{"id":658579,"date":"2018-12-19T07:00:43","date_gmt":"2018-12-19T14:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=658579"},"modified":"2018-12-19T10:59:55","modified_gmt":"2018-12-19T17:59:55","slug":"priests-abused-people-in-native-villages-for-years-then-retired-on-college-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/12\/priests-abused-people-in-native-villages-for-years-then-retired-on-college-campus\/","title":{"rendered":"Priests abused people in Native villages for years, then retired on college campus"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"On the surface, Father James Poole seemed like the cool priest in Nome, Alaska. He founded a Catholic mission radio station that broadcast his Jesuit sermons alongside contemporary pop hits. A 1978 story<\/a> in People magazine called Poole \u201cWestern Alaska\u2019s Hippest DJ \u2026 Comin\u2019 at Ya with Rock\u2019n\u2019Roll \u2019n\u2019 Religion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Behind the radio station\u2019s closed doors, Poole was a serial sexual predator. He abused at least 20 women and girls, according to court documents. At least one was 6 years old. One Alaska Native woman says he impregnated her when she was 16, then forced her to get an abortion and blame her father for raping her. Her father went to prison.<\/p>\n

Like so many other Catholic priests around the country, Poole\u2019s inappropriate conduct with young girls was well-known to his superiors. A Jesuit supervisor once warned a church official that Poole \u201chas a fixation on sex; an obsession; some sort of mental aberration that makes him see sex everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the last chapter in his story reveals a new twist in the Catholic abuse scandal: Poole was sent to live out his retirement years on Gonzaga University\u2019s campus in Spokane, Washington.<\/p>\n