ARTICLES

Jerry's Children

A look Inside the Jesuits World

Maria Elena Kennedy

Father Jerold Lindner, or Father Jerry, is a priest of the California Province of the Society of Jesus. In addition to molesting his own nieces and nephews, Father Jerry molested his own sister, according to her account. But because Father Jerry was visiting his family members when he molested their children, they could not sue the California Province as many others have done. According to Walnut Creek attorney Mike Meadows, whose investigator interviewed Father Jerry's brother, Larry Lindner, the California Province of the Society of Jesus ignored Larry Lindner when he told the Jesuits that his brother had molested his children. Instead, Father Jerry's Jesuit superiors sought to appease Larry Lindner and at times, sought to avoid him. To date, Father Jerry is still with the Society of Jesus, and they are paying "his room and board" according to Meadows' investigator.

According to Larry Linder, in the summer of 1984, he caught Father Jerry molesting his 8-year-old daughter. In the investigator's interview notes, Larry Linder recounts how his brother was playing "tickle" with his daughter thinking that no one knew what he was doing. "I could hear some conversation about playing the tickle game. I was sitting there, watching them play and I began to really watch how they were playing. They were just tickling. Then they started playing 'blankie' and he would lie on the floor, on his back, and she would then lie on top of him, as his blanket. He would grab her and roll her on top of him, and then rub her up and down his body. All of a sudden I sat that he had an erection." After Larry Lindner saw this, he told his daughter to leave the room, confronted his brother, and told him to leave. Father Jerrry was supposed to have stayed for dinner so when the children asked where he was, Larry Linder told them that Uncle Jerry had been doing "things to their sister that no adult should do to a child." After this, two of the other children told him that Father Jerry "had kissed them by holding their face real hard, and sticks his tongue in our mouth." The son then recounted his own tale of abuse at the hands of Father Jerry.

At a 1979 family reunion in Arizona, prompted by the looming death of Lindner's father, Father Jerry shared a bed with his nephew, who was eleven years old at the time. Linder's son told them that Father Jerry had sexually molested him every night during the family reunion. In his 1998 interview with the investigator, Larry Linder said that this "made a lot of sense because every morning I would find my son curled up in a ball with the girls." Lindner said that when he asked his son why he would sleep with the girls, he would simply say, "because." In spite of this, Lindner's mother insisted that son continue to sleep with Father Jerry, in spite of the fact that the boy did not want to go to bed at night. While recounting the abuse to his family, the son told them that Father Jerry orally copulated him and sodomized him. When Lindner asked his son why he never told anyone about this, he told his father "because he was your brother." At the time, Father Jerry was working at Loyola High School in Los Angeles. On the advice of a priest friend, Larry Lindner called the father rector, whose name he does not recall, and told him the story of Father Jerry molesting his children. According to Larry Lindner, the father rector told him, "Oh my God, the handwriting has been on the wall, and all of us have been oblivious to this. Your brother has been involved in nineteen different activities or clubs with kids. It's basically the same boys that belong to all of them." Larry Lindner said that when his brother would bring his Loyola High School students over to his house, they appeared to be homosexual. "They belonged to these groups: From the Boy Scouts to the science fiction groups to the chess club and a La Renaissance club -- Jerry ran all of these clubs." Larry Linder was then told to call the provincial in Los Gatos. At the time, the provincial was Father Paul Belcher, who died in a 2001 accident. When Linder called Father Belcher, he told him that Father Jerry was there sitting in his office. Belcher told Lindner that Father Jerry had been relived of his priestly duties, "he couldn't marry or bury," Larry Lindner was told. Belcher then told Lindner that his brother would be sent off for evaluation. During the conversation, Belcher repeatedly asked Lindner "what I wanted out of this." Lindner told him that he wanted help for his brother. Belcher told him that it was a tragedy for the children and asked if Lindner wanted help with therapy bills. A week later, Lindner called Belcher who did not take his call -- and was put on hold "for a long time." A receptionist took his number but Belcher did not return his call. Several days later, Lindner again called the provincial's office and was again put on hold. Lindner hung up but decided to call again. A third call was placed, and he was put through to Belcher who told him that he would have to talk to his brother to get any information. A year later, Lindner and his wife met a Jesuit priest who helped them locate Father Jerry.

Larry Lindner said that Father Jerry had been rejected twice by the Jesuits when he first applied. "He failed something on the psychiatric exam." It was only after Father Jerry's mother appealed the decision and filed a complaint, that the Jesuits allowed Father Jerry to enter the order in 1968. When Larry Lindner first confronted his brother about molesting his children, his mother and family said that he was "ruining Jerry's life." Larry has been estranged from his mother for years because of what happened. After years of not talking with his family, Linder says, "a couple of years ago, my younger sister called me and told me that the family had been persecuting the wrong person. My sister told me that Jerry had molested her when she was a young girl." And allegedly Father Jerry had molested his sister's children as well.

When asked where his brother is now, Lindner said that he did not know. He said that according to their sister, the Jesuit order gives Father Jerry "a thousand dollars per month." Father Jerry then sends their mother "four or five hundred per month."

Another case involved a young girl by the name of Debbie who belonged to the Bay Area chapter of the Christian Family Movement, a lay organization. Debbie was eight years old when she says she was first molested by Father Jerry who was a frequent visitor to her family's home in the mid-70s. "I was a really good Catholic kid, I really didn't know about sexuality back then. All I remember about myself that I was very sensitive and very spiritual." Debbie recounted how Father Jerry would tuck her and her siblings into bed after an evening with the family. Debbie said that Father Jerry would play "tickle and blankie" with them during the evening. "He would bounce kids up and down on his lap." One particularly harrowing event for Debbie was when Father Jerry found her in the basement, grabbed her and pinned her on a bed. While he was on top of her, he started to kiss her. After this, Debbie hid in the bathroom until her parents ordered her to come out.

Father Jerry wrote to Debbie for years afterwards. Some of the letters she read aloud in an interview with the Faith were signed, "Love," "You are special to me," and "hugs." Debbie said that she has not seen Father Jerry for many years and he moved on when she was about 12 years old.

Bart and William Lynch were brothers, who where four and eight respectively. They also where involved with the Christian Family Movement. According to a 1998 Counterpunch article written by Alexander Cockburn, Father Jerry molested the boys while on a camping trip. William Lynch said that Father Jerry "forced my brother and me to have sexual contact while he was sodomizing me." One of the boys remembers "blood in my pants and Father Jerry burying them in the woods." Debbie said that she was on the camping trips with the Lynch brothers and wondering why he would take them into the woods alone. The Jesuits settled with the Lynch brothers for a "handsome sum" according to their Walnut Creek attorney, Mike Meadows.

Father Jerry's niece is now married with five children. Larry Lindner's wife said that she wanted to write a letter to Cardinal Roger Mahony of the Los Angeles Archdiocese to tell him that her children are still being victimized by Father Jerry.

Father Jerry now lives at the Jesuit Novitiate in Culver City, working as an ESL consultant. According to the Jesuit provincial, Father Thomas Smolich, Father Jerry has a "well supervised ministry and has nothing to do with minors." According to sources familiar with the Jesuits, there is little supervision in Jesuit houses. According to this source, Father Jerry was moved out of Loyola High School "about a year ago."

Father Smolich said that he believed that Larry Lindner told the authorities about Father Jerry's actions and that the Counterpunch story had made that story public "several years ago." When told this, Larry Lindner angrily denied notifying law enforcement -- in spite of the fact that he was an LAPD officer at the time. Larry Lindner said that he always regrets not arresting his brother when he caught him molesting his children. "Instead of going to the Jesuits, I should have gone to the Exploited Child Unit," he said.

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