AP Reports Jesuits Provided Housing to Alleged Sexual Abuser Priests on Gonzaga University Campus for Decades

For several decades, the Jesuit order used Gonzaga University’s campus to provide housing for priests who had been dismissed from actively serving in the priesthood. According to an report recently published by the Center for Investigative Reporting and republished by the Associated Press, the reason for the removal of these priests was often traced back to allegations of sexual abuse.

The report states that the Jesuit order’s Oregon Province sent at least 20 Jesuit priests who had been accused of sexual misconduct to the university, in most cases during the same time they were active in the order’s missions in isolated Alaska villages populated by indigenous people in addition to Indian reservations located in the northwestern U.S.

These priests were housed in a building located on the campus which is referred to as the “Cardinal Bea House,” situated on the Gonzaga campus but belonging to the Jesuit order itself instead of the university.

It is noted in the report that one of the most infamous abusers who came to live on campus had a strong supporter – one who is currently vice president of Gonzaga, Father Frank Case, who was then the head of the Jesuits’ Oregon Province. In 1989, Case penned a glowing letter of recommendation for the abuser priest’s appointment to a hospital chaplaincy position, mentioning that the…