Robert Louis Whelan

Robert Louis Whelan SJ (April 16, 1912 – September 15, 2001) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church.

After completing his two-year novitiate training, Whelan went to Mount St. Michael Seminary in Spokane for three years of philosophy studies.

[2] After professing religious vows as a Jesuit, Whelan was ordained a priest for the Society of Jesus in San Francisco on June 17, 1944, by Archbishop John J. Mitty.

[2] On July 10, 1946, Whelan began his first assignment as pastor at Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Juneau in what was then the Territory of Alaska.

[2] In 1969, Whelan granted the request for Joseph Lundowski, a lay volunteer, to officially distribute communion at St. Michaels Parish in a remote Alaskan village.

In 1964, Vicar General Father John E. Gurr had received a letter from a priest that complained that Lundowski was sexually abusing boys in his parish.

[2] After his health began to fail, Whelan moved back to Spokane to the Regis Jesuit Community at Gonzaga University.