CINCINNNATI (OH)
Xavier Newswire
January 23, 2019
By Trevor McKenzie
A report issued last month by the Midwest Province of Jesuits revealed that no members of the society currently associated with Xavier face allegations of sexual abuse of minors.
The Province’s Dec. 17 report listed all Jesuit priests with established allegations of sexual abuse of minors since 1955 to a nation of believers and non-believers alike wrestling with the consequences of the 60-year scandal.
Although no one currently associated with the university was named, four individuals who had at one point been assigned to Xavier appeared in the report: Fr. Mark Finan, S.J., (at Xavier 1956-1958), Fr. David McCarthy, S.J., (1956-1961), Fr. Donald Nastold, S.J, (1979-1991) and most notably Fr. Edward O’Brien, S.J., who was associated with Xavier from 1950-1983 and had a scholarship named for him after his death in 1983. The scholarship is no longer offered by the university.
Of those named in the report, only O’Brien was the subject of allegations for incidents that occurred while serving in a position at Xavier. Those allegations did not arise until 1990, seven years after his death.
According to a statement released the same day by Fr. Michael Graham, president, two other individuals formerly associated with Xavier — Br. Jerome Pryor, S.J., (at Xavier 1974-2002) and Fr. Louis Bonacci, S.J., (1994-1999) — were also named in allegations of past sexual improprieties.
Pryor was removed from Xavier in 2002 after reports of improprieties with students. However, allegations involving Pryor did not involve abuse of minors, and he therefore did not appear in the Province’s report. Bonacci was permanently removed from ministry by the Maryland Province in 2011 following allegations of misconduct with a minor in the late 1970s, prior to his time at Xavier.
The individuals implicated in the report served in multiple capacities at Xavier, such as faculty and ministry roles.
The report was released four months after an 18-month Pennsylvania grand jury report claimed more than 300 clergy had sexually abused more than 1,000 children throughout several decades.
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