John Bollard (born 1965) is a former seminarian who filed a lawsuit in a federal United States court against the California Province of the

Society of Jesus , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

and four other defendants for

sexual harassment Sexual harassment is a type of harassment involving the use of explicit or implicit sexual overtones, including the unwelcome and inappropriate promises of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. Sexual harassment includes a range of actions fro ...

. In 1999, after a successful appeal, Bollard won the right to have his case heard in open court. The case never went to trial, being settled out of court for an undisclosed sum in 2000.

Biography

Born in

Indio, California Indio (Spanish language, Spanish for "Indian") is a city in Riverside County, California, Riverside County, California, United States, in the Coachella Valley of Southern California's Colorado Desert region. It lies east of Palm Springs, Califo ...

, Bollard was raised in nearby

Bakersfield Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...

. He attended Catholic schools through elementary and high school, entering St. John’s Seminary of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles immediately after. After spending two years in the seminary, Bollard left, returning to Bakersfield to complete his Bachelor of Philosophy degree at California State University. Following his undergraduate work, Bollard resumed his path to priesthood, joining the Society of Jesus in the California Province of the

Jesuit Order , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders = ...

. During this stint, he traveled and worked around the world, giving retreats in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, consulting in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

and working with activists in war-torn

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

. He also worked in an East Los Angeles juvenile hall, a shelter for battered women and a convalescent hospital; four years of Bollard’s training were spent teaching philosophy and ethics at a Jesuit Preparatory School in Northern California. In 1994, he began his final stage of preparation for ordination by pursuing a Master's degrees in Theology and Education. Three years later, Bollard filed a lawsuit against the Jesuits, claiming rampant sexual harassment on the part of his superiors. The claim drew widespread local and national media attention, culminating in the form of a lead story on the CBS program

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique styl ...

. On the program, Bollard alleged that he repeatedly found himself on the deflecting end of one physical advance or another; even regularly receiving pornographic cards and notes signed by his mentors and teachers. Bollard now lives in Los Angeles, where he is a senior administrator at the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

, and continues his commitment to and involvement in the Catholic Church.

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20050318192537/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1141/is_8_36/ai_58435693 * http://altlaw.org/v1/cases/1580179 * http://openjurist.org/211/f3d/1331/john-bollard-v-the-california-province-of-the-society-of-jesus * http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003302387_seattleu13m.html * http://www.seattlepi.com/local/287783_seattleu06.html * http://attrition.org/misc/ee/religion.jesuits {{DEFAULTSORT:Bollard, John 1965 births 20th-century American Jesuits Living people St. John's Seminary (California) alumni People from Indio, California University of California, Los Angeles staff Catholics from California