Jesuit order issues list of priests accused of sex abuse

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 Catholic institutions are under pressure to respond more transparently to claims of sexual abuse by priests.

In October, the major umbrella organization for male religious orders -- including the Jesuits, the Catholic church's largest male order with almost 17,000 priests and brothers -- urged the groups to publish names of their accused members. On Monday, the Maryland 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 vulnerable among us," the Rev. Robert 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 that person 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.

The men accused of abusing minors served in high schools, including Gonzaga College High School in the District of Columbia; in colleges, including St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania, Wake Forest University in North Carolina and several more; at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital; at churches in the District and Baltimore; and other institutions.

Much of the abuse detailed in the reports dates back more than half a century. But other accusations are much more recent, and the list reveals that some of the Jesuit priests were not removed from ministry until well after 2002, when the Boston Globe published its expose of abuse in the church and the U.S. Catholic bishops committed to rooting out abusive priests.

Five Jesuits identified in the Maryland Province's report at one time were associated with Georgetown Preparatory School in Montgomery County. Gary Orr, a Jesuit who worked at Georgetown Prep from 1977 to 1980 and from 1989 to 2004, was sentenced to five years of supervised probation after he pleaded guilty in 2011 to two counts of sexual offense. Orr, who left the Jesuits, is a registered sex offender.

On the Maryland Province'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.

J-Glenn Murray was accused of abuse that happened once around 1981, but was not removed from ministry until 2011. Claude Ory faced multiple allegations of sexual abuse, probably in his time in Louisiana working at a Jesuit high school in the 1970s, and was not removed from ministry until 2007.

The Maryland province said that today, all five men are "living in a restricted environment on a safety plan."

In three cases of living priests on the list, Jesuits were accused and removed from ministry, then chose to leave the order. Those three men -- Orr, H. Cornell Bradley and Louis Bonacci -- are now living as private citizens.

But in the cases of the other five living priests, even after the Jesuits barred them from practicing ministry in churches or otherwise acting as religious leaders, the order retains its agreement to provide the men with housing and care.

A Section on 12/18/2018

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