'Desolate Country': Abusive priests clustered at mission schools - ICT
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
New mapping project supports claims that abusers were sent to tribal communities
- Author: Mary Annette Pember
- Publish date: Oct 20, 2022
New mapping project supports claims that abusers were sent to tribal communities
Mary Annette Pember
ICT
Nearly half the Jesuit priests or brothers found to be credibly accused of sexual abuse in a 10-state region in the western United States spent time working in Indian schools and missions, according to a new database drawn from Catholic data on abuse.
The new database allows users to track how priests moved within the church and supports allegations that the church used rural tribal communities as dumping grounds for "problem priests," according to researchers Kathleen Holscher and Jack Downey, who compiled the data.
"It helps us visualize these clusters of abuse," said Holscher, an associate professor of religious studies and American studies at the University of New Mexico. "We created a database that let us track how each priest moved over the course of his career."
The database, "Desolate Country: Mapping Catholic Sex Abuse in Native America," provides public access to records dating back to 1950 of priests and brothers in the Jesuits West Province, which includes Arizona, Alaska, California, Hawai'i, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington.
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Holscher teamed up with Downey, associate professor of religion at the University of Rochester in New York, to map and analyze data that was released by the Jesuits West Province of the Society of Jesus after tens of millions of dollars were paid to more than 500 survivors of abuse. Many survivors are Indigenous.
Of the 97 priests accused of sexual misconduct who could be tracked through the system, 47 had allegations originating in Native missions, the researchers found. The 97 were among 112 Jesuit priests and brothers included on the list, but not all could be tracked.
"We realized that nearly half of the men on the list had accusations coming from reservation missions," Holscher said.
The analysis shows that abusive priests clustered at St. Mary's Catholic Mission School on Confederated Tribes lands in Omak, Washington. Sixteen men were included on the Jesuits' list who worked at St. Mary's, and at least 12 had accusations that corresponded with their time at St. Mary's, Holscher said.
The Jesuits West Province was formed after the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus joined with the California Province in 2017. The merger came after the Oregon Province filed for bankruptcy in 2009 and settled abuse claims in 2011.
Kathleen Holscher is an associate professor of religious studies and American studies at the University of New Mexico. (Photo courtesy Kathleen Holscher)
The new database, released in July after two years of work, provides a more comprehensive accounting than other databases, according to Downey and Holscher.
The Jesuit data provided an important link allowing the priests to be tracked by providing locations for each priest from ordination to death, unlike similar listings such as the ones on the Bishop Accountability.org website released for the entire U.S.
The researchers found anecdotal evidence that priests who never offended in White communities saw opportunities at Native missions.
"Some priests may have taken advantage of stereotypes about Native children as being more sexually available, as well as the lack of consequences at mission schools," Holscher said.
Jack Downey is an associate professor of religion at the University of Rochester in New York. (Photo courtesy of Jack Downey)
Downey described a racist notion among some priests that Indigenous children were inherently sinful and promiscuous. Indeed, Downey makes reference to a Catholic movement called Jansenism, which frames certain people as incapable of receiving God's grace.
Kate Sanchez, a citizen of the Colville Confederated Tribes and former student at St. Mary's, told ICT in an earlier interview that she noticed abusive priests targeted Native students who were placed at the mission by child welfare authorities.
"They picked on the ones whose parents weren't involved at the school," Sanchez said. "I think they figured that those of us in foster care were lost anyway. They seemed to know our families wouldn't say anything."
Sanchez, who took part in the class-action lawsuit against the Oregon Province, was placed at St. Mary's through the 1960s and 1970s by child welfare authorities. She was abused by one of the priests on the Jesuit West list and witnessed other priests abusing classmates.
Child abuse experts say perpetrators often target children from single-family or broken homes. Children without either parent present are 10 times more likely to be abused than children who live with their biological parents, according to the Children's Assessment Center of Houston.
The rates of child sexual abuse among Native people is hard to come by, but some researchers estimate that it could be as high on one in every two children, according to a report by Tucson Weekly.
And the U.S. Department of Justice estimates that Native people are 2.5 times more likely to experience sexual assault crimes than other groups.
Holscher and Downey hope to include other data sets of abusive priests in the database but have been frustrated by the lack of records among other Catholic orders. In most cases, researchers aren't allowed to see the personnel files of priests until 50 years after they have died.
"There is an almost complete lack of records from the last decade, which is when most of the accusations from the 1960s and 1970s came out," Holscher said.
Downey acknowledges that the database includes only a small amount of data available about sexually abusive priests, but she notes that it presents an important example of how mapping data can provide useful information for survivors, Native communities and the general public.
"This could present a means to get a sense of the scope of what happened at a particular place," Holsher said.
The researchers hope to secure funding and expand the project. Leaders at the Jesuit West Conference did not respond to emails from ICT requesting comment.
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Another ''cluster''
Northwest Jesuits in $166 million sex abuse settlement
the hierarchy of the catholic church that knew about their pedophile priests are just as guilty.
Yes they are because they are the ones that moved the pedophiles around to different Indian Schools and covered up their crimes with lies.
With the investigation by the Interior Department into ''Indian Boarding Schools'' a lot more of the horrific practices used against Native Americans will surface.
What a disturbing and bigoted belief. I had never heard of it before this article.
The Church should have just yanked these priests from all interactions with the public. Instead, they let them loose on children. They should be ashamed of themselves. This is a black mark on them.
Not only did they turn pedophiles on children but the hierarchy of the RCC lied about, covered it up, are still fighting against disclosing the truth of their horrible acts and trying to change laws or add new ones that prevent the victims from suing.
Morality is something that the RCC preaches but they themselves do not practice.
Plus they are great at hiding pedophile priests.
Report: Jesuits have been housing abusive priests at Gonzaga for years
the vatican has a centuries old history of running out the clock on scandals.
Yes, they do and continue to do.
“Morality is something that the RCC preaches but they themselves do not practice.”
A for profit business using guilt and intimidation to dupe the well meaning.
Abhorrent and actually evil in intent.
It's shocking how many sexual predators were hiding out within the Church. They really need to own this. I am surprised that the new pope is doing enough. He is from S. America where there are a lot of indigenous people.
Native children suffered even greater trauma when the US government turned many of the Indian Boarding Schools to the RCC to manage. Sexual abuse, physical abuse, renting children out as free labor to people and yes death, most never reported.
Do you mean ''not doing enough'' IMO he is not doing nearly enough.
The RCC will do whatever possible not to own it.
I remember when the scandal broke in the early 2000s (although there had been rumors for years), the Church's initial response was that they would handle it internally. Basically, they declared that they would take over the jobs of law enforcement and the courts, and punish those priests within the Church.
Absolutely unacceptable.
Yes, it is and what is worse is that law enforcement and other agencies that should have got involved ducked their responsibility just like the RCC or in a major case got a new law instituted that barred the victims from suing and of course that was South Dakota.
Yes, and called the police immediately.