Jesuits plan to name members credibly accused of sex abuse
The Roman Catholic Church’s Jesuit religious order that covers the New Orleans area will release Friday (Dec. 7) a preliminary list priests and other members of its scholarly congregation who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse.
The Jesuits U.S. Central and Southern Province announced in a news release that it hired Kinsale Management Consulting, Inc., to review all personnel files of Jesuits going back to 1955. The firm will prepare a list of all Jesuits and former Jesuits of the province who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors.
The review is expected to take several months to complete, with the comprehensive report due for release in the spring. In the meantime, the province is compiling a preliminary list that will be released Friday, according to the news release.
The preliminary release comes just over a month after the Archdiocese of New Orleans released the names of 57 clergy members who allegedly abused minors over the past several decades. That list included six Jesuit priests.
The U.S. Central and Southern Province includes the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, southern Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, Texas, Tennessee and Oklahoma as well as the Central American country of Belize and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. In New Orleans, the Jesuits run Jesuit High School and Loyola University.
About 60 Catholic dioceses around the country have released names of clergymen credibly accused of sexual abuse over the past several decades. Jesuit provinces that cover other parts of the U.S. plan to make similar releases. The Midwest Province will publish its list on Dec. 17 and will update it following further investigations, according to the Jesuit publication America.
“The people of God deserve transparency from the leadership of the church,” said Ronald A. Mercier, SJ, provincial of the Jesuits USA Central and Southern Province. “It is my hope that through the publication of this information, we can work to rebuild trust, always with the well-being of victims in mind. On behalf of the Jesuits of the USA Central and Southern Province, I apologize to the victims for the pain caused by Jesuits in the past.”
Persons who suffered abuse by a Jesuit are encouraged to notify the appropriate law enforcement or child-protection agency in the location in which the incident took place, the news release said. They are further encouraged to contact Carol Brescia, LCSW, the province’s victim assistance coordinator. Brescia is a therapist who has experience working with victims/survivors of trauma. She can be reached confidentially at 314-915-7168 or at ucsoutreach@jesuits.org.
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