The response is prompted by a sex abuse case, the first formal complaint
of such nature brought before the Society of Jesus in the Philippines. The Society of Jesus, which runs a network of prominent
Ateneo schools in the Philippines, sees a recently publicized sex abuse
case as a call to examine itself, especially its work of caring for
minors.
The sex abuse case involves a former Jesuit, now dead, who allegedly abused a Jesuit high school student named Lucas (not his real name) from 1984 to 1987. At the time, the alleged abuser was a Jesuit seminarian. Citing “institutional culpability,” Lucas wants the Society of Jesus, better known as the Jesuits, to pay him $16 million in damages. He also wants justice, making those in positions of power, who were allegedly complicit in the abuse, accountable.