Edward Thomas Burke
Ordained: 1956
Edward Thomas Burke was a Jesuit priest who taught for decades at high schools in the Bay Area. In 2000, he confessed to a superior of his religious order that he had been sexually abusing a developmentally disabled dishwasher at Sacred Heart Jesuit Center for five years. Sacred Heart was already home to a group of three Jesuits who were registered sex offenders after being convicted of sexual offenses involving minors. Following his confession, the Jesuits moved Burke to the Jesuit community at Santa Clara University. Burke’s victim and another developmentally disabled man who was sexually abused at Sacred Heart filed suit in 2001. In 2002, at the age of 80, Burke was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment and became a registered sex offender. After his incarceration, Burke returned to live at Sacred Heart Jesuit Center. He died there in 2009.
