Saint Ignatius High School's president said in a letter today to alumni that Father Frank Canfield, a former campus minister at the Cleveland Jesuit private school from 2006 to 2014, allegedly sexually abused a former student, allegations which were found "credible" by an investigation from the Midwest Province Jesuits, which sponsors St. Ignatius.
Canfield, who died in May 2023, was also accused of sexual abuse in 2022, abuse that allegedly occurred in 2000 at Saint John’s Jesuit High School in Toledo. According to a press release sent Friday, when that claim was deemed "credible" by a similar investigation, Saint Ignatius President Reverend Raymond P. Guiao "proactively" reached out to alumni at Saint Ignatius, prompting a former student to come forward in December 2023. The abuse allegedly occurred during the 2011-2012 school year. Guiao encouraged any other potential survivors of abuse to come forward and speak to him or law enforcement.
"The safety and well-being of our students are among our highest priorities and most sacred obligations, and we are deeply saddened to learn of sexual abuse that occurred at Saint Ignatius High School," Guiao wrote. "We cooperated with investigators with full transparency. I reached out to the individual involved to offer him pastoral counsel and to express my most sincere apologies on behalf of the school."
He added that the school is working to examine and bolster the "many safeguards we have in place to prevent sexual abuse" at Saint Ignatius.
"We maintain some of the strictest background checks in the country, conduct comprehensive annual training, have established a zero-tolerance policy for any type of abusive behavior, and offer a mobile phone app that empowers students to report an incident while protecting their confidentiality and anonymity," he wrote. "We believe that these current safeguards are both appropriate and effective."
The school said in the press release that it had sent Guiao's letter to all alumni who attended from the 2007 to 2017 time frame.
