Assignment Record – Rev. Bernard Francis "Barney" McMeel, s.j.

Summary of Case: Bernard "Barney" McMeel was ordained a priest of the Jesuits' Oregon Province in 1954. For more than two decades he ministered in the Fairbanks, Alaska diocese with a short stint later on in the diocese of Juneau. From 1979 until his death in 1994, McMeel worked at St. Paul Indian Mission on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in the diocese of Great Falls, Montana. McMeel was accused in a 2006 lawsuit, along with Rev. Andrew Eordogh, s.j., of having sexually abused a boy in Holy Cross, Alaska, beginning when the boy was 4 years-old in 1967. Hs accuser said McMeel "handed him off" to Eordogh when McMeel left in 1968 to become Superior Regular of Jesuits in Alaska.

Ordained: 1954
Died: Jan. 6, 1994

1954

San Francisco bishop was John Joseph Mitty (1935-1961).

1955

Vicariate Apostolic of Alaska
/Fairbanks bishop was Francis Doyle Gleeson, s.j. (1948-1968).

1957

Seattle archbishop was Thomas Arthur Connolly (1950-1975).

1958

Vicariate Apostolic of Alaska.

1959

Fairbanks was elevated to a diocese Aug. 8, 1962.

Holy Cross

• McMeel was accused in a 2006 lawsuit, along with Jesuit Fr. Andrew Eordogh, of sexually abusing a Holy Cross boy when he was 4 to 7 years-old, beginning in 1967. His accuser said McMeel was the first to abuse him, then "handed him off" to Eordogh after he left Holy Cross to become the Jesuits' Superior Regular for Alaska.

Holy Cross had a school with 70-67 students.

Eordogh was a Jesuit from Hungary who worked in Alaska from the late 1960s through the early 1970s.

1966

Robert Louis Whelan, s.j. (1968-1985) succeeded Gleeson as Fairbanks
bishop.

Fall 1978

Great Falls bishop was Thomas Joseph Murphy (1978-1987).

Spring 1979

Ft. Wayne-South Bend bishop was William Edward McManus (1976-1985).

1979

Juneau bishop was Michael Hughes Kenny (1979-1995).

1979

Anthony Michael Milone replaced Murphy as bishop (1987-2006). Great Falls diocese's name was changed to Great Falls-Billings in February 1980.

St. Paul's Indian Mission had a school with 114-54 students.

A 2006 lawsuit claimed that McMeel was sent to Montana after they learned he had molested a child in Alaska.

Sources: Official Catholic Directory (New York: P.J. Kenedy and Sons, 1955-1995)

• Our Lady of the Snows Parish, Hooper Bay, Alaska: 1928-2003, Editors Note: This Article Is Indebted to a Considerable Extent to Writings by Father Louis L. Renner, S.J., Alaskan Shepherd, June-July 2003
• Excerpt from Bankruptcy Reorganization Documents for Fairbanks Diocese Jan. 25, 2010, p. 2
• 2 More Priests Face Sex Abuse Suits, By Mary Beth Smetzer, Fairbanks News-Miner [Alaska], February 9, 2006
• Diocese Researching Accusations about Former Hays Priest, By Larry Kline, Havre Daily News [Montana], February 10, 2006
• Lawsuit Alleges Sexual Abuse by Former Hays Priest, By Larry Kline lkline@havredailynews.com, Havre Daily News, February 10, 2006
• Friends, Family, Defend Late Priest Accused of Abuse, KBZK [Montana], February 21, 2006
• Friends, Family Say Accusations against Priest Hard to Believe, The Associated Press, carried in Independent Record [Montana], February 22, 2006
• Jesuit Abuse Settlement Aims to Heal, $50 Million: Religious Order's Head Says Church Failed Victims in Alaska, By Lisa Demer
Anchorage Daily News, November 20, 2007
• Deadline Looms in Jesuit Sex Abuse Lawsuit, By Travis Coleman, Great Falls Tribune, October 9, 2009
• Alaskana Catholica: A History of the Catholic Church in Alaska, By Louis L. Renner, s.j.

Priests in a Parish: We use the following convention to show a priest's place among the clergy of a parish: 1/2 means that he is the first priest listed in the Official Catholic Directory (usually the pastor) and that there is a total of two priests at the parish. The shorthand 3/4 means that the priest is listed third on a four-priest roster. See our sample page from the Directory.

Note: The Official Catholic Directory aims to report the whereabouts of Catholic priests in the United States on January 1 of the Directory's publication year. Our working assumption is that a priest listed in the Directory for a given year was at the same assignment for part of the previous year as well. However, Kenedy and Sons will sometimes accept updates well into the year of publication. Diocesan clergy records are rarely available to correct this information. The Directory is also sometimes misleading or wrong. We have tried to create an accurate assignment record, given the source materials and their limitations. Assignment records are a work in progress and we are always improving the records that we post. Please email us with new information and corrections.

This assignment record collates McMeel's career history as it is represented in the Official Catholic Directory with allegations as reported in the media. We make no representation regarding the truth of the allegation we report, and we remind our readers that the U.S. legal system presumes that a person accused of or charged with a crime is innocent until proven guilty. Similarly, individuals who may be defendants in civil actions are presumed not to be liable for such claims unless a plaintiff proves otherwise. Admissions of guilt or liability are not typically a part of civil or private settlements. For more information, see our posting policy.

This assignment record was last updated on May 11, 2014.