SAN JOSE (CA)
Mercury-Register
By Mark Gomez and Joe Rodriguez
mgomez@mercurynews.commercurynews.com
Posted: 09/11/2012
In a remarkably open letter to alumni, the head of an elite school for boys in San Jose apologized to a graduate of the school who claims he was sexually molested on campus by a Jesuit brother four decades ago.
“There is nothing that we take more seriously than the protection of our students,” wrote the Rev. Paul Sheridan, president of Bellarmine College Preparatory. In an email to hundreds of graduates he called the victim’s story “credible.” Sheridan said he was alerting graduates due to “the responsibility of transparency initiated by my predecessors.”
His letter was followed by an official statement from the Jesuits main office in California. “We desire to further the healing of anyone harmed by a Jesuit of this Province.”
Both Sheridan’s letter and the religious orders statement name the victim and the alleged molester — Brother William Farrington, who supervised the students living on campus from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s. The molestation apparently did not come to light until recently when the former student decided to come forward. Farrington was removed from Bellarmine following a different allegation, although the school did not disclose when that complaint was made.
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