The Society of Jesus has had different episodes of Catholic sex abuse cases in various jurisdictions.
Internal church records released in 2013 indicate that the Jesuits of the Archdiocese of Chicago willfully concealed sex crimes committed by a Jesuit priest Donald McGuire for more than four decades. A letter written in 1970 by John Reinke, a president of Loyola Academy where McGuire worked, admitted that McGuire's presence at Loyola was "positively destructive and corrosive", but suggested transferring him to Loyola University instead of sending him to treatment or turning him over to the legal system. [1] McGuire was finally tried for his crimes and found guilty of molesting two teenage students in Wisconsin in 2006. [2] McGuire was sentenced to seven years in prison for this, and was later tried and found guilty for another act of abuse in 2009. This time, he was sentenced to 25 years, making it likely that he would die in prison. [3] McGuire died in a federal prison in 2017. [4]
Robert Goldberg, one of McGuire's victims who was instrumental in his conviction, [4] filed a lawsuit against both the Midwest Jesuit Province and the main Society of Jesus office in Rome in 2019. [4]
In February 2008, the diocese of Fairbanks announced plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, claiming inability to pay the 140 plaintiffs who filed claims against the diocese for alleged sexual abuse by priests or church workers dating from the 1950s to the early 1980s. The Society of Jesus, Oregon Province, was named as a co-defendant in the case, and settled for $50 million. [5] The Diocese, which reports an operating budget of approximately $6 million, claims one of the diocese's insurance carriers failed to "participate meaningfully". [6] [7] [8] [9]
The lawsuits in the Fairbanks diocese have also affected the Jesuit community in the diocese of Portland, given that the Western Province of the American Jesuits is located in the State of Oregon. [10] [11] In February 2009, the Province of Oregon became the first Jesuit order to file for bankruptcy. [12] In March 2011, the Oregon Jesuit Province agreed to pay nearly 500 victims of sex abuse $166.1 million. [13] As party of the bankruptcy agreement, the Oregon Jesuit Province also disclosed the list of Jesuit clergy who were accused of committing sex abuse. [14]
In 2002, criminal charges were brought against five Roman Catholic priests in the Boston area of the United States, John Geoghan, Paul Desilets, [15] Paul Shanley, Robert V. Gale and Jesuit priest James Talbot, which ultimately resulted in the conviction and sentencing of each to prison. [16]
In 1985, Jesuit priest Norman J. Rogge pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a boy in 1984 and received a one-year prison sentence. [17] He previously pleaded guilty to another charge of sex abuse against a minor in 1967 and received a sentence of three years probation and forced psychiatric therapy. [17]
By 2019, sex abuse lawsuits which were filed against at least two former Jesuits who were accused of committing sex abuse at Jesuit high schools were settled. [17]
In 1998, nine male alumni claimed that they had been molested while attending the Jesuit school Cheverus. Two former faculty members, Jesuit priest and teacher James Talbot and teacher and coach Charles Malia, [18] were accused. The school, located in Portland, Maine, confirmed the abuse and apologized to the victims. The victims also accused both Cheverus High School and the Portland Diocese of hiding information, and that they had previously known about the abuse. Settlements to victims have reached a cumulative seven figures, with ongoing counseling additional. Talbot, who was the former chair of the English Department, and Malia, the former head of the Track Team, have admitted they are guilty. Both teachers lost their jobs at Cheverus in 1998. [18] Before public accusations surfaced that he committed sex abuse at Boston College High School, James Talbot had been accused of molesting a student at Cheverus. [19] On September 24, 2018, Talbot pled guilty to the sex abuse charges in Maine and immediately began serving two concurrent three-year prison sentences. [20] [21]
On January 15, 2018, the USA Northeast Province of the Society of Jesus released a list Tuesday of 50 priests under its jurisdiction who had been "credibly accused" of sexual misconduct with minors [22] The list includes priests who served in Jesuit high schools and colleges throughout New England, New York and northern New Jersey. [22] However, the list only includes ordained Jesuits and does not include some accused people who were affiliated with the Jesuits. [22] Seven on the list taught at Cheverus High School in Portland, Maine. [22] All but 15 of the Roman Catholic priests on the list are dead, and all of the alleged abuse took place before 1997. [22]
On December 7, 2018, the USA Central and Southern Province of the Society of Jesus released a list of 42 priests under its jurisdiction who had allegations of sex abuse. [23] [24] [25] The list also includes those from predecessor organizations such as the New Orleans Province, the Missouri Province, and the Independent Region of Puerto Rico of the Society of Jesus. [23] [24] [25] Those with credible allegations are either deceased or no longer in active ministry, [23] [24] while 4 who had less credible allegations are still active in the province. [23] [24]
On December 7, 2018, the USA West Province released a list of Jesuit clergy who had been accused of committing sex abuse while working for areas in the province. [14] Reports of abuse are dated as early as 1950, [14] While the Province of the present-day was formed in 2017. [14] the list includes reported abuse in the former California and the former Oregon Provinces, against whom a credible claim of sexual abuse of a minor (under the age of 18) or a vulnerable adult has been made. [14] The former Oregon Province was also required to release the list of accused clergy as party of its bankruptcy settlement. [14]
On December 17, 2018, the USA Midwest Province of the Society of Jesus released a list of Jesuits who had been accused of molesting children while working for areas in the province. [26] Listed reports of abuse go as early as 1955. [27] The present-day Province was formed in 2017 as a merger between the Chicago, Chicago-Detroit, Detroit, and Wisconsin provinces. [26]
On December 17, 2018, The USA Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus released the names of Jesuits who had been accused of molesting children while working for the Province. [28] [29] [30] [31] The list goes as far back as 1950 at earliest. [32] The now-defunct Province stretched from the state of Georgia to the areas just below the state of New York . [33]
In 2004 and 2005 two former students of the school told the headmaster of this Jesuit school that they had been sexually abused by two of their former teachers. In December 2009 and January 2010 two other boys contacted the headmaster and claimed the same about the same teachers. The headmaster decided to write a letter to all former students in which he stated that he was deeply sorry for what happened. After receiving the letter several others of the former students contacted the headmaster and said that they too had been abused. In January 2010, the headmaster wrote a personal letter of apology to all pupils at the school. [34]
The names of the former students claiming to be sexually abused have been withheld from the public, but the public was told that many of them were notable scientists or held political or economic positions of power. It was also revealed that some of the alumni who had been abused decided to send their children to the Canisius-Kolleg. [35] One of the teachers has spoken out and said the allegations made against him were true, because he really had abused boys. The teachers might not be sued for what they did, because it seems that in most cases the statute of limitations has passed, but the abused boys wanted them to apologize. [36] Apologies and financial compensations were issued to the victims. [37]
An investigative report detailing allegations of substantial abuse was released in 2010. [38]
In 2010, Padre Wolfgang S. admitted to several acts of sexual abuse of minors during his years as a teacher in Sankt Blasius from 1982 to 1984. Prior to that he had taught in another Jesuit college in Berlin (Canisius-Kolleg) where he had also molested children. The order in 2010 concedes that upon discovery, his superiors did provide help for him to emigrate to South America. Other cases of sexual abuse of minors in the Jesuit order have also been reported lately and are being investigated. As of February 2010, it seems that all cases have become time-barred. [39]
The Jesuit superior general Arturo Sosa then revealed on 14 December 2022 that, after a 2019 complaint, Marko Rupnik had been convicted and sanctioned by the Holy See for the ecclesiastical crime of absolution of an accomplice. Rupnik had absolved a woman in confession of having engaged in sexual activity with him. Rupnik's excommunication was lifted after he repented for his crime. Despite the earlier statement on 2 December 2022, the restrictions on Rupnik's ministry "actually dated from that confession-related conviction, and not the 2021 allegations that the Vatican’s sex crimes office decided to shelve because they were deemed too old to prosecute." [40]
According to journalist Nicole Winfield, the "Rupnik's scandal has underscored the weaknesses in the Vatican’s abuse policies concerning spiritual and sexual abuse of adult women, and how powerful priests can often count on high-ranking support even after credible allegations against them are lodged." [41]
Rev. Stefan Dartmann disclosed that the same abusive teacher in Germany had been guilty of similar crimes in Jesuit schools in Chile and Spain. [42]
In August 2019, revelations surfaced that Jesuit Father Renato Poblete, who died in 2010, had sexually abused 18 adult women and four underage female minors. [43] He also impregnated at least one of these women and forced her to have an abortion. [43] One of the minors he abused was only three years old and a daughter of one of his adult victims as well. [43]
On December 31, 2019, it was reported that Robert Goldberg, who was sexually abused by the late Chicago-area Jesuit priest Donald McGuire, was suing both the Midwest Jesuit Province and the main Society of Jesus office in the Vatican. [44]
There have been many cases of sexual abuse of children by priests, nuns, and other members of religious life in the Catholic Church. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the cases have involved many allegations, investigations, trials, convictions, acknowledgement and apologies by Church authorities, and revelations about decades of instances of abuse and attempts by Church officials to cover them up. The abused include mostly boys but also girls, some as young as three years old, with the majority between the ages of 11 and 14. Criminal cases for the most part do not cover sexual harassment of adults. The accusations of abuse and cover-ups began to receive public attention during the late 1980s. Many of these cases allege decades of abuse, frequently made by adults or older youths years after the abuse occurred. Cases have also been brought against members of the Catholic hierarchy who covered up sex abuse allegations and moved abusive priests to other parishes, where abuse continued.
The Diocese of Oakland is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church in the San Francisco Bay Area of California in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archbishop of San Francisco.
The Diocese of Sacramento is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church in the northern California region of the United States. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of San Francisco.
The Diocese of Fairbanks is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church in the northern part of the state of Alaska in the United States.
The Archdiocese of New Orleans is a Latin Church ecclesiastical division of the Catholic Church spanning Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. John the Baptist, St. Tammany, and Washington civil parishes of southeastern Louisiana. It is the second to the Archdiocese of Baltimore in age among the present dioceses in the United States, having been elevated to the rank of diocese on April 25, 1793, during Spanish colonial rule.
The Diocese of Portland is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church for the entire state of Maine in the United States. It is a suffragan diocese of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Boston.
This page documents Catholic Church sexual abuse cases by country.
The Archdiocese of Boston sex abuse scandal was part of a series of Catholic Church sexual abuse cases in the United States that revealed widespread crimes in the American Catholic Church. In early 2002, TheBoston Globe published results of an investigation that led to the criminal prosecutions of five Roman Catholic priests and thrust the sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy into the national spotlight. Another accused priest who was involved in the Spotlight scandal also pleaded guilty. The Globe's coverage encouraged other victims to come forward with allegations of abuse, resulting in numerous lawsuits and 249 criminal cases.
The sexual abuse cases in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon in the United States is an important chapter in the series of Catholic sex abuse cases in the United States. During its course in July 2004, the archdiocese under Archbishop John George Vlazny filed for bankruptcy.
The sexual abuse scandal in Miami archdiocese is part of the Catholic sex abuse cases in the United States and Ireland. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami is the largest non-governmental provider of social services and operates the largest non-governmental school and hospital system in South Florida.
The sexual abuse scandal in Davenport diocese is one of a number of Catholic sex abuse cases in the United States and Ireland.
There have been many lawsuits, criminal prosecutions, and scandals over sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy in the United States of America.
Catholic Church sexual abuse cases in Canada are well documented dating back to the 1960s. The preponderance of criminal cases with Canadian Catholic dioceses named as defendants that have surfaced since the 1980s strongly indicate that these cases were far more widespread than previously believed. While recent media reports have centred on Newfoundland dioceses, there have been reported cases—tested in court with criminal convictions—in almost all Canadian provinces. Sexual assault is the act of an individual touching another individual sexually and/or committing sexual activities forcefully and/or without the other person's consent. The phrase Catholic sexual abuse cases refers to acts of sexual abuse, typically child sexual abuse, by members of authority in the Catholic church, such as priests. Such cases have been occurring sporadically since the 11th century in Catholic churches around the world. This article summarizes some of the most notable Catholic sexual abuse cases in Canadian provinces.
Settlements and bankruptcies in Catholic sex abuse cases have affected several American dioceses, whose compensation payments have totaled in the billions of dollars.
The sexual abuse scandal in Hartford archdiocese is an episode in the series of Catholic sex abuse cases in the United States.
The sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Diocese of Fairbanks is a major chapter in the series of Catholic sex abuse cases in the Diocese of Fairbanks in the state of Alaska in the United States and the Jesuits religious order.
A grand jury investigation of Catholic Church sexual abuse in Pennsylvania lasted from 2016 to 2018, and investigated the history of clerical sexual abuse in six Pennsylvania dioceses.
James Talbot, SJ is a former American Jesuit priest, teacher, and coach who was convicted of raping multiple students over a period of several decades.
Donald McGuire was an American Jesuit priest and convicted child molester. Prior to his conviction, McGuire was a prominent member of the Jesuit Order and had served as confessor to Mother Teresa. He died in 2017, while serving a 25-year prison sentence.
Marko Ivan Rupnik is a Slovenian Catholic priest, theologian, mosaic artist, and former Jesuit. Among the churches he has decorated around the world are the Saint John Paul II National Shrine in Washington D.C., the Redemptoris Mater Chapel in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace, the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, the Sanctuary of Fátima, the Sanctuary of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, the Almudena Cathedral in Madrid. He was the director of Centro Aletti in Rome and was a theological student of Tomáš Špidlík.
More than 150 claims were filed against the church for alleged crimes at the hands of clergy or church workers between the 1950s and 1980s.
Robert Hannon, who serves as a special assistant to Bishop Donald Kettler and is the diocesan chancellor, told the Anchorage (Alaska) Daily News that officials believe bankruptcy is the fairest way to compensate victims.
The negotiations allegedly failed because one of the diocese's insurance carriers did not "participate meaningfully." ... Robert Hannon, chancellor and special assistant to Bishop Donald Kettler, said bankruptcy would provide a way for church assets to be distributed fairly among abuse victims.
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