Jesuit High School of New Orleans recently made it into the news on account of old sex scandals coming to light. As an alumnus of the school, I have decided to opine on this topic. I hope my personal experience on the matter will be insightful. I am aware of possible bias, and I will try to speak fairly on the matter.
The scandal surrounds Richard Windmann, who was a young boy in the 1970s and wanted to play basketball after school. He wasn’t a Jesuit student, but former Jesuit High School janitor Peter Modica allowed him to play on the campus.
Modica continued to do favors for Windmann, such as frequently visiting him at his home and even buying him a bicycle. These things would be big red flags for us today, but it unfortunately fell under the radar back then.
Eventually, Modica brought Windmann to his maintenance office and forcibly performed oral sex on him. After a while of continued sexual abuse, it became evident Modica wasn’t the only one involved.
Windmann recalled one occasion in which Modica anally raped him in the Chapel of the North American Martyrs, which is part of the school’s campus. One layman walked into the chapel and, upon witnessing the assault, reportedly said, “Goddamn it, Pete,” and left without intervening.
Soon after, Jesuit Rev. Cornelius Carr, known around campus as Neil Carr, entered the chapel. He told Windmann to relax and began to masturbate to the scene. The men guilty of the crime and those who knew about it never spoke up.
Windmann decided to tell his parents after Modica threatened his mother. To his dismay, Windmann’s parents didn’t report the crime to the police. Instead, his father became unable to face him in person. His mother became sick and unable to work.
Windmann himself turned to drugs and alcohol. After surviving a suicide attempt, he managed to continue on and lived a more or less normal life, including a good job and a family.
But Windmann made a great point in an interview with The Advocate: not everyone in a similar situation ends up so well. Boys who have been sexually assaulted are ten times more likely to attempt suicide than those who haven’t.
There’s a huge problem with perpetrators, too. To begin with, there is always a dark figure of crime, which refers to unreported crimes. Rapes that go unreported are thus unpunished.
To further extend the problem, criminal justice is rarely so clean. According to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, 994 rapes out of every 1,000 go unpunished. The biggest drawback is reporting, as only 310 get reported in the first place. However, out of the 310, only 57 reports lead to an arrest.
We cannot discuss this topic without addressing the abundance of cover-ups in the Catholic Church. Priests frequently come under fire for sexual abuse scandals coming to light. The accounts of abuse almost always come out decades after the event, though.
The first time Windmann threatened to tell anyone about Modica’s behavior, the janitor reminded him people would sooner listen to a reputable order of priests rather than a young boy.
Today, Modica’s assumption would be ridiculous. Years of scandals have sullied the good name of the Church. People are critical and suspicious of priests. In the 1970s, however, the church had the clout to cover up their actions.
Two other Jesuit priests, Claude Ory and Donald Dickerson, had lawsuits filed against them around the same time for sexual abuse. None of the four men faced justice. Modica, Carr and Dickerson are deceased. Ory, however, is reportedly living in Maryland and is seemingly protected by fellow members of his order.
As it is run by the Jesuit order, Jesuit High does not have to follow all of the Archdiocese’s guidelines. As such, they are exempt from having to inform students and parents about settlements to lawsuits or accusations of abuse.
Because of their power of discretion, it’s hard to tell what’s true. However, rampant stories of sexual abuse in the late 20th century at the school are enough to cause us to take a critical eye.
Having met and gotten to know many of these priests for years, I am confident those teaching at Jesuit these days are honest and find the act of sexual abuse deplorable. The lay staff have also proven they are committed to the safety of students and are alert and ready to remove dangerous personnel.
The allegations coming to light should not tarnish the good name of the order and the school. On the other hand, they should be a call to prosecute offenders, even if they’re in a religious order. No one should be above the law, no matter what vows they have taken.
Justice isn’t easy to achieve. Sexual assault isn’t easy to talk about. Regardless, we have a duty to strive for justice for victims. Whether it means removing offenders from society or giving survivors the resources they need, a healthy society relies on us doing what we can to help one another.
Kyle Richoux is a 20-year-old sociology junior from LaPlace, Louisiana.
