Assignment Record – Rev. Henry G. Hargreaves, s.j.

Summary of Case: A priest of the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus, Hargrave was ordained in 1947 and went on to spend the bulk of his lengthy priesthood in remote Alaskan villages. He was suspended from ministry in 2003 due to an allegation that he had made inappropriate sexual advance toward a 60-year-old woman. In a 2009 lawsuit Hargreaves was called a "serial child molester." He was accused of fondling a 6- or 7-year-old boy multiple times in 1956 in Nulato, Alaska, and of raping a 5- or 6-year-old boy in 1992 in the village of Numan Iqua. Hargreaves spent the last decade of his life at the Regis Jesuit Community in Spokane WA, working as a pastoral minister to native American communites. He died February 22, 2013.

Ordained: 1947
Died: Feb. 22, 2013


   

Start Stop Parish/Assignment Town/Accusations State/Country Position Notes

1947

San Francisco archbishop was John Joseph Mitty (1935-1961).

1948 Alma College Alma CA  

1948

Seattle bishop was Gerald Shaughnessy, s.m. (1933-1950).

1949 Manresa Hall Port Townsend WA Jesuit Tertianship  

1949

Vicariate Apostolic of Alaska bishop was Francis Doyle Gleeson, s.j. (1948-1968).

1952 Little Flower of Jesus Hooper Bay AK 2/2  
1949 1952   Scammon Bay, Chevak, Kashunak, Keyaluvik. AK   These were stations of Little Flower of Jesus in Hooper Bay.
1951 1964 Apostleship of Prayer Fairbanks AK Director  
1952 1953   Fairbanks AK   Indexed as at P.O. Box 1390, Fairbanks, AK. This was the bishop's residence. Hargreaves is not listed at previous or next assignment.
1952 1953 Curia for Matrimonial Cases Fairbanks AK Defensor Vinculi et Promotor Justitiae, Notarii  
1953 1956 Little Flower of Jesus Church Hooper Bay AK    
1953 1954   Scammon Bay, Chevak, Kashunak, Keyaluvik AK   These were stations of Little Flower of Jesus in Hooper Bay.
1954 1956   Scammon Bay AK   This was a station of Little Flower of Jesus in Hooper Bay.

1956

The Fairbanks diocese was established Aug. 8, 1962.

1965 Immaculate Conception

Bethel

• Hargreaves was accused in a 2009 lawsuit of fondling a 6 or 7-year-old boy multiple times in 1956 in Nulato.

AK 1/2, 1/3 Harvgreaves is noted to be "Very Rev." in the 1957-1963 Directories.
1956 1965   Aniak, Kalskag, Nyac, McGrath     These were stations of Immaculate Conception in Bethel.
1956 1963 Superior Regular and Pro-Vicar Fairbanks AK    
1956 1964 Bishop's Council Fairbanks AK    

1964

Gleeson was succeeded by Robert Louis Whelan, s.j. (1968-1985).

1969 Commission for Liturgy, Sacred Music and Sacred Art Fairbanks AK    
1965 1966 St. Michael's St. Michael AK 1/2  
1965 1966   Stebbins AK   This was a station of St. Michael's.
1966 1969 Our Lady of the Snows Nulato AK 1/1 Our Lady of the Snows had a school with 108-112 students.
      Koyukuk AK   This was a station of Our Lady of the Snows in Nulato.

1969

Anchorage archbishop was ohn Joseph Thomas Ryan (1966-1975).

 

1972 Jesuit Residence Anchorage AK  

Hargreaves is indexed in the 1970 through 1972 Directories as at Our Lady of the Snows in Nulato, but he is not listed as there in the Fairbanks diocesan pages.

Per the book, Alaskana Catholic: A History of the Catholic Church in Alaska, by Louis L. Renner, s.j., during 1969-1972 Hargreaves was in Anchorage on Birchwood St., in the Jesuit residence, ministering "to the social and apostolic needs of Native peoples living in, or coming and going through, Anchorage."

1972

Fairbanks diocese

1975 St. Joseph's Kotlik AK 1/1  
1972 1975   Emmonak AK   This was a mission of St. Joseph's in Kotlik.

1975

Oakland bishop was Floyd Lawrence Begin (1962-1977).

1976 Jesuit School of Theology Berkeley CA sabbatical  
1976 1980 St. Joseph's Kotlik AK 1/1  
1976 1980   Emmonak AK   This was a mission of St. Joseph's in Kotlik.

1980

Michael Joseph Kaniecki, s.j. replaced Whelan as Fairbanks bishop (1985-2000).

1987 Immaculate Conception Bethel AK 2/2, 1/1, 1/2

Assistant priest was Rev. Charles Bartles, s.j. 1986-1987.
An accusation against Bartles was revealed in the Fairbanks diocese's bankruptcy reorganization documents in 2010.
1980 1987 Our Lady of Guadalupe Russian Mission AK   This was a mission of Immaculate Conception in Bethel.
1980 1987 Immaculate Heart of Mary Marshall AK  

This was a mission of Immaculate Conception in Bethel.

Rev. Thomas R. Royce, s.j., who was Jesuit Provincial of the Oregon Province 1980-1986, testified in 2005 that there were "hell files" in the Provincial's office, which contained information about Jesuits that was “special,” “not public” and “not good.” Hargreave's file was among them.

1987 1988 Holy Family Newtok AK 1/1  
1988 1994 Sacred Heart

Emmonak

• Hargreaves was accused in a 2009 lawsuit of raping a 5 or 6-year-old boy in 1992 or so in Numan Iqua, a village formerly known as Sheldon Point. The lawsuit claimed that Hargreaves was a serial child molester.

AK 1/1 The 1993-1994 Directories show Sacred Heart to have had a CCD program with 90-110 students.
1994 1997 Our Lady of Perpetual Help Nightmute AK 1/1 Our Lady of Perpetual Help had a CCD program with 54-60 students.
1994 1997 St. Peter the Fisherman Toksook Bay AK 1/2 St. Peter's had a CCD program with 150-135 students.
1994 1997   Umkumute AK   This was a station of St. Peter the Fisherman in Toksook Bay.
1994 1997 St. Joseph's Tununak AK 1/1 St. Joseph's had a CCD program with 94-13 students.

1997

Donald Joseph Kettler succeeded Kaniecki (2002-).

2003 Bro. Joe Prince Jesuit Community

St. Mary's

 

AK   Hargreaves did pastoral ministry in Bethel.
1998 2003 Immaculate Conception

Bethel

• Hargreaves was accused of making "inappropriate advances" on a 60- year-old woman in April 2003.

AK assistant pastor

This assignment is per news reports.

Hargreave was suspended from ministry and was to be sent for medical and psychological testing, per diocesan officials in May 2003.

2003 2004        

Hargreaves is not indexed in the 2004 Directory.

 

2004

Spokane bishop was William Stephen Skylstad (1990-2010), followed by Blase Joseph Cupch (2010-).

2013 Regis Jesuit Community Spokane WA Per Alaskana Catholic: A History of the Catholic Church in Alaska, by Louis L. Renner, s.j., Hargreaves ministered to Indian communities in northeastern Washington during this time. Hargreaves died Feb. 22, 2013.

 

Sources: Official Catholic Directory (New York: P.J. Kenedy and Sons, 1948-2012)

Bethel Priest Accused of Sexual Misconduct, Associated Press State & Local Wire, May 20, 2003
Our Lady of the Snows Parish, Hooper Bay, Alaska: 1928-2003, Editors Note: This Article Is Indebted to a Considerable Extent to Writings by Father Louis L. Renner, S.J., Alaskan Shepherd, June-July 2003
Fairbanks Bishop Issues Apology for Delta Priest, Associated Press State & Local Wire, August 6, 2003
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
43 More Allege Sex Abuse by Catholics, Church Leaders Are Accused of Negligent Supervision, By Lisa Demer, Anchorage Daily News, January 14, 2009
James Doe 59 et al v Society of Jesus, Oregon Province et al, Alaska Superior Court, 4th Judicial District at Bethel, Jan. 14, 2009
Priest Accused in Lawsuit of Sex Abuse in Alaska, Associated Press, carried in KGW, January 14, 2009
Lawsuit: Seattle U. President Knew of Abuse, By Heather Bosch, KIRO, January 14, 2009
Jesuit Head of Seattle U. Knew of Priest's Abuse, Lawsuit Claims, By Janet I. Tu and Nick Perry, Seattle Times, January 14, 2009
Update: Sundborg Named Defendant in Alleged Sexual Abuse Cover-Up, By Joshua Lynch, The Spectator, January 14, 2009
Seattle U. President Denies Claims That He Knew of Abuse, By Nick Perry and Janet I. Tu, Seattle Times, January 15, 2009
Good Jesuit, Bad Jesuit, Nov. 12, 2009
Racism in the Diocese of Fairbanks: If I Didn’t See It, Then It Didn’t Happen, Second Rape, November 17, 2009
Alakanuk - Saint Ignatius Catholic Church, Diocese Of Fairbanks
Emmonak - Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Diocese Of Fairbanks
Excerpt from Bankruptcy Reorganization Documents for Fairbanks Diocese, Jan. 25, 2010
• Alaskana Catholica: A History of the Catholic Church in Alaska, by Louis L. Renner, s.j., p. 243 , 244


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 and 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 Hargreaves' 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 Feb. 13, 2015.