Two Gonzaga University Vice Presidents Resign After Investigation Into Jesuit Sex Abuse
While Cardinal Bea House appears on Gonzaga campus maps and is listed in the campus directory, it’s not officially part of the private Jesuit university. CREDIT: GABRIEL HONGSDUSIT / REVEAL
Two Gonzaga University vice presidents have resigned amid fallout from their role in the Catholic order of Jesuits shuffling priests accused of sexual abuse.
The Jesuits, Frank Case and Pat Lee, served in leadership capacities at Gonzaga and both previously led the Jesuit order in the Northwest, formerly called the Oregon Province. Frank Case was also the chaplain of the Gonzaga men’s basketball team, often sitting on their bench at games. As head of the Oregon Province, Case once endorsed a serial sexually abusive priest, Jim Poole, for a position at a Catholic hospital in Tacoma. Case has said he was unaware at the time of the numerous allegations against Poole.
The resignations follow reporting this week by NWPB correspondent Emily Schwing with the program Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting that shows how for decades Jesuits accused of sexual abuse were moved around Northwest and Alaska Native communities, and sent to a Jesuit-owned retirement community on Gonzaga’s campus called Cardinal Bea House. The reporting showed that at least 20 Jesuits had been sent to retire on the campus. Gonzaga president Thayne McCulloh said after the reporting came out that the university does not make decisions about who lives in the house. But he informed the university community about when he knew of accused Jesuits and “safety plans” they were on while living there.
“It is important for me to share with you, that in the years following the 2011 Oregon Province bankruptcy, I learned that there had been priests under supervised ‘safety plans’ living at the Jesuit retirement community (Bea House),” he wrote.
Reporting by Emily Schwing and Scott Leadingham.
This is a developing story and will be updated. [Copyright 2018 Northwest Public Broadcasting]
