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Priest accused of sexual abuse
Former Loyola Jesuit was professor, author and counselor
Steven Kent
Issue date: 12/4/08 Section: News
As a Jesuit and a professor at Loyola University Chicago, the Rev. John Powell, S.J., built a reputation as a popular teacher and a best-selling religious author - and all of it was called into question again last month as he faced his third sexual abuse lawsuit since 2003.
The civil lawsuit, filed Nov. 6 by the plaintiff "Jane Doe 125," who has chosen to remain anonymous to the public, claimed that Powell held "private counseling sessions" with her during a religious retreat in 1967. During these sessions, said the official complaint, he forced her to kiss him and required her to remove her school u-niform so that he could fondle her.
The lawsuit also named the Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus, or the Jesuits, as a defendant on counts of negligence and fraud, and stated that the Jesuits knew about Powell's pedophilic tendencies before the alleged incident and failed to act on that knowledge.
Powell, 83, now retired in Michigan, worked as a professor of theology at Loyola from 1965 until his retirement in 1996. During that time, he held spiritual retreats and wrote popular books such as Fully Human, Fully Alive, inspirational self-help manuals that blended pop psychology with Catholic theology and established him as "one of the best-selling spiritual authors of our time," according to Publishers Weekly.
"This guy sells books about sexually intimate relationships, and the Jesuits make millions off of them, and it's a fraud, a complete fraud," said attorney Marc Pearlman, who represents the anonymous plaintiff for the law firm Kerns, Frost and Pearlman. "The guy was sexually abusing his students and people who came to him for counseling."
He also, according to a number of accusers, used his position as a counselor and professor to abuse young girls. Throughout the years he was assigned to Loyola University, the lawsuit said, Powell held spiritual retreats that brought him into contact with minor children. It was during one of these retreats, held at Rosarian Academy in West Palm Beach, Fla., that he sexually abused the plaintiff, according to the lawsuit. She was "approximately 16 or 17," the suit said.
The civil lawsuit, filed Nov. 6 by the plaintiff "Jane Doe 125," who has chosen to remain anonymous to the public, claimed that Powell held "private counseling sessions" with her during a religious retreat in 1967. During these sessions, said the official complaint, he forced her to kiss him and required her to remove her school u-niform so that he could fondle her.
The lawsuit also named the Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus, or the Jesuits, as a defendant on counts of negligence and fraud, and stated that the Jesuits knew about Powell's pedophilic tendencies before the alleged incident and failed to act on that knowledge.
Powell, 83, now retired in Michigan, worked as a professor of theology at Loyola from 1965 until his retirement in 1996. During that time, he held spiritual retreats and wrote popular books such as Fully Human, Fully Alive, inspirational self-help manuals that blended pop psychology with Catholic theology and established him as "one of the best-selling spiritual authors of our time," according to Publishers Weekly.
"This guy sells books about sexually intimate relationships, and the Jesuits make millions off of them, and it's a fraud, a complete fraud," said attorney Marc Pearlman, who represents the anonymous plaintiff for the law firm Kerns, Frost and Pearlman. "The guy was sexually abusing his students and people who came to him for counseling."
He also, according to a number of accusers, used his position as a counselor and professor to abuse young girls. Throughout the years he was assigned to Loyola University, the lawsuit said, Powell held spiritual retreats that brought him into contact with minor children. It was during one of these retreats, held at Rosarian Academy in West Palm Beach, Fla., that he sexually abused the plaintiff, according to the lawsuit. She was "approximately 16 or 17," the suit said.
Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 16
Steve Smith
posted 12/05/08 @ 6:59 AM CST
The religious orders seem to be a cult whereby those that sexually abuse are "taken care of" by the brotherhood. Save the brotherhood - but rape the children. (Continued…)
Survivor
Steve Smith
posted 12/05/08 @ 7:03 AM CST
The religious orders seem to be a cult whereby those that sexually abuse are "taken care of" by the brotherhood. Save the brotherhood - but rape the children. (Continued…)
SMP TURLISH
posted 12/05/08 @ 8:25 AM CST
Of course this is an absolutely horrific story but is there no possibility of invoking federal Trafficking statutes against Powell?
What about conspiracy charges if it can be proven that Jesuit leadership had any knowledge of his sexually abusive behavior?
Here is an individual without integrity, character or conscience. (Continued…)
tony
posted 12/05/08 @ 11:17 AM CST
That the Catholics turn a blind eye to these endless assaults speaks volumes about what religion does to the minds of those kneeling in the pews.
I have no middle man in my relationship with God. (Continued…)
Albino Luciani - MURDERED POPE
posted 12/05/08 @ 5:24 PM CST
www.bishop-accountability.org/abusetracker for daily verified & vetted coverage on the USCCB (Unremoved Sexual Criminal Cabal Bishops) & the Roman La Cosa Nostra Curia, who continue a scorched-earth, to the last laity dollar, of already multiple BILLIONS OF DIVERTED OFFETORY PLATE LAITY DONATIONS, in their CLEAR & PRESENT endangerment of hundreds of thousands of children, while aiding, abetting, enabling, perpetrating, racketeering, perjuring, obstructing justice, for thousands of hidden clergy pedophiles, with NO correction, no removal of many hundreds of GUILTY cardinals and bishops, & generally gross dereliction of duty, as well as wholesale FRAUD & EVIL. (Continued…)
Amos
posted 12/05/08 @ 5:51 PM CST
What I do not understand is why these sexual abuse crimes against those who have not attained their majority are not considered under the more generic and appropriate terminology of "Crimes Against Humanity?" Such crimes are not subject to criminal or civil statutes of limitation. (Continued…)
Andrew
posted 12/06/08 @ 1:11 AM CST
As far as the Jesuits taking sex abuse seriously, one poor example is Fr. Thomas Smolich (arguable now one of the top Jesuits in the USA) made a Jesuit permanently live in the same building as a Jesuit who allegedly sexually assaulted him, Br. (Continued…)
Robin
posted 12/06/08 @ 7:11 AM CST
Fr. Powell's books helped me tremendously during my high school and college years in the 1970's. The allegations against him do nothing to detract from the benefit I've received from my reading and reflection on his writings. (Continued…)
tilton60115
posted 12/06/08 @ 12:43 PM CST
Someone in YOUR family commits a crime, do you abandon them? Would Christ abandon him? Well, a religious order becomes family once you enter and all are called to be Christ-like. (Continued…)
Barbara
posted 12/07/08 @ 8:13 PM CST
I do not mean to diminish the horrible sex abuse, however does the media think ONLY Catholic priests (a small minority at that) are abusers? No rabbis, no ministers, no imams, no Mormons? People, please know this, the vast majority of priests are truly men of God. (Continued…)
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