Rev. James E. Poole, S.J.-Assignment

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