This week Emily Schwing from the Northwest News Network reported on allegations that a now-deceased Jesuit priest, Father James Poole, molested several Native girls and young women while in ministry in Alaska. She also reported that Poole and other priests accused of sexual abuse were moved around the region to new parishes without any notification to the patrons in the churches they served. Further, she reports the Jesuits assigned older priests with sordid pasts to a retirement house near the Gonzaga campus.
Click on the box to hear her tell Doug Nadvornick about reporting her story.
Though Gonzaga wouldn’t talk to Emily for her story, the university responded Monday night with a statement from President Thayne McCulloh. He wrote that he felt sorrow and anger when he heard about the actions of priests such as James Poole and that Jesuit leaders didn’t tell Gonzaga before assigning retired priests to the Cardinal Bea House on campus.
You can read and hear Emily’s stories here.