SPOKANE (WA)
Spokesman-Review
December 18, 2018
By Chad Sokol
In a statement Monday, Gonzaga University President Thayne McCulloh said the school “has zero tolerance for sexual misconduct of any form” and encouraged victims to file confidential reports at gonzaga.edu/report.
“It is university policy to cooperate fully with any and all investigations of abuse and to take swift action when warranted,” McCulloh wrote.
He said students might also find help at Gonzaga’s Center for Cura Personalis, Health and Counseling Services and Office of Mission and Ministry, while school employees can try the confidential Employee Assistance Program.
McCulloh wrote that “anyone who has been victimized by a Jesuit” should contact law enforcement, child protective services and Mary Pat Panighetti, the advocacy coordinator for Jesuits West, at (408) 893-8398 or mppanighetti@jesuits.org.
Gonzaga University’s president responded late Monday to an investigative report detailing how Jesuit priests accused of sexually abusing children were sent to live in a retirement home on the school’s campus near downtown Spokane.
In a forcefully worded statement, President Thayne McCulloh said he was disturbed by accounts published over the weekend by the Northwest News Network and the Emeryville, California-based Center for Investigative Reporting. He said no priests accused of sexual abuse are currently living in Jesuit retirement homes on or near campus, and he demanded guarantees that no such priests would be assigned there again.
The news story, which appeared in print and on the center’s popular podcast “Reveal,” covers many aspects of the Catholic abuse scandal previously reported by The Spokesman-Review. But it adds new details to the story of the Rev. James Poole, a priest who admitted under oath that he molested indigenous women and girls during his time with a radio station in Nome, Alaska.
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