Louis Rogge

Photograph taken from https://www.bishop-accountability.org/accused/rogge-louis-p-1954/
NameLouis RoggeCarmelite
Date of BirthUnknown 
Date of Ordination1954 
Association with LUC1972-1984 
Position at LUCUnknown 
Date of incident, Location of Incident1974Athens, GA
 1996Joliet, IL
 1999Joliet, IL
Number of victims/accusationsAt least 3 victims 
Case statusConvicted, sentenced to 6 years probation1974
 Pleaded guilty, died before sentencing2006
Status of IndividualDeceased2007

Louis Rogge was a Carmelite priest from Chicago, who in the early 1970s traveled the United States on various assignments. He joined Loyola University Chicago officially in 1972, according to the 1981-1983 undergraduate course book. He was employed as an instructor in theology.[1] Rogge was charged with, and pleaded guilty to, child sexual abuse in Athens, Georgia in 1974. Rogge received a sentence of six years’ probation for his offenses.

Nonetheless he remained affiliated with Loyola University Chicago, staying on as a faculty member until 1984. After over a decade of work at Loyola, Rogge transferred to Rome, Italy where he worked in the administration of the Carmelite order. He returned to the United States in 1992, training to become a hospital chaplain. Between 1994 and 2002 he worked as a traveling Carmelite who ministered around the country upon invitation by local churches. During this time Rogge abused two fifteen-year-old boys in Joliet, Illinois, the location of his primary residence. He was charged with child sexual abuse and again plead guilty to these charges in 2006. He died before sentencing took place.

The Carmelite provincial of Chicago, John Welch, cited in a Herald News article on Rogge’s case, told reporters that Rogge worked at Loyola University Chicago from 1976 to 1984. In contrast, the undergraduate course books list Rogge as associated with Loyola since 1972.[2] That the university administration would have been unaware of one of their instructors pleading guilty to child sexual abuse charges seems unlikely, and it would be a grave oversight given that Rogge stayed with Loyola for a decade after pleading guilty to having sexually abused minors.


[1] “Loyola University Chicago: Undergraduate Studies Course Catalog, 1981-198 | Loyola University Chicago Digital Collections,” 394, accessed February 2, 2022, https://luc.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_8b8d7185-1bbf-411e-9402-7b3e28829848/.

[2] “Priest Accused of Molestation, by Patrick Ferrell, Herald News, December 22, 2006,” accessed October 22, 2021, https://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2006/11_12/2006_12_22_Ferrell_PriestAccused.htm.

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