Jesuit order list accused priests
Five living Jesuits, five now dead are alleged sex abusers.
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 admission by the Jesuit order, which is widely known for educating youths in its high schools and colleges, comes at a time when Cath- olic institutions are under tremendous pressure to respond more transparently to claims of sexual abuse by priests.
Of about 48,500 priests nationwide, about 31 percent are from religious orders, and the other 69 percent are from dioceses, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, a research center about church life, at Georgetown University.
In October, the major umbrella organization for male orders urged the groups to publish names of their accused members, and on Monday, the Mary- land Province Jesuits did just that, naming five living Jesuits, three who left the order after being accused of misconduct, 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 vulnera- ble 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.
It was unclear whether all of the priests named on the list were ever reported by the Jesuits to law enforcement. Mike Gabriele, a spokesman for the province, said that the province only automatically reports an accusation to authorities if the victim is still a minor when he or she reports the abuse.
If the victim is already an adult, Gabriele said, the province’s response varies by state. The Maryland province covers territory from Pennsylvania to Georgia.
On the Maryland Prov- ince’s list, two of the five living priests who are still in the Jesuit order were removed from ministry in the 1990s.
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 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.