Lawsuits claim sex abuse by priest at Brebeuf, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel schools

INDIANAPOLIS (IN)
Indianapolis Star

March 24, 2019

By John Tuohy

Three men have filed lawsuits alleging that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lafayette covered up sexual abuse by a priest at Brebeuf high school in Indianapolis and Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in the 1970s and 1980s, and clerical abuse watchdogs fear there could be many more victims.

The accusers, identified in court papers as John Does 1, 2 and 3, were 12 or 13 years old at the time and said they met Father James Grear at Mount Carmel, where he celebrated Mass.

One of the men claims he was violently assaulted in the gym at Mount Carmel during a youth rally. When he told a bishop in his home parish, he was cautioned not to report it and to ask for God’s forgiveness, the lawsuit said. The two other men said Grear while dean of students at Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School took them on trips, gave them gifts and molested them in his apartment across the street from the high school on 86th Street.

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