Two Catholic Jesuit priests with ties to the Chicago area have been named in a list published Friday of ministry leaders with credible allegations of sexual abuse, some of which are decades old.
The list was published Friday by the Jesuits U.S. Central and Southern Province, which is based in St. Louis and covers 13 states, Puerto Rico and Belize. The list includes 42 priests who had at least one credible claim of sexual abuse that involved a child or vulnerable adult.
Most of the men on the list are dead and others are no longer Jesuits. The province says four still are members of the province but are not active in ministry and live in supervised housing.
At least two of the men named in Friday’s list had previously been under the jurisdiction of the Chicago Province of the Jesuits, which last year became the Midwest Province. Two others were assigned to Marquette University in Milwaukee.
One sexual abuse allegation dating back to the 1960s was made against the Rev. James A. Condon, who had extensive ties to Chicago. Condon was a priest and teacher at St. Ignatius College Prep for 24 years, according to an obituary published in the Tribune. He also had worked at Loyola Academy at the time when the school moved from Chicago to Wilmette.
Condon also had been involved during the early 1960s in a summer program called “Catholic Action” that an estimated 3,000 high school students in Chicago attended, according to the obituary.
The U.S. Central and Southern Province’s website did not specify where priests were assigned at the time of the abuse allegations. Condon, who had been a priest since 1939 and died in 1993 at age 86, also served as a pastor at the Queen’s Work in St. Louis, according to the website.
In a statement, St. Ignatius College Prep said the school has never received any allegations regarding Condon during his time as a priest and teacher there. Loyola Academy did not respond to requests for comment Friday.
Bernard P. Knoth, who left priesthood in 2009, also was named in the list published Friday. Knoth became a priest in 1977 and was removed from ministry in 2003 by the Chicago Province, now the Midwest Province, according to the Central and Southern Province’s website.
Knoth at one point had worked at Loyola University Chicago, The Associated Press previously reported. He had been the president of Loyola University in New Orleans but resigned in 2003 when the allegation of sexual abuse first surfaced. The allegation, which dates back to the 1980s, involved a student at a Jesuit school in Indianapolis, the Indianapolis Star reported.
The Midwest Province, which is based in Chicago and covers much of Illinois outside the St. Louis area and 11 other states, is expected to announce a list of credible allegations Dec. 17, according to a statement from the Midwest Province.
A province that covers several Western states, Jesuits West, released a similar list of 111 men credibly accused of misconduct Friday.
The Associated Press contributed.
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