ANCHORAGE (AK)
Anchorage Daily News
December 26, 2018
By Kyle Hopkins
The Rev. Rene Astruc died a hero. Awarded a humanitarian prize by the governor and lionized in portraits and biographies, the French-born priest spent a lifetime celebrated as an advocate for Yup’ik culture.
What Alaskans didn’t know at the time of his death in 2002 is that Astruc also sexually abused teenage girls over three decades, according to a newly published list of 33 Jesuit priests and volunteers who face “credible claims” of crimes committed in Alaska. Created by Jesuits West, the Dec. 7 report puts names, places and dates to generations of sexual abuse inflicted by ordained priests, church volunteers and employees in 35 villages and cities across the state.
Many, like Father Astruc, worked in remote Alaska Native schools and orphanages with unfettered access to children.
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