Danvers School Abuse Cases Likely Higher: Attorney

DANVERS, MA — The number of students abused at St. John's Prep in Danvers and the other four Massachusetts schools run by the Xaverian Brothers is "likely to be in the hundreds" and the order mishandled its review of abuse allegations against its members, according to the lead counsel in the abuse cases against the Boston Archdiocese. Writing in an opinion piece in The Boston Globe, Eric MacLeish says if the Xaverian Brothers wanted to truly be transparent, it would have sent a letter to "alumni inviting them to report any instance of child abuse to a truly independent investigator."

Last week, Xaverian Brothers released the names of 34 priests alleged to have sexually abused children in St. John’s Preparatory School in Danvers, Xaverian Brothers High School in Westwood, St. John’s High School in Shrewsbury, and Malden Catholic High School. Those "credible allegations of abuse" against 34 current, former and deceased members of the Xaverian Brothers dated back to the early 1900s and included at least six victims at St. John's Preparatory School in Danvers.

"Indeed, because victims were not asked to contact the Xaverian investigator, there is no indication of how many children these predators molested," MacLeish wrote in Thursday's editions of the newspaper. "But the number is likely to be in the hundreds."

For more on this story, see The Boston Globe.