Jesuit Priest Is Accused of Sex Abuse by 4 Women

Chicago Tribune
September 9, 2003

Four women filed suit Monday alleging that Rev. John Powell, a Jesuit priest and retired Loyola University Chicago professor, sexually abused them in the 1960s and early 1970s.

The suit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court, also alleges that Powell's religious order, the Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus, knew of the abuse but failed to take action.

Rev. Daniel Flaherty, a staff member at the province office, said he had not read the lawsuit, but the news came as "a shock and a surprise."

"The church was not aware of any complaints against Father Powell," said Flaherty, adding that Powell is ill and living in a nursing home outside Detroit. Patrice Regnier, 50, one of the plaintiffs, said Powell was a family friend who sexually abused her when she was 13. Regnier said he also abused her sister, another plaintiff who was older than 18 at the time, during his frequent visits to their Chicago home.