St. Xavier High School Releases Names of Brothers It Says Sexually Abused Children

By Matthew Glowicki
Courier Journal
July 12, 2019

https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2019/07/12/st-xavier-releases-names-brothers-says-sexually-abused-kids/1719591001/

St. Xavier High School released a list of former brothers who it says sexually abused minors while either at the Louisville high school or at some point during their years of service.

Nine brothers appear on the list with "credible or established" acts of sexual abuse against youth, two of whom were assigned to St. X at the time of the abuse. Years spent at the high school are noted below.

Only Carbin and McCormack are noted as having credible allegations stemming from their time at St. X.

Brother "Ricardo" Albert Kerressey (1938-1942)

Brother "Francis Jerome" William Burns (1939-1940)

Brother "Alois" Donald O'Toole (1940-1941)

Brother "Brennan" John Devoe (1953-1960)

Brother "Bosco" Thomas Harrison (1956-1963)

Brother "Kentigern" William Carbin (1958-1962)*

Brother "Barton" George Gardiner (1959-1964)

Brother "Damian" John McMahon (1965-1974)

Brother "Pierre" James McCormack (1973-1984)*

Xaverian records show the allegations about McCormack come from the early 1980s and were reported in 1984. That year, he was "removed from ministry with adolescents" and withdrew from the order in 1987.

Allegations against Carbin surfaced in 2004 and 2011 regarding abuse in the early 1960s. He withdrew from the order in 1963, the year after his St. X assignment.

"The crisis of abuse in the Catholic Church requires ongoing response both to protect today's children and affirm, acknowledge and support past victims," St. X said in an email sent late Friday afternoon.

The news is part of a larger announcement by the Catholic Xaverian Brothers order, which on Friday released a list of current, former and deceased members dating back to the 1930s who sexually abused a minor.

"Recent revelations about sexual abuse of minors by priests and religious are leading the People of God to desire greater accountability from the leadership of the Church," the order said on its website. "We view this disclosure as part of our commitment now to preventing abuse and hope that it may assist survivors of abuse in their healing."

The organization also released a list of Xaverian Brothers who have a child sex abuse allegation against them that couldn't be fully investigated — perhaps due to a disclosure after the death of a brother or a lack of complete information about an alleged incident — "but for which there is a reasonable possibility (semblance of truth) that the alleged offense occurred."

Brother Pierre McCormick (Photo: 1981 St. Xavier High School yearbook)

That list, for those who worked at St. X, is:

Brother "Cosmas" Francis Dailey (1932, 1941)

Brother "Rudolph" Thomas Holihan (1934-1936)

Brother "Jerome" Leroy Lamont (1952-1957)

Brother "Remigius" Francis O'Lone (1952-1955)

Brother "Lucas" Charles Cummings (1967-1977)*

The allegation against Cummings stems from his time spent at St. X. The abuse allegation of a 1968 incident was reported in 2018, according to Xaverian Brothers.

According to an email sent by St. X, the list was created with the help of a retired FBI agent who reviewed decades of the order's records.

Xaverian Brothers' review board, "an independent board" of mostly lay professionals in psychology, law enforcement, canon law and human resources, evaluated accusations and investigations of those accusations to make a credibility judgement.

St. Xavier High School in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo: Thomas Novelly/Courier Journal)

A court conviction or admission of guilt by the brother would also made the allegation credible, the order notes.

The Baltimore-based Xaverian Brothers was founded in Belgium in 1839 with a focus on education and is still affiliated today with schools across the country

St. X, an all-male private, Catholic, high school, has been sponsored by the Xaverian Brothers since 1864. It is part of the Archdiocese of Louisville's network of high schools.

Reporter Matthew Glowicki can be reached at 502-582-4989 or mglowicki@courier-journal.com. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/mattg.