More priests ID’d in abuse scandal
Jesuit group releases names of three dozen who have been credibly accused since 1950
“The release of these names is a good first step, but the Jesuits need to release all of the files ... so we can all make sure it never happens again.” — Michael Pfau, a Seattle-based attorney
Jesuits West Province released the names of three dozen priests and brothers who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse since 1950, including several Bay Area members of the religious order who previously had been implicated in abuse.
Of those identified on its website Friday, the seven living clergy are housed at the Sacred Heart Jesuit Center in Los Gatos, a retirement retreat that is also where accused priests were transferred to keep them out of the ministry and away from their prey, per the organization’s self-described “Safety Plan.”
Fr. Scott Santarosa, provincial superior for Jesuits West, which governs Jesuit clergy throughout the western United States, wrote in a letter accompanying the list’s online publication that the organization was releasing the names to be transparent and acknowledge the suffering of abuse survivors.
“We do so because we hope that this act of accountability will help victims and their families in the healing process,” Santarosa wrote. “We do so because while the vast majority of Jesuits of our province are not on this list, it is important that parents not wonder whether their children are safe in a church, in a school or in any other setting where a Jesuit may be present.”
Some of the priests and brothers in the list published by Jesuits West have already been named in media reports or by other Roman Catholic entities such as the San Jose diocese, which in October identified 15 priests suspected of abuse. The Oakland di-
ocese had announced plans to release names in November but pushed that deadline back to at least January to conduct a further investigation and notify survivors.
“While there is some overlap between the two lists, the Jesuit list provides a much better picture of Jesuit abusers who worked and/or lived within the Diocese of San Jose,” said a statement issued by Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP.
“Of particular note is that the list shows clearly that Jesuit abusers were sent to Sacred Heart Jesuit Center in Los Gatos,” the statement continued. “It should be a concern to the families who live in the residential area around the Center. Parents should be asking themselves what kind of supervision the Order provided in the past, and is providing today, for the dangerous men housed right in the middle of this neighborhood.”
Critics called the earlier disclosures woefully inadequate, and in late October, Minnesota-based law firm Jeff Anderson & Associates, which has represented a number of Catholic priest abuse victims in California and elsewhere, published the names of 212 clergy in the Oakland, San Francisco and San Jose dioceses accused of sexual misconduct involving children.
Michael Pfau, a Seattlebased attorney who says he has represented about 150 survivors of clergy sex abuse, contends Catholic leaders have been selective in identifying wrongdoers in their ranks. And his litigation in Oregon, often involving Native American clients, reinforced the troubling trend of priests being moved around rather than purged from the ministry.
“It became clear that the Jesuits had a practice of transferring known abusers to different locations, including Native American reservations. It also became clear that the Jesuits had sent priests who had molested children at their high schools to work at the universities rather than remove them from ministry,” Pfau said in a statement. “In reviewing some of the more notorious cases in California, it appears that Jesuits in California had a similar practice of moving known abusers.”
Pfau added: “The release of these names is a good first step, but the Jesuits need to release all of the files on these perpetrators so that abuse survivors can begin to understand how it happened, and so we can all make sure it never happens again.”
The Jesuits West list names some priests widely suspected of abuse who weren’t on official lists issued to date, omissions that fueled critics’ skepticism. The organization names Jerold Lindner, who made headlines when he was beaten at the Los Gatos retreat in 2010 by abuse survivor Will Lynch, who was acquitted two years later and went on to pursue new laws to eliminate California’s criminal and civil statutes of limitations for sex crimes against children.
Also on the Jesuits West list is William Farrington, who worked at Bellarmine College Prep in San Jose from 1964 to 1974 and is accused of committing abuse on campus. He wasn’t included in the San Jose disclosure. Other living clergy who previously worked at Bellarmine include Carlton E. Whitten, who was accused of sexually abusing a minor in 2008; and Charles J. Onorato, accused of sexually abusing a minor in 1980 around the time he was working at the school.
In all, 17 Jesuit clergy, living and dead, were named in the abuser list released Friday.
“The pain and suffering experienced by people at the hands of priests and other clergy whom they trusted is unconscionable,” Bellarmine president Chris Meyercord wrote in a letter to the campus community. “We acknowledge with shame and sadness that there have been members of the clergy affiliated with our school in the past whose abusive actions can only be classified as evil, and for that I sincerely apologize on behalf of Bellarmine.”
Jesuits West also identified 29 deceased priests and brothers credibly accused of abuse. Among them are Edward Thomas Burke and Charles Leonard Connor, who admitted in 2002 to molesting developmentally disabled men at the Sacred Heart Jesuit Center in Los Gatos.
Jesuits West asked that additional victims come forward.
“I encourage anyone who has felt victimized by a Jesuit to contact both Mary Pat Panighetti, Advocacy Coordinator for Jesuits West, at 408-893-8398, and appropriate law enforcement and child-protective agencies,” Santarosa wrote.