SOUTH BEND (IN)
The Tribune
June 13, 2019
By Caleb Bauer
The Congregation of Holy Cross, the Catholic religious order that founded the University of Notre Dame and Holy Cross College, on Wednesday released a list of priests credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors.
One of those priests, John Fitzgerald, worked as the director of campus ministries at Notre Dame beginning in 1980.
The move comes during the same week that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops meets in Baltimore to consider instituting accountability for bishop misconduct amid calls for more transparency and further investigation.
The list names 14 Holy Cross priests and one seminarian, and was published along with a letter from the Rev. William Lies, the provincial superior of the U.S. province of the Congregation of Holy Cross. According to the congregation, the last incident of alleged abuse occurred in 1991.
“Over the last two decades, but particularly in the last year, we have all become more aware of the problem of sexual abuse of children within the Catholic Church and its mishandling,” Lies wrote. “I am profoundly sorry for the pain and suffering inflicted on anyone who has been abused or impacted in any way by the actions of any of our members.”
Who is on the list?
Of the 15 names on the list, 10 of the alleged abusers are dead and two have been removed from ministry. Three are no longer in the congregation, including Paul LeBrun, the former pastor at Little Flower Catholic Church in South Bend who currently is serving time in prison in Arizona for abusing minors.
Ten of the priests at some point were assigned in Indiana, though only three credible accusations came from survivors in Indiana, according to the Congregation of Holy Cross. Three of the accused priests were assigned to Notre Dame at some point during their careers.
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