Eighteen Jesuit priests with ties to Chicago-area institutions were named on a list released Monday alleging instances of sexual abuse dating back more than six decades, including one defrocked priest who was convicted of sex crimes in federal court.
The Midwest Province Jesuits, part of a Catholic religious order known for its focus on education, released a list of dozens of priests with credible allegations of sexual abuse to their names since 1955.
In a Monday evening phone interview, the Rev. Brian Paulson, provincial of the Midwest Province, said the list was a response to the scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church for the past two decades — from the 2002 abuse crisis exposed by the Boston Globe to the more than 300 Pennsylvania priests who were found to have sexually abused children, according to an August grand jury report.
“I think in the past, church leaders tried to avoid scandal,” Paulson said. “But I think now we realize the greater scandal is keeping this information in our drawer.”
Larry Antonsen, a Chicago leader of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said putting the names out there is a start.
“I think it’s good that they’re putting out these lists, I really do,” Antonsen said. “Whether it’s complete or not, I don’t know. And it’s really hard to trust anybody in the Catholic Church because they’ve been hiding and lying for such a long time.”
Antonsen said he would ultimately like to see grand juries convened in every state. But, he said, “I really do believe seeing the names, maybe it will spark somebody else to come forward.”
More than 50 priests were named as perpetrators in cases where there was “reasonable certainty that the sexual abuse of a minor occurred.” Several worked at Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Holy Family Parish and St. Ignatius College Prep on the Near West Side, and Loyola University Chicago, among other institutions.
In a statement, Loyola Academy leaders urged anyone abused while at the school to report it to authorities and said the community stands with all survivors of abuse.
“Loyola Academy supports the release of the information by the Midwest Province regarding past cases of sexual abuse by Jesuits and hopes this act of accountability will help the victims and their families heal,” according to the statement.
Paulson, in a letter accompanying the list, apologized to victims of abuse and said the publication of the list was done “in the spirit of transparency and reconciliation.”
“Many of you have suffered in silence for decades,” Paulson wrote. “Our concern and prayers are with you and we hope and pray that this step will strengthen the trust of those we serve. We recognize that our feelings on this day are nothing compared to the depth of suffering endured by those who have been abused, especially by one as trusted as a priest or vowed religious.”
Most of the named Chicago-area priests have died. Some were eventually dismissed, meaning they left the Jesuit order of their own accord or were asked to leave. Eight priests on the list are still living, but all have been removed from public ministry and assigned to residences where they receive supervision, according to the province.
It was unclear how many cases on the list were reported to law enforcement.
Civil authorities are notified immediately of cases involving minors and living Jesuits, according to the province. If the victim is now an adult but was a minor at the time of the abuse, the province notifies the appropriate prosecutor’s office. If the allegation is made where the victim was an adult at the time, the province refers victims to appropriate civil authorities.
The list is prefaced as being based on a “process of consultation and not a legal judgment.”
The most recent allegations occurred in the Chicago Jesuit community.
Donald McGuire, a prominent priest and retreat director who traveled frequently, was among those on the list. The Tribune reported that the convicted sex offender abused dozens of children around the globe, according to internal church records released in 2013, and was associated with what was, at the time, the largest settlement amount per individual paid in the history of the U.S. Catholic sexual abuse crisis.
The Midwest Province list accused McGuire of multiple instances of abuse across five Chicago-area institutions: at Loyola Academy from 1954-57 and again from 1965-70, Loyola University Chicago in 1976, Bellarmine Jesuit Retreat House in Barrington from 1981-84 and from 1985-88, Canisius House in Evanston from 1988-2002 and the Chicago Jesuit Community from 2002-05.
A letter written in 1970 by the Rev. John H. Reinke, then president of Loyola Academy in Wilmette, described McGuire’s presence at the school as “positively destructive and corrosive.”
Another priest named Monday is M. Lawrence Reuter, who served as president of Loyola Academy from 1975 to 1990. Loyola was an all-male high school until 1994.
Reuter was accused of abuse from 1986 to 1988. He was removed from active ministry in 2010 after he admitted an “inappropriate relationship” with a student, the Tribune reported. Reuter later was permanently removed from public ministry.
Other priests named in the list include four other Jesuits associated with Loyola Academy:
- Ignatius Burrill was accused of abuse that occurred in 1977.
- Donald O’Shaughnessy was accused of abuse that occurred in the 1970s.
- A single allegation was lodged against both Wilton Skiffington (1963-64) and Gerald Streeter (1963-64) following their deaths.
Five priests named were associated with St. Ignatius College Prep:
- Mark Finan was accused of abuse that occurred in 1944.
- J. Robert Koch was accused of abuse that occurred in 1966.
- Stanley Wisniewski was accused of a single instance of abuse that occurred in 1966.
- Single allegations were made against Harry Barton (1956-57) and Allan Kirk (1979) after their deaths.
Six priests named were associated with Holy Family Parish:
- Donald Butler was accused of abuse that occurred from 1964 to 1968.
- Maurice Meyers was accused of abuse that occurred in 1964.
- John Lane was accused of abuse that occurred from 1966 to 1976.
- David McCarthy was accused of abuse that occurred from 1965 to 1978.
- Thomas Gannon was accused of abuse that occurred in 1998..
- A single allegation of abuse that occurred in 1953-54 was made against Philip Mooney after his death.
John Powell was accused of abuse that happened in 1967 at Loyola University Chicago, as well as abuse from 1966-67 at the Bellarmine School of Theology in North Aurora.
Two priests with Chicago ties were named on a similar list earlier this month. And more names are expected to be published by the Northeast Province next month.
The Midwest Province, formed in 2017 and encompassing 12 states, currently has more than 500 Jesuit members, and 4,000 have served in the province since 1955. An additional review of the Midwest Province Jesuits’ records will be made in 2019 by Hillard Heintze, an independent investigative services firm based in Chicago, according to the Monday letter, and the list will be updated.
“I have great confidence in the work that we’ve done, but nonetheless there are also judgment calls and because we’re working from files that are at times 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 years old,” Paulson said. “This review will verify our work, and if they look at something differently and they bring that to my attention, I will update the list.”
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