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Assignment Record – Rev. James E. Poole, S.J.

Summary of Case: An Oregon Province Jesuit priest ordained in 1953, Poole is been accused of sexually abusing girls in the 1960s and 1970s, particularly at St. Mary's Mission Boarding School in the Fairbanks diocese. The Jesuits transferred him from AK to Portland OR, where he is also accused of abusing a young girl. Another allegation emerged in 2013 that he sexually abused a young girl when he was a visiting priest in the Yakima WA diocese. Poole was known in 2013 to be living in a Spokane retirement facility for Jesuits.

Ordained: 1953

Start Stop Assignment Town/Accusations State Position Notes

1953

San Francisco archbishop was John Joseph Mitty (1935-1961).

1954 Alma College Los Gatos CA

This was the theologate of the California Province of the Society of Jesus. There were 45 priests, 79 scholastics, and 14 brothers.

1954

Seattle archbishop was Thomas Arthur Connolly (1950-1975).

1955 Seattle University Seattle WA  

 

1955 1956 Manresa Hall Port Townsend WA   Jesuit Tertianship

1956

Fairbanks bishop was Francis Doyle Gleeson, S.J. (1948-1968).

1959 St. Lawrence Mountain Village AK 1/1

 

1956 1959   Pilot Station AK   This was a station of St. Lawrence in Mountain Village.
1956 1959   Chukartulik AK   This was a station of St. Lawrence in Mountain Village.
1956 1959   Marshall AK   This was a station of St. Lawrence in Mountain Village.
1959 1964 St. Mary's Mission

St. Mary's

Said to have been removed as headmaster for behavior with young girls at St. Mary's.

AK

1/2

Poole was the Superior. Working under him were Rev. Lawrence Haffle, S.J. 1959-1961, Rev. Robert Corrigal, S.J. 1961-1963, and Rev. John Fox, S.J. 1963-1964.

St. Mary's had a grade school with 35-48 day students and 132-125 boarders, and a high school with 7-15 day students and 22-32 boarders.

It was revealed in the Fairbanks diocese's bankruptcy reorganization documents in 2010 that Corrigal and Fox each had at least one allegation of sexual abuse against them.

The 1965 Directory indexes Poole at Jesuit High School in Portland OR, and not at St. Mary's in AK. However he remains listed in the Fairbanks diocesan pages at St. Mary's. He is also listed in the Portland diocesan pages of the 1965 Directory at Jesuit High School.

1964

Portland archbishop was Edward Daniel Howard (1926-1966).

1965 Jesuit High School

Portland

A 2007 lawsuit names Poole as priest who molested a 7 or 8- year- old girl in Portland in 1964.

OR   Jesuit High School had 511 students, all male.
1965 1966

St. Patrick's

Barrow

In a 2006 lawsuit a woman accused Poole of sexually abusing her for eight years, beginning in 1965 when she was 6 years-old. Poole was her catechism teacher and family friend. She was the sixth woman to file suit.

AK 1/1  

1966

Robert Louis Whelan, S.J. replaced Gleeson as Fairbanks bishop (1948-1985).

1979 St. Joseph's

Nome

Accused of molesting a girl beginning when she was 10 years-old in 1978, and ending when she was 16 years-old. The Jesuits settled with her in 2005.

Another woman sued in 2005, alleging sexual abuse by Poole in 1968 or 1969, when she was 7 years- old. Hers was the fourth lawsuit against Poole, and there had been an out of court case against him.

The second woman to file suit, in June 2005, stated that Poole sexually abused her for 8 years, beginning when she was 12 years-old. Also, she alleged that he impregnated her when she was14, and Poole told her to abort the pregnancy and blame it on her father.

AK

1/2, 1/1

Working with Poole 1966-1967 was Rev. Andrew Eordogh, S.J. Rev. Harold J. Greif, S.J. is the second priest listed 1969-1979.

 

 


Eordogh
accused of sexual abuse of a young boy.

At least two people have alleged sexual abuse by Greif.

1970s

Yakima bishops in the 1970s were Cornelius Michael Power (1969-1974), Nicolas Eugene Walsh (1974-1976), and William Stephen Skylstad (1977-1990).

  Peter the Apostle Retreat House

Cowiche

Poole was accused in a 2013 lawsuit of the sexual abuse of a girl, ages 8-12, at St. Peter the Apostle retreat house in the 1970s.

WA   Per the Yakima diocese Poole was never assigned there, but he may have been a visiting priest. The lawsuit also names as abusers of this girl two other Jesuits, Rev. Frank Duffy and Rev. John Morse.
1966 1971 King Island Village   AK   This was a station and later a mission of St. Joseph's in Nome (first noted to be a mission in the 1971
Directory).
1966 1979 Little Diomede Island   AK   This was a station and later a mission of St. Joseph's in Nome (first noted to be a mission in the 1971
Directory
).
1966 1979 Teller   AK   This was a station and later a mission of St. Joseph's in Nome (first noted to be a mission in the 1971
Directory).

1979

Oakland bishop was John Stephen Cummins (1977-2003).

1980 Jesuit School of Theology Berkeley CA    

1980

Michael Joseph Kaniecki, S.J. replaced Whelan as Fairbanks bishop (1985-2000).

1988 St. Joseph's Nome AK

3/3, 2/2

Pastors were Rev. Paul B. Macke, S.J. 1980-1983, Rev. Thomas F. Carlin, S.J. 1983-1985, Rev. Joseph G. Stolz, S.J. 1985-1987, and Rev. Charles J. Peterson, S.J. 1987-1988. Priests in the second spot were Rev. Harold J. Greif, S.J. 1980-1983, then Poole 1983-1988.

 
1980 1987 KNOM Radio Nome

AK

 

 

Poole was the founder of this Catholic radio station.

According to the KNOM website, it's debut was in 1971. The website in March 2009 does not mention Poole.

1980 1988 Little Diomede Island   AK   This was a mission of St. Joseph's in Nome.
1980 1988 Teller   AK   This was a mission of St. Joseph's in Nome.
1987 1988 Unalakleet   AK   This was a mission of St. Joseph's in Nome.

1988

Seattle archbishop was Raymond Gerhadt Hunthausen (1975-1991).

1989 Bellarmine High School Tacoma WA In residence This was a coeducational Jesuit high school with 870 students.
1988 1989 St. Joseph's Hospital and Health Care Center Tacoma WA chaplain  
1989 1990         Poole is not indexed or listed in the diocesan pages of the 1990
Directory
.

1990

Hunthausen was replaced as archbishop by Thomas Joseph Murphy (1991-1997), followed by Alexander Joseph Brunett (1997-2010).

2003 Bellarmine High School Tacoma WA In residence This was a coeducational Jesuit high school with 920-998 students.
1990 2003 St. Joseph's Hospital and Health Care Center Tacoma WA chaplain  

2003

James Peter Sartain succeeded Brunett (2010-).

2014 Retired/Regis Community Spokane WA   Regis Community is a residence for Jesuits.


Sources: Official Catholic Directory (New York: Kenedy & Sons, 1954-2007).

Settlement Reached in Nome Priest Abuse Case, The Associated Press, carried in Anchorage Daily News,
March 2, 2005
New Abuse Suit Filed against Priest, NOME: Complainant was just 7 when alleged incident occurred at catechism class. By Lisa Demer, Anchorage Daily News, November 3, 2005
Judge Reinstates Civil Suit against Diocese, By Mary Beth Smetzer, Fairbanks News Miner [Alaska], April 29, 2006
Another Woman Alleges Abuse by Rev. James Poole, Associated Press, September 12, 2006
Jesuits Urged to Give Full Disclosure on Sex Abuse, By John Iwasaki, Seattle Post-Intelligencer [Spokane WA]
October 4, 2006
Jesuits Sued over Alleged Sex Abuse by Priests in Portland Area, Associated Press, carried in KATU, February 27, 2007
Alaska Priest Involved in Oregon Sexual Abuse Lawsuit, By Traci Holenport, KTUU, February 27, 2007
Two Jesuit Priests Named in $5 Million Sex-Abuse Suit, By Ashbel S. Green, OregonLive [Oregon], February 27, 2007
Woman Sues Jesuits of Oregon for $5 Million, By Joseph B. Frazier, KGW [Oregon], February 28, 2007
Two Priests Abused Beaverton Girl in '60s, Lawsuit Claims, Allegations - the Oregon-Based Jesuit Province Says It Will Investigate All Charges, By Ashbel S. Green, The Oregonian, February 28, 2007
Large Settlement Reached in Priest Abuse Cases, Associated Press, carried in KTUU, November 18, 2007
Jesuits Tentatively Settle Alaska Sex Abuse Cases, Priests - Accusers' Attorneys Confirm the Proposed Payout, a Record $50 Million, By Ashbel S. Green, The Oregonian, November 19, 2007
Jesuit Abuse Settlement Aims to Heal, $50 Million: Religious Order's Head Says Church Failed Victims in Alaska, By Lisa Demer, Anchorage Daily News, November 20, 2007
'Absolute Power', Decades of Abuse by Roman Catholic Priests and Volunteers Still Taint Eskimo Villagers in Rural Alaska, By Tony Hopfinger, Newsweek, January 14, 2008
She Sued a Catholic Priest for Justice, By Tim Giago, Native American Times, March 3, 2008
Sex Abuse Lawsuit against Jesuits Settled, By Associated Press, KGW, August 14, 2008
Deadline Approaching for Victims of Fairbanks Diocese Abuse, By Jill Burke, KTUU, November 19, 2008
Videos and Letters Expose the Bishop of Fairbanks' Dirty Fingerprints. He Knew Kids Were Being Raped and He Covered It Up, Or: Father Jim Poole, the Great Lover of the World (His Words, Not Mine), Second Rape: The Diocese of Fairbanks and Sexual Abuse, secondrape.wordpress.com, November 12, 2009
The Jesuit Stories behind the Bankruptcy of the Oregon Province, Good Jesuit, Bad Jesuit, November 12, 2009
Woman Alleges She Was Abused by Three Priests at St. Joseph in '70s, By Jane Gargas, Yakima Herald Republic, March 27, 2013
Yakima Catholic Diocese Settling 2 Abuse Lawsuits, By Jane Gargas, Yakima Herald-Republic, February 21, 2014


Priests in a Parish: We use the following convention to show a priest's place among the clergy of a parish: 1/2 means that he is the first priest listed in the Official Catholic Directory (usually the pastor) and that there is a total of two priests at the parish. The shorthand 3/4 means that the priest is listed third on a four-priest roster. See our sample page from the Directory.

Note: The Official Catholic Directory aims to report the whereabouts of Catholic priests in the United States on January 1 of the Directory's publication year. Our working assumption is that a priest listed in the Directory for a given year was at the same assignment for part of the previous year as well. However, Kenedy & Sons will sometimes accept updates well into the year of publication. Diocesan clergy records are rarely available to correct this information. The Directory is also sometimes misleading or wrong. We have tried to create an accurate assignment record, given the source materials and their limitations. Assignment records are a work in progress and we are always improving the records that we post. Please email us with new information and corrections.


This assignment record collates Poole's career history as it is represented in the Official Catholic Directory with allegations as reported in the media. We make no representation regarding the truth of the allegation we report, and we remind our readers that the U.S. legal system presumes that a person accused of or charged with a crime is innocent until proven guilty. Similarly, individuals who may be defendants in civil actions are presumed not to be liable for such claims unless a plaintiff proves otherwise. Admissions of guilt or liability are not typically a part of civil or private settlements. For more information, see our posting policy.

This assignment record was last updated on Sept. 10, 2014

 
 

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