the public, which avoided scandal and protected the perpetrators from prosecution.
When abuse was discovered, the priests would be reassigned, sometimes to another Native community.
Once the abusive priests reached retirement age, the Jesuits moved them to Cardinal Bea House on Gonzaga’s campus or another Jesuit residence, to comfortably spend the rest of their lives in relative peace and safety.
The university administration did not respond to requests for an interview to answer whether the administration or student body were aware of the presence of known sexual offenders on campus.
The last known abusive priest was moved out of Cardinal Bea House in 2016, Jesuit records show.
Father John Whitney, the former leader of the Oregon Province who ordered Poole to move into Cardinal Bea House, said the Jesuit order is obligated to provide for priests in retirement. He said it was the only facility in the province where past offenders like Poole, then in his 80s, could be contained effectively while also receiving necessary medical care.
Poole resided at Cardinal Bea House from 2003 to 2015. If he had been allowed to live independently, without church oversight, he surely would have abused more people, even at his advanced age, Whitney said in an interview.
The house, Whitney said, was “a retirement community where he could be monitored.”
In a pair of depositions in 2005, Whitney said he did not inform Gonzaga administrators or police in Spokane about Poole’s history after moving him into Cardinal Bea House. A Spokane Police Department spokesperson said they had not received any reports, either from Gonzaga or the Jesuit order, about allegations against any residents of Cardinal Bea House.
Non-abusing Jesuits also lived at Cardinal Bea House, but there were specific “safety plans” for abusers that banned sexually abusive priests from commingling with students. The Oregon Province would not release copies of the plans. While we learned of no reports of residents abusing Gonzaga students, the restrictions were not rigorously enforced.
In a deposition in one of the several lawsuits filed against him, Poole said he regularly went to the school library and basketball games. Poole said he met with a female student alone in the living room of Cardinal Bea House when she came to interview him for a report on Alaska. Student journalists and filmmakers in 2010 and 2011 were also permitted to interview residents, including Joseph Obersinner, who worked in Native communities in Montana, Washington and Idaho. He was accused of sexual misconduct against a minor.
“We love being right in the middle of campus,” Obersinner told the school’s student newspaper. “It’s a blessing to see the active energy and happiness of youth every day.”
Cardinal Bea House is a modest low-rise brick building, with large windows in front and a small carport behind. It resembles an unremarkable office building, save for the white statue of an angel-winged saint standing guard over the front entrance. On a recent crisp autumn day, a prankster had slipped a hand-rolled cigarette between the statue’s fingers.
While the building appears on campus maps and is listed in the campus directory, it’s not officially part of the private Jesuit university. Cardinal Bea House is owned by the Jesuit order of the Catholic Church.
Poole was joined at Cardinal Bea House by other priests whose abuse was known, often for years, by the Jesuit order.
Father James Jacobson, sent there in the mid-2000s, was accused of sexual abuse by members of the Alaska Native community of Nelson Island. He claimed he never forced anyone to have sex, saying in a deposition that he had consensual sex with seven Native women. He admitted to fathering four children and using church funds to hire prostitutes in Anchorage and Fairbanks when he was principal of a Jesuit boarding school in Glennallen.
Another priest, Henry Hargreaves, accused of sexually assaulting young boys, was sent to Cardinal Bea House by 2003, and subsequently allowed to lead prayer services in at least four Native American communities on two reservations in Washington state.
The abusive Jesuits at Cardinal Bea House were part of the Oregon Province’s outsized problem with sexual misconduct. The province had 92 Jesuits accused of sexual abuse, by far the most of any province in the country, according to data we compiled from church records, a database maintained by advocates for sex abuse victims, and information released earlier this month by the Jesuits. In addition, about 80 percent of accused abusers worked in Native communities in the Oregon Province.
More details are available at The Spokesman-Review.
Jesuits name priests 'credibly accused' of sexually abusing children since the 1950s
Victims of clergy sexual abuse, or their family members, react as Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro speaks during a news conference at the State Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa., on Aug. 14, 2018. A Pennsylvania grand jury said its investigation of clergy sexual abuse identified more than 1,000 child victims in six Roman Catholic dioceses. (Matt Rourke / AP)
Julie Zauzmer
The Washington Post
The Maryland Province Jesuits, a Catholic religious order with priests serving throughout the Washington area and across eight states, released a list Monday of priests in the order who have been credibly accused of abusing children since the 1950s.
The list includes five living Jesuits, three who left the order, and five who have died.
"We are deeply sorry for the harm we have caused to victims and their families. We also apologize for participating in the harm that abuse has done to our Church, a Church that we love and that preaches God's care for all, especially the most vulnerable among us," the Rev. Robert M. Hussey, leader of the Maryland Province Jesuits, wrote in a letter accompanying the detailed list of names and accusations. "The People of God have suffered, and they rightly demand transparency and accountability. We hope that this disclosure of names will contribute to reconciliation and healing.
The men accused of abusing minors served in high schools, including Gonzaga College High School in the District; in colleges, including St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania, Wake Forest University in North Carolina and several more; at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital; at churches in the District and Baltimore; and other institutions.
Much of the abuse detailed in the reports dates back more than half a century. But other accusations are much more recent, and the list reveals that some of the Jesuit priests were not removed from ministry until well after 2002, when the Boston Globe published its expose of abuse in the church and the U.S. Catholic bishops committed to rooting out abusive priests.
Because the church thought they could hide the problem until then. Which means, they had no intention to do anything meaningful about it until it blew up in their faces.
Two of the five living Jesuits on the list were removed in the 1990s: Michael L. Barber pleaded guilty in 1994 to a sexual offense that the order believes occurred that year, and was removed from ministry the same year. Another priest, William J. Walsh, was accused of abusing children in the District, Prince George's County in Maryland, and in Pennsylvania, from the 1950s to the 1980s, and was removed from ministry in 1996.
But others were not removed from ministry until well after the Catholic Church implemented policies designed to root out abusive priests in the early 2000s.
One priest, Neil P. McLaughlin, is believed to have abused children from the 1950s to the 1980s. Accusations came in from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Georgia, Massachusetts and New York. He was not removed from ministry until 2007.
J-Glenn Murray was accused of abuse that happened once around 1981, but was not removed from ministry until 2011. Claude L. Ory faced multiple allegations of sexual abuse, probably in his time in Louisiana working at a Jesuit high school in the 1970s, and was not removed from ministry until 2007.
The Maryland province said that today, all five men are "living in a restricted environment on a safety plan."
The province also listed six more priests who could not be fully investigated, sometimes because the priest had died, but who had been accused and in whose cases the order said there was "a reasonable possibility (semblance of truth) that the alleged offense occurred."
The Maryland Province, which includes Jesuit priests from Georgia to Pennsylvania and oversees a large number of high schools and colleges, noted that five Jesuits who have been publicly included on lists of accused priests published by other provinces across the country also served in churches, schools or other institutions in the Maryland province at some point, and five more studied in the province.
Among the five priests who have died, three were removed from ministry before their deaths. One, accused of numerous sexual offenses over a span of more than 30 years, died in 2004 without facing consequences in the church or in court. A second, accused of an unwanted kiss in 1985, died in 2007 without being removed from ministry.
In the wake of a Pennsylvania grand jury report in August that named more than 300 accused priests in the state and brought renewed attention to abuse by Catholic clergy, dioceses across the country and some religious orders such as the Jesuits have published lists in recent months of credibly accused priests. That includes the Archdiocese of Washington, where Cardinal Donald Wuerl stepped down in October amid furor about his handling of abusive priests in the past - and where religious orders like the Jesuits are under new scrutiny after a priest was arrested recently on charges he abused girls at Washington's Sacred Heart parish.
List of 'established allegations' of sex abuse from Jesuits Midwest Province
Cameron Knight, Sarah Brookbank and Sheila Vilvens, Cincinnati Enquirer
(Photo: Carrie Cochran, The Enquirer/Carrie Cochran)
Editor's note: Officials are asking anyone who has felt victimized by a Jesuit or any St. Xavier employee or knows anyone who has to contact law enforcement and child protective services. The Midwest Province of Jesuits is asking victims to contact Marjorie O’Dea at 773-975-6876. St. Xavier officials are also asking victims to contact the school by email at treilly@stxavier.org or ttyrrell@stxavier.org.
St. Xavier officials are providing an update after accusations of sexual abuse by several Jesuit priests that had connections with the school were made public Monday afternoon.
Previous reporting: On Monday, the Midwest Province of Jesuits released the names of every priest or clergy member who faced "established allegations" of sexually abusing children back to 1955.
The list includes five local priests who were involved at St. Xavier High School, Xavier University and Jesuit Novitiate in Milford.
The list documented the years and locations of the alleged sex abuse incidents as well as when the priests were dismissed from service or died.
Rev. James A. Condon, S.J. at St. Xavier High School in 1965 (deceased 1993)
Rev. Mark A. Finan, S.J. at St. Xavier High School from 1964 to 1965 (dismissed in 1973)
Rev. Edward J. O'Brien, S.J. at Xavier University in 1958 and 1971 to 1982 (deceased 1983)
Rev. Donald O. Nastold, S.J. at St. Francis Xavier Church from 1999 to 2000 (deceased 2007)
Rev. Robert J. Erpenbeck, S.J. at the Jesuit Novitiate in Milford from 1961 and the Milford Retreat Center in 1964 (deceased 1986)
Province officials said Condon, Finan, O'Brien and Erpenbeck were all accused of multiple offenses. Nastold was accused of only a single offense.
"The Midwest Jesuits take this step in the spirit of transparency and reconciliation," said Rev. Brian G. Paulson, S.J. as the list was released Monday. "As we look back at our history, the failures of the Society of Jesus and the Church to protect those entrusted to its care fill our hearts with outrage, sorrow and shame.
"On behalf of the Midwest Jesuits, I apologize to victim-survivors and their families for the harm and suffering you have endured. Many of you have suffered in silence for decades," he said.
James Condon (Photo: File)
Condon served 15 years at a Jesuit high school in Detroit and worked at The Queen's Work in St. Louis, Missouri before coming to Cincinnati. The province did not report any incidents in Detroit but said there were credible allegations in St. Louis.
In Cincinnati, Condon reached the level of acting president at St. Xavier High School, according to Enquirer archives. He was also the National Director of Catholic Action in the early 1960s and worked with its summer camp.
Robert Erpenbeck (Photo: File)
Erpenbeck died in 1986. Though no incidents were reported at St. Xavier High School in connection with the priest, he served as a counselor there for 10 years prior to his death and lived on campus, according to The Enquirer archives. School officials said he was at the school in 1945 and again from 1975 to 1980.
In Milford, Erpenbeck worked with married couples as well as at the Youth Retreat House.
Edward O'Brien (Photo: File)
Edward O'Brien died at 68 in 1983. He was the resident of special projects at Xavier Universiy when he died in his living quarters at the university.
O'Brien was a professor and administrator at Xavier University for 33 years. Throughout his career, he served as assistant to the president, president of special projects and taught history and theology.
O'Brien also served at St. Xavier from 1946 to 1958, according to school officials, but no allegations were made at the high school.
Nastold died in 2007. Though the single incident reported by the province did not stem from a school, he spent nearly all of his career as an educator.
He was the former principal of St. Ignatius College Prep and St. Xavier High School, according to his obituary.
Nastold was a Cincinnati-area native who attended grade school at St. Martin School in Cheviot before attending Elder High School. He was principal at St. Xavier High School from 1969 until 1975. After that, he worked at Xavier University.
The accusations stem from his time at St. Francis Xavier Church from 1999 to 2000.
In 2002, he was assigned to Faber Community to serve in pastoral ministry. While at Faber, his service included serving as a teacher’s aide at Douglass Public School and as chaplain at St. Ursula Villa.
According to Enquirer archives, Mark Finan was transferred from Xavier University in 1958 two years after the allegations made Monday were said to have ended. Province officials said Finan was dismissed from the Jesuit order in 1973.
St. Xavier High School, Xavier University and other Jesuit institutions in the Midwest learned with everyone else if any local clergy was on the list.
School officials said another five priests named on the list worked at St. Xavier, but no allegations were made during their time in Cincinnati:
Rev. Harry Barton, SJ was at St. Xavier from 1942-1948 and 1961-1966
Rev. Robert Broome, SJ was at St. Xavier from 1946 to 1948
Rev. Allan Kirk, SJ was at St. Xavier in 1969
Rev. Wilton Skiffington, SJ was at St. Xavier from 1938 to 1941
Rev. Stanley Wisniewski, SJ was at St. Xavier from 1958
"Please join us in praying for the healing of anyone who may have been victimized by such abuse and, in many cases, have lived in darkness and pain for too long," school officials said in a news release Monday. "Let us be resolved in our faith to seek justice, care for the wounded and commit to the healing message of the Gospel. "
According to a database of accused clergy, only one Jesuit in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati has faced accusations. Father John Ferone, the former Director of Adult Faith and Ignatian Programming at St. Xavier, was fired earlier this year after having "an inappropriate communication" with a student.
The decision to make the list public comes as the church is under increasing scrutiny from lay Catholics, abuse survivors and criminal prosecutors to resolve a problem that has plagued it for years.
Two of the Jesuits' five provinces in the United States released the names of accused priests earlier this month. The Maryland Province joined the Midwest Province in its release Monday. Only the Northeast Province has not yet published a list of names.
Catholic Diocese of SLC posts list of priest child sex abuse allegations since 1950
BY ADAM FORGIE, KUTV
SLC Catholic Diocese posts list of all priest sex abuse allegations since 1950. (File photo: KUTV)
SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — The Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City is hoping a new list of sexual abuse allegations against clergy since 1950 will provide transparency to "help repair at least some of the wounds left by the wrongful actions of priests who abused their sacred trust."
The Diocese posted the list on its website of "all priests against whom credible allegations of sexual abuse involving minors have been reported since 1950."
The list only includes "credible allegations."
"To be credible, the Diocese needs sufficient evidence to verify that the alleged actions could have occurred; i.e., the accused and the accuser were in the same area around the time the conduct is alleged to have happened," Jean Hill, Director of the Office of Life, Justice and Peace of the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City stated in a news release. "A determination that an allegation is credible is not a final determination of guilt, but is grounds for further exploration."
There are 19 priests on the list with at least 21 allegations of sexual abuse against at least 32 child victims.
The allegations are wide-ranging, explicit and various in nature.
Allegations against priests include, but are not limited to:
Multiple allegations of child molestation
Multiple allegations of sexual abuse of a minor
Internet solicitation of a minor
Holding children on lap, kissing, hugging children
Putting hands up legs of minor
Sleeping in bed with a minor
Touching a minor on buttocks while pushing on a swing
Offering alcohol to 4 minors, suggesting minors undress
Kissing a minor
Soliciting a teenager for sexual activity
Many of the sex abuse allegations happened at Utah Catholic schools including Judge Memorial High School in Salt Lake City, and St. Joseph High School in Ogden.
More than half of the allegations happened in the 1970s and 1980s.
The most recent case comes from August 2018 against David R. Gaeta (4th story on link), who is accused of multiple sexual abuse incidents dating back to the early 1980s. Gaeta served at multiple Utah parishes. The Diocese's investigation into the allegations against Gaeta has concluded.
Solis, in conjunction with the Diocese’s Protection of Children and Young People Independent Review Board, determined that Gaeta will retire from active ministry on January 1, 2019. Gaeta will retire without faculties and will have no further public ministry.
"Removal of faculties means the individual may no longer engage in public ministry, including dressing as a priest, presenting himself as a priest in good standing, performing public Masses, hearing Confessions, or conducting Baptisms, Marriages, or administering other Sacraments," the Diocese stated.
No criminal action has been filed against Gaeta, according to the diocese.
“The list of credible allegations is one step toward providing the transparency that will help repair at least some of the wounds left by the wrongful actions of priests who abused their sacred trust," Bishop Oscar A. Solis said. "We continue to pray for the victims and their families and ask their forgiveness for our failure to protect them.”
Solis authorized the release of names in August 2018, at the same time the allegations against Gaeta were being reported.
"Sexual misconduct of any kind by Church personnel is an affront to human dignity and the mission of the Church," Hill stated in the news release. "The spiritual well-being of all victims, their families, and others in the community is of particular concern to the Church."
It is also an affront to God and a spectacular form of blasphemy. I winder why they never talk about that?
The alleged abuse happened at multiple parishes and Catholic schools across Utah.
Several of the accused priests have died, others had their faculties removed, some were incarcerated, some were laicized and others retired.
A link to the full report can be found here. It took about 2 minutes just for the link to open to another link to the actual list. So, good luck with that.
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