Twas the week before Christmas…
The University of Scranton’s President, Scott R. Pilarz, S.J., has released a message on the University’s Website and in an email to the University Community regarding the Maryland Province releasing the names of Jesuits credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors. As Father Pilarz points out, four of the Jesuits named have been associated with the University of Scranton, and other Jesuit run schools within the Diocese. The statement of the Maryland Province may be found here.
All of these predators were included in the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report. Father Pilarz addressed one of these predators, Neil P.McLaughlin S.J. back in 2010. (I wrote about it eight years ago, almost to the day.) You can find McLaughlin’s record of assignments at this link: Bishop Accountability.com. McLaughlin falls off the earth with the Jesuits in 2010 in the Jesuit Directory. Perhaps they were hiding him?
Father Pilarz recommends that anyone who has been victimized by a Jesuit “contact the Victim Advocacy Coordinator at 443-370-6357 or at MARadvocacy@jesuits.org, and appropriate law-enforcement and child-protective agencies.”
I strongly recommend you forego notifying the “Victim Advocacy Coordinator.” They are not there to help victims, they are there to identify threats to the order. “Victim Advocacy Coordinator helped me get the help and support I needed,” said no victim of sexual crimes by Catholic priests ever! The VAC is there to start the initial risk assessment to the church, or religious order, and to begin the process of isolating and intimidating victims, their families and anyone that supports them. You can call me paranoid, but this has been my personal experience, and other survivors have told me the same story over and over again.
If you have been victimized by a Jesuit, call law enforcement, contact the district attorney’s office in the jurisdiction where the crimes took place. <<<<<Contact the PA Attorney General’s Hotline.
I have no reason, at this point, to believe that Father Pilarz is not sincere. After ten years of writing on this blog, I will tell you that the fastest way to come to a dead stop is to trust the church to do the right thing. (The truth is harsh at times.)
Report to civil authorities and find competent legal counsel who will look after you and your interests. The Catholic Church, its orders and its institutions, will undoubtedly be looking out for their own interests.
One final note on today’s blog. In good faith (there is that word again), I composed a letter to the President of the University of Scranton in November concerning his Task Force on Healing Reconciliation and Hope. I sent copies to the two University Professors who co-chair this Task Force. To date, I have not heard a word from either the President of the University or the Task Force acknowledging my correspondence. In his defense, Father Pilarz did have quite a few Alumni Christmas Events to attend all over the mid-Atlantic this holiday season.
You can read my letter to the President of the “U” here.
Off My Knees - A Blog by Michael Baumann 
Read an article that got me thinking about the Jesuits especially here in Portland. Thought I would share.
For the Greater Glory of God? Cheverus High School in Portland, Maine resembles Scranton Preparatory School where I grew up right down to the yellow and gold colors. Both schools are steeped in the rigorous scholarship. While I didn’t attend Scranton Prep, I graduated from the University of Scranton.
When the Jesuits published the names of credibly accussed priests, I knew several including some that had been guests at my home. Bill Nemitz illustrates this point in his article “Dangerous Times at Cheverus High.” Indeed the men of the class of 1979 when at least five known pedophiles had taught would have been easy targets. Back in the day, I was a target, too, but somehow avoided such a fate.
When the PA Grand Jury released the data on clergy abuse in the Catholic Church, I found the name which had been missing from the website Bishopaccountability.org. As the AG report states Houston and a minor, my sister ten years older, were seen leaving a motel late at night on several occasions as reported to Bishop McCormack. The AG’s common thread of crimes committed and then covered up spanned my years at Scranton from Joe Houston at St. Paul’s parish to Francis Kulig, my music teacher at Bishop Hannan High to classmate Al Liberatore the rising star of the Scranton Diocese, was found guilty of sexual assault for which the church paid a $3 million dollar settlement.
To the Alumni of Cheverus who found themselves reliving their trauma, I’m sorry. You aren’t alone whether you have shared your story or not. The simple truth is that places like Cheverus and Scranton Prep were used to house problem priests and more innocent lives were destroyed. The system failed and continues to fail. The Jesuit credo “To the greater glory of God” rings false.