SUBIACO (AR)
KNWA [Rogers AR]
February 9, 2026
By Reagan Wynn
A former Subiaco Academy student has filed a lawsuit alleging she was sexually abused as a minor by a Benedictine monk in 1978.
Subiaco Academy is a private Benedictine boarding and day school for boys in grades seven through 12 and is located near Paris in Logan County. Subiaco Academy is directly owned by and canonically part of Subiaco Abbey, the Benedictine monastery located on the same hilltop campus near Paris in Logan County.
The complaint, filed Jan. 30 in Logan County Circuit Court, names Brother Ephrem O’Bryan, O.S.B., along with Subiaco Abbey, Subiaco Academy, the Subiaco Foundation and the Catholic Diocese of Little Rock. Arkansas resident Brenda Bann is represented by attorney Andrew Myers of Myers & Woods Law Firm in Fayetteville.
Allegations of abuse
The lawsuit states Bann was scheduled for French tutoring with O’Bryan, who was an educator at Subiaco at the time. It alleges that during their first meeting, Bann was left alone with O’Bryan and sexually assaulted before the lesson began. She said she did not consent and resisted physically.
According to the complaint, Bann discontinued the lessons but continued to see O’Bryan at community gatherings. At the time, her mother worked in administration at Subiaco and her father as a handyman.
“O’Bryan engaged in unpermitted, harmful and offensive sexual contact with the plaintiff,” the lawsuit states.
Bann stopped attending lessons after the incident but still saw reportedly O’Bryan at community gatherings. The complaint said Bann’s parents both worked at Subiaco, her mother in administration and her father as a handyman, and she was raised in a devout Roman Catholic family.
Claims against the Abbey and affiliated institutions
The lawsuit accuses the Abbey, Academy, Foundation and Diocese of negligence, saying they failed to protect Bann, held O’Bryan out as safe to work with children and had responsibility for supervising him.
It also alleges the institutions concealed abuse, “hiding a pedophile and engaging in a cover-up.” The complaint claims the abuse was foreseeable and that O’Bryan acted maliciously or with reckless disregard.
Bann alleges she only fully recognized the effects of the abuse in Jan. 2024 and continues to experience emotional and physical harm.
Legal background
The lawsuit was filed just before the Jan. 31 deadline under the Justice for Vulnerable Victims of Sexual Abuse Act, a 2021 law that temporarily reopened a two-year window for survivors to bring civil claims that were previously barred by the statute of limitations.
That revival window, originally set from Feb. 1, 2022, to Jan. 31, 2024, was later extended to Jan. 31, 2026, by the legislature.
The law, which extended the time to file civil claims and raised the age limit for many child sexual abuse cases to 55, has been ruled unconstitutional by the Arkansas Court of Appeals, and a Pulaski County circuit judge reached a similar conclusion in the underlying case. The Arkansas Supreme Court has granted review, and the ultimate fate of the revival-window provisions is now pending before the high court
“The filing deadline under this challenged law was January 31, 2026, and is likely the reason for the timing of the current filing,” Subiaco Abbey said in a Feb. 9 statement.
The Abbey’s response
Subiaco Abbey confirmed Feb. 8 that it had recently learned of the lawsuit. The Abbey said O’Bryan has not been involved in public ministry or had access to minors for many years and suffered a stroke in 2018 “which has resulted in his having progressively debilitating physical and
cognitive deficits.”
On the Subiaco Academy Alumni Association’s website, O’Bryan is listed as a 1960 graduate and was reported in 2017 to be serving as the school’s public information coordinator after retiring from teaching.3 of 5 charged in Fort Smith 2025 shooting plead guilty, sentenced
The Abbey stated that it has taken steps to prevent abuse, including full accreditation from Praesidium in Nov. 2025, which includes background checks, mandatory training and standards of conduct.
The Abbey declined further comment due to ongoing litigation.
“St. Benedict expected of us monks that we not only see Christ in all that we meet, but that we also treat each other with the reverence and dignity that Christ Himself would want of us,” the Abbey’s safety page on its website reads. “What a terrible indignity, what a grave offence, therefore, when human life—especially that of a child—is sexually or otherwise abused and dishonored.”
Anyone aware of suspected abuse or neglect of a minor is encouraged to contact the Arkansas State Police Crimes Against Children hotline at (800) 482-5964 or Subiaco Abbey’s Survivor Assistance Coordinator.