 | Friday, May 18, 2012 |
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Background: News related to the church sex abuse scandal and the Spokane Diocese bankruptcy proceedings.
11/13/2008 | Former priest Patrick G. O'Donnell apologized again Wednesday, this time through his lawyer via a phone call in front of Spokane County Superior Court Judge Maryann Moreno, to the victims of his rampant sexual abuse.
6/7/2008 | Four of California's leading Roman Catholic bishops, including Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony, have taken the extraordinary step of urging a fellow bishop to cancel a monthlong tour of the United States to promote his book about clergy sexual abuse.
4/18/2008 | WASHINGTON – Pope Benedict XVI talked and prayed with a small group of victims of clergy sex abuse Thursday, the first publicly known meeting between a pontiff and victims since the most recent scandal erupted in Boston six years ago. 4/18/2008 | By bringing attention to the issue of child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church for a third time on his U.S. visit, Pope Benedict XVI has "indicated that this is a tragedy that can never happen again," the bishop of the Spokane Diocese said on Thursday.
3/8/2008 | NEW YORK – The number of sex abuse claims against Roman Catholic clergy dropped for the third consecutive year, but total payouts to victims nearly doubled to reach their highest level ever, according to a new report for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
1/27/2008 | LA CONNER, Wash. – In this idyllic town nestled near the Puget Sound and surrounded by tulip fields, residents of the Shelter Bay neighborhood are in an uproar: They have inherited a Spokane problem that has left them in disbelief. Patrick G. O'Donnell, a former priest in the Spokane Catholic Diocese and notorious pedophile who has admitted
12/29/2007 | Eastern Washington's Catholic community has raised most of the money needed to settle the clergy childhood sex abuse cases.
10/27/2007 | EVERETT, Wash. – Two people who say they were abused by Roman Catholic priests in the 1950s have settled their lawsuits with the Archdiocese of Seattle for a total of $380,000. 10/2/2007 | The Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane and its 82 parishes are sewing shut a devastating chapter for the Eastern Washington church.
9/28/2007 | Eastern Washington Catholics have donated $7 million of the $10 million parish pledge settling the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane bankruptcy. 9/20/2007 | Lawyers in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane bankruptcy case have agreed to shave about 5 percent from their legal bills, freeing up an extra $400,000 for payouts to clergy sex abuse victims. 9/10/2007 | Bankruptcy lawyers who have billed the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane more than $10 million want to fight about the legitimacy of their fees in secret. 9/8/2007 | SAN DIEGO – The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego on Friday announced a $198.1 million settlement with plaintiffs who said they were sexually abused by priests.
7/24/2007 | Bankruptcy lawyers and accounting professionals have billed the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane $10.1 million for 2 1/2 years of work.
6/15/2007 | Although it's not the regular vestment for Lutheran clergy, Bishop Martin Wells often wears a clerical collar. 6/13/2007 | A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge has denied a Spokesman-Review request for access to records detailing millions of dollars in upcoming payouts from a trust to victims. 5/23/2007 | A Catholic religious order that trained former priest Patrick O'Donnell can be sued by dozens of sexual abuse victims. 5/10/2007 | The Diocese of Spokane filed legal documents Wednesday in an attempt to block The Spokesman-Review from gaining public access to court records listing priest-abusers. 5/5/2007 | Extraordinary measures ordered to protect the identity of victims in the Catholic Diocese of Spokane bankruptcy have been undermined because of a technical gaffe. 5/5/2007 | Bishop William Skylstad released this statement Friday to The Spokesman-Review: 5/5/2007 | The public may never know how many Catholic priests sexually abused children in Eastern Washington.
4/25/2007 | A federal bankruptcy judge on Tuesday approved a $48 million plan that will free the Spokane Catholic Diocese from bankruptcy protection after two and a half years. 4/21/2007 | Parishes have been told to bring blank to be prepared to sign papers and pay license fees turning each congregation into a separate nonprofit corporation. 4/19/2007 | The clergy sex-abuse scandal in the Spokane Catholic Diocese will cost the church at least $50 million. The diocese has pledged $48 million to pay about 180 sex-abuse claims in bankruptcy court. 4/18/2007 | Every victim of clergy sex abuse involved in the Catholic Diocese of Spokane's bankruptcy and every one of its Catholic parishes has voted in favor of a $48 million settlement. 4/14/2007 | PORTLAND – The first bankruptcy of a Catholic diocese in the United States neared an end Friday as a judge said she would confirm a settlement that could reach $75 million for victims who claimed priests or other church officials sexually abused them. 4/14/2007 | Why do WE have to pay for this bankruptcy settlement?" some Spokane Catholics ask.Valid question as the Catholic Diocese of Spokane seeks from parishes $10 million towards its $48 million bankruptcy reorganization settlement. The simple answer: "If not we, then who?" For many it is not that simple.
3/27/2007 | A person raped by a priest as a child can receive a settlement of up to $1.5 million from the Catholic Diocese of Spokane, Bankruptcy Court records show.
2/24/2007 | Bankruptcy lawyers have overbilled the Catholic Diocese of Spokane, sometimes having multiple attorneys review the same documents and attend the same meetings and court hearings, according to the U.S. Trustee's Office.
1/26/2007 | A $48 million proposed settlement that would end the Catholic Diocese of Spokane bankruptcy doesn't go far enough to expose pedophile priests, a handful of victims said Thursday. 1/13/2007 | A former U.S. attorney from Seattle will be hired to scrutinize and put a price on about 140 sex-abuse claims in the Catholic Diocese of Spokane bankruptcy. 1/6/2007 | A $48 million settlement designed to pay victims of clergy sex abuse should help end the Catholic Diocese of Spokane bankruptcy this spring, a federal judge said Friday. 1/5/2007 | Spokane Catholics will be asked to participate in one of the largest fundraisers in their diocese's history: $10 million to pay lawyers and victims of priest sexual abuse.
11/24/2006 | SEATTLE – The Jesuit order in the Northwest has settled a lawsuit against the Rev. Michael Toulouse, a priest who taught at Seattle University from about 1950 to 1976, the year he died.
10/5/2006 | Spokane real estate developer Centennial Properties Inc. agreed to pay $2.05 million for the headquarters of the Catholic Diocese of Spokane.
9/30/2006 | SEATTLE – Another priest accused of child sexual abuse has been permanently removed from public ministry by the Vatican, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle said Friday. 9/28/2006 | A Gonzaga High School teacher went on to molest at least four more young boys after Jesuit leaders shipped the troubled priest to Seattle University in 1950, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle on Wednesday. 9/27/2006 |  A gun-wielding man walked onto the Gonzaga University campus one night in 1950 threatening to kill a Jesuit priest named Michael Toulouse. The university president and another priest stopped him before he could fire a shot at Toulouse for sexually assaulting his 14-year-old son, according to sworn statements filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle. 9/21/2006 | A federal bankruptcy judge on Wednesday granted a 30-day standstill in the Spokane Catholic Diocese bankruptcy case as attorneys try to build on mediation progress made last week in Reno, Nev. 9/17/2006 | There he was, lying on the floor of his Portland hotel room, unsure if he could muster the strength to dial 911. "I'm in trouble here, big trouble," attorney Shaun Cross remembers thinking. 9/16/2006 | RENO – Mediation to settle the Spokane Catholic Diocese bankruptcy was cut short this week without explanation. Teams of leaders and lawyers from the diocese and the Association of Parishes, and those representing victims of priest sex abuse negotiated into the evening on Thursday. 9/14/2006 | A final attempt to end the Spokane Catholic Diocese bankruptcy unfolds today in Reno, Nev. It is the third and last scheduled mediation with a federal judge. 9/9/2006 | In 1969, amid fresh allegations that the president of Gonzaga University had sexually abused young boys, the university, the Spokane Police Department and Jesuit hierarchy orchestrated a stunning cover-up that preserved the reputation of the institution and a man revered as a leader in Spokane.
8/25/2006 | A three-day mediation between the Catholic Diocese of Spokane and lawyers for abuse victims ended late Wednesday with no resolution, but the talks will continue in Nevada later, according to the diocese. 8/12/2006 | An attorney representing people who were sexually abused by priests said Catholics in Eastern Washington can settle their church's sex abuse crisis and bankruptcy for $60 million – half of which he suggests could come from the pockets of parishioners. 8/6/2006 | LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Attorney Stan Chesley promised confidentiality to more than 350 people who said they were sexually abused by priests. Then a judge ordered him to reveal their names, along with contact information and a description of the abuse.
7/28/2006 | People who were sexually abused when they were children by Catholic clergy in Eastern Washington are considering suing parishes and might even explore the legal liability of individual churchgoers. 7/7/2006 | Mediation of the Catholic Diocese of Spokane's bankruptcy case is scheduled to begin today in Nevada following several major legal developments that have reshaped the case.
6/16/2006 | Catholic parishes in Eastern Washington – not the Spokane Catholic Diocese – own their churches and schools, a federal judge ruled Thursday morning. 6/10/2006 | Spokane Catholic Diocese attorneys have been calling people who claim they were victims of clergy sexual abuse and asking what they want: cash, counseling, an apology, or something else. 6/9/2006 | An insurance company will pay the Spokane Catholic Diocese $6 million to help settle claims of sexual abuse by priests. 5/25/2006 | The Catholic Diocese of Spokane has retained Keen Realty, a Great Neck, N.Y., company that specializes in representing companies in bankruptcy or other financial troubles, to sell its historic Catholic Pastoral Center downtown, as well as two vacant parcels near Spokane. 5/20/2006 | ROME – The Vatican announced Friday that it was disciplining the Mexican founder of an influential Catholic order following an investigation into decades of allegations that the now-elderly priest sexually abused boys in his care. 5/19/2006 | A federal bankruptcy judge urged mediation to settle all sex abuse claims against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane, after rejecting a $45.7 million offer that would have settled fewer than half the cases. 5/16/2006 | An alternate plan to end the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane bankruptcy case asks parishes to hand over more than half their value in return for avoiding possible foreclosures on churches and schools. 5/16/2006 | A federal judge said Monday the public has a right to view versions of sensitive records in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane bankruptcy case. 5/13/2006 | Throughout its history, the Roman Catholic Church has engaged in secrecy to prevent scandal, asserted the Rev. Thomas Doyle, a Dominican priest and canon lawyer who shed light on the clergy sex abuse problem in the mid-'80s – before it blew up into a crisis. 5/11/2006 | The Spokesman-Review is seeking a federal bankruptcy judge's approval to obtain copies of sexual abuse claims filed against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane – some of which might name priests who are still active in the clergy.
4/22/2006 | A federal bankruptcy judge called the landmark $45. 7 million settlement offer between the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane and a group of 75 sex abuse victims unfair and legally unacceptable during a court hearing Friday. 4/22/2006 | Like others who have been sexually abused as children, Brynne Malone knows the deepest depths of depression – that dark lonely place where death seems like the only remedy for pain. 4/21/2006 | Two insurance carriers have agreed to pay the Spokane Catholic Diocese a total of $4.25 million to settle priest sex-abuse claims. Bishop William Skylstad said Thursday the proposed agreements were indicative of the momentum that has been building to resolve the diocese's thorny Chapter 11 bankruptcy – now 16 months old. 4/19/2006 | A Jesuit priest now working in the Diocese of Yakima was removed from ministry last week after a sexual abuse claim against him surfaced in the Spokane Diocese's bankruptcy case. 4/18/2006 | PORTLAND – After stopping a flood of priest sex abuse lawsuits with the first bankruptcy ever filed by a Roman Catholic diocese two years ago, nearly 130 cases are now heading for court. 4/12/2006 | A $45.7 million settlement offer from the Catholic Diocese of Spokane to fewer than half of the people alleging sex abuse by clergy has been called unfair and premature by others left out of the proposal. 4/1/2006 | SEATTLE – The Seattle Archdiocese has dug into its reserve funds to cover the cost of settling sex abuse claims, church officials said. Payments to victims plus counseling and attorneys' fees now total $26 million over the past 19 years, a church audit showed.
3/31/2006 | WASHINGTON – The financial costs of the sex abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church rose dramatically in 2005, even as the number of new allegations fell, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said Thursday. 3/31/2006 | The Catholic Diocese of Spokane announced a settlement Thursday with one of its liability insurers for $5.25 million – money that will be used to pay sex-abuse claims against the church. 3/29/2006 | The Catholic Diocese of Spokane is running so low on cash that it has stopped paying its lawyers, even as major developments in its bankruptcy case unfold. 3/16/2006 | Despite the uncertainty surrounding the future of their churches and schools, Roman Catholic parishioners continue to offer financial support to their beleaguered Spokane diocese. Donations are up this year to the Annual Catholic Appeal, a diocese-wide campaign to raise money for ministry and the major source of funds for its programs in Eastern Washington. 3/15/2006 | The Catholic Diocese of Spokane will wait several days before announcing the exact number of sex abuse claims filed in its bankruptcy case. As of Friday's deadline for filing claims, at least 176 people alleged they had been sexually abused as children by Catholic clergy serving Eastern Washington. 3/11/2006 | Whatever trust the nation's Roman Catholic bishops had restored with their response to clergy sex abuse has been badly eroded in recent weeks by a combination of missteps and outside criticism, including allegations that Spokane Bishop William Skylstad sexually abused a girl 40 years ago. 3/11/2006 | Sex-abuse claims against the Catholic Diocese of Spokane have more than doubled since the troubled Eastern Washington church filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy 15 months ago. 3/9/2006 | Allegations of sexual misconduct have recently surfaced at Mater Cleri, the former seminary in Colbert that was supervised for several years by Bishop William Skylstad. 3/9/2006 | A woman has accused Catholic Bishop William Skylstad of sexual abuse more than 40 years ago in Spokane, a claim that triggered a report to the Vatican and a firm denial from the bishop. 3/4/2006 | Catholic parishioners are studying a $45. 7 million offer to settle 75 sexual-abuse claims amid fears that the proposal could wipe out ministries and financially cripple the church for decades.
2/23/2006 | A building where hundreds of children and young mothers found shelter and care over the past 60 years has been sold as part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane's bankruptcy case. 2/4/2006 | To help fund a potential $45. 75 million settlement offer to victims of clergy sexual abuse, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane has turned to Catholic Charities for help. 2/2/2006 | With a $45.75 million settlement offer on the table to pay victims of clergy sexual abuse, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane now faces a new dilemma: how to pay for it. 2/1/2006 | The Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane has offered $45. 7 million to settle sex abuse claims that ultimately drove the church into bankruptcy 14 months ago.
12/31/2005 | The Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane proposed a new plan Friday to pay alleged victims of priest sex abuse and resolve its thorny bankruptcy case. 12/31/2005 | PORTLAND, Ore. – A bankruptcy judge ruled Friday that the Archdiocese of Portland, not its parishes, owns church assets, dealing a major blow to its efforts to protect church property from lawsuits filed by alleged victims of priest sex abuse. 12/17/2005 | The Catholic Diocese of Spokane will spend $160,000 on an advertising campaign asking people who believe they may have been sexually abused by priests to file claims. 12/7/2005 | PORTLAND – Attorneys for priest sex abuse victims argued in a federal court Tuesday it's absurd for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland to claim that federal bankruptcy law can be trumped by church law. 12/4/2005 | Why did the diocese file for bankruptcy? To settle multimillion- dollar claims of priest sex abuse. How many alleged victims of abuse are there?
11/15/2005 | WASHINGTON -- The president of America's Roman Catholic bishops defended American priests Monday, saying a "handful" of miscreants who sexually abused minors have forced the rest of the clergy "to endure an avalanche of negative public attention."
10/22/2005 | The pastor of St. George's Catholic Church in Post Falls has been placed on administrative leave amid allegations of sexual misconduct, according to the bishop of the Diocese of Boise. 10/11/2005 | The Catholic Diocese of Spokane will start selling property such as its chancery in downtown Spokane and the home of Bishop William Skylstad if a bankruptcy plan filed Monday is approved.
9/22/2005 | WASHINGTON – After a three-year investigation, a grand jury in Philadelphia reported Wednesday that two leading figures in the U.S. Roman Catholic hierarchy, Cardinals John Krol and Anthony Bevilacqua, deliberately concealed the sexual abuse of hundreds of children by at least 63 priests in that city from 1967 to 2002.
8/27/2005 | A federal bankruptcy judge ruled Friday that Catholic churches and schools are legally owned by the Diocese of Spokane and therefore can be sold to pay dozens of sex-abuse victims.
Read the judge's ruling (1.8 Mb PDF) 8/12/2005 | A lawyer defending Spokane's Roman Catholic diocese from lawsuits filed by alleged sex-abuse victims said Thursday a recent Vatican statement vindicates the diocese's position that it doesn't own Spokane parishes. 8/6/2005 | SAN FRANCISCO – The Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland has agreed to pay $56 million to settle lawsuits filed by 56 alleged victims of priest sexual abuse, the diocese said Friday.
7/23/2005 | PORTLAND – Around the middle of next month, thousands of Oregon households will get a letter informing them that, as parishioners of the 124 Catholic churches in Western Oregon, they are officially part of the class of defendants in the Portland Archdiocese's bankruptcy case.
6/25/2005 | Monday marks perhaps the most significant action to date in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane's bankruptcy case. U. S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Patricia Williams will hear arguments that could fold Catholic parish properties across Eastern Washington into the financial holdings of the diocese. 6/25/2005 | As the cost of bankruptcy continues to skyrocket, parishioners and priests from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane are asking for a quicker resolution: an out-of-court settlement that would likely entail voluntary contributions from people in the pews. 6/18/2005 | CHICAGO – The nation's Roman Catholic bishops agreed Friday to a five-year extension on their unprecedented policy of permanently barring sexually abusive clergy from church work. 6/17/2005 | CHICAGO – U. S. Roman Catholic bishops, revisiting the reforms they adopted three years ago at the height of the clergy sex abuse crisis, are expected to extend their unprecedented policy of permanently barring offenders from church work. 6/8/2005 | Catholic parishes in Eastern Washington have asked that payments to bankruptcy lawyers be suspended or at least held down until the clergy sex abuse case is settled. 6/4/2005 | COVINGTON, Ky. – Marking the largest settlement yet in the Roman Catholic Church's sexual abuse crisis, the Covington diocese said Friday that it had agreed to pay up to $120 million to alleged victims of child molestation. 5/28/2005 | The Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane and alleged victims of clergy sex abuse are preparing for a legal showdown that could challenge church governance and set a national precedent. 5/28/2005 | BOISE – Idaho's Roman Catholic Bishop Michael Driscoll, who recently apologized for permitting priests to remain in a California ministry after they had victimized children, failed to remove a Boise deacon after he was told the FBI was investigating the clergyman for allegedly viewing child pornography. 5/27/2005 | The Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane now says that it overstated the number of alleged sexual abuse victims who haven't filed lawsuits, a disclosure that could undermine the validity of a key creditors' committee.
4/16/2005 | MILWAUKEE – Priests in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee accused of sexual misconduct can be subject to unannounced searches of their homes or computers under a monitoring policy considered a first for the Catholic Church. 4/14/2005 | DALLAS – Three high-profile Catholics have left their jobs abroad since the Dallas Morning News reported that they had sexually abused children while serving as priests in the United States. 4/14/2005 | HAYWARD, Calif. – A jury Wednesday awarded nearly $2 million to two brothers and former altar boys who were molested by a parish priest more than two decades ago. 4/12/2005 | VATICAN CITY – Two American women who say they were molested as children by Roman Catholic priests protested Monday at the Vatican, drawing worldwide attention to the clergy sex-abuse scandal and disgraced Cardinal Bernard Law as he led a Mass to mourn the death of Pope John Paul II. 4/7/2005 | A woman in Anchorage, Alaska, received a $1 million settlement this week for the alleged childhood abuse she suffered at the hands of a Jesuit priest now retired in Spokane. 4/1/2005 | WEYMOUTH, Mass. – The Roman Catholic parish that sparked a wave of protests against church closings in the Boston Archdiocese will reopen, the archbishop announced Thursday. 4/1/2005 | The Catholic Diocese of Spokane lost a bankruptcy court fight to disband a committee representing victims of clergy sex abuse. Fearful that the Chapter 11 case will cost millions in lawyer fees, the diocese asked U.
3/26/2005 | BOTHELL, Wash. – A Roman Catholic priest who stunned his parishioners at St. Brendan Church when he told them he was sexually abused as a boy is resigning from the priesthood and may write a book about his experience. 3/18/2005 | More than two dozen plaintiffs who were allegedly abused as minors by Patrick O'Donnell, a former priest in the Spokane Diocese, are now suing the order of priests that ran the seminary where O'Donnell was trained for the priesthood. 3/8/2005 | A Spokane woman has filed a bankruptcy court claim alleging that a Roman Catholic priest in Spokane leveraged his influence as counselor and spiritual adviser into a sexual relationship that ended about 20 years ago.
2/27/2005 | YAKIMA – The Roman Catholic Diocese of Yakima has formally denied the accusations made in a recent lawsuit alleging sexual abuse by a priest. Rose Yates Lamey, formerly of Zillah, filed suit in early February in Yakima County Superior Court, claiming she was raped by the Rev. 2/19/2005 | WASHINGTON – The sex-abuse crisis among Roman Catholic clergy is far from over, and continues to cost the church tens of millions of dollars a year, according to data released Friday by the U. 2/19/2005 | Worried that lawyer fees will run into the millions of dollars, the Catholic Diocese of Spokane wants the federal judge overseeing its bankruptcy case to dissolve a committee representing victims and cap legal costs. 2/16/2005 | CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Defrocked priest Paul Shanley, one of the most notorious figures in the Boston clerical abuse scandal, was sentenced Tuesday to 12 to 15 years in prison for repeatedly raping a young boy during the 1980s. 2/16/2005 | SEATTLE – The Seattle Archdiocese has been removed as a defendant in a lawsuit filed by an Idaho man who accused now-defrocked priest John Cornelius of molesting him years ago. 2/8/2005 | CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Defrocked priest Paul Shanley, the most notorious figure in the sex scandal that rocked the Boston Archdiocese, was convicted Monday of repeatedly raping and fondling a boy at his Roman Catholic church during the 1980s. 2/7/2005 | CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – He was one of the most notorious figures in the sexual abuse scandal that has shaken the Roman Catholic Church, but the trial of defrocked priest Paul Shanley has been a low-key affair, drawing only a smattering of spectators. 2/7/2005 | Long before sex abuse became a crisis in the Catholic Church, a Dominican priest working for the Vatican sounded the alarm. Twenty years ago, the Rev. 2/5/2005 | Plaintiffs suing the Diocese of Spokane for sexual abuse filed a court action Friday asserting that Catholic parishes, schools, charities and other entities should be made available to settle the diocese's bankruptcy debts.
1/30/2005 | Greg Arpin, with stacks of legal papers and studies about memory tucked under his arm, is a lawyer with a daunting task. He is defending the Catholic Diocese of Spokane against monstrous claims that priests sexually abused boys decades ago. 1/30/2005 | It wasn't where you'd expect to find him. But there he was on a Sunday morning in September 2002, sitting in a pew during Mass at a Catholic parish in north Spokane. 1/29/2005 | LOS ANGELES – The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles withheld "critical evidence" that could help insurance carriers assess the validity and worth of more than 500 sexual abuse claims, the insurers allege. 1/22/2005 | A second lawsuit alleging sexual abuse was filed earlier this week against the Rev. James Mitchell, a Roman Catholic priest who lives in Pullman. 1/15/2005 | TACOMA – A Thurston County man is suing a priest and several Catholic organizations over sexual abuse he says occurred at Fort Lewis in the 1980s while he was a teenager. 1/8/2005 | PORTLAND – The Archdiocese of Portland, the first in the nation to file for bankruptcy in the face of mounting sex abuse claims, began running ads in major U.
12/30/2004 | FAIRBANKS – A man filed a lawsuit in Bethel this week that claims he was sexually abused by two priests while serving in Western Alaska villages during the 1950s and 1960s. 12/15/2004 | Early skirmishes among lawyers involved in the Catholic Diocese of Spokane's bankruptcy may indicate the kind of adversarial case both sides had hoped to avoid. 12/11/2004 | The Rev. Steve Dublinski, vicar general of the Diocese of Spokane, recently answered some questions in an interview on how bankruptcy protection could affect parishes and schools:Q: What happens to the money I put in the collection plate on Sundays? 12/11/2004 | A generous six-figure gift from an anonymous donor has brought Our Lady of Fatima parishioners even closer to achieving their dream: celebrating Mass in an actual church building. 12/7/2004 | Sex-abuse claims against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane could reach $75. 7 million, a number so large that it drove Bishop William Skylstad to file for bankruptcy protection Monday. 12/5/2004 | In the end, the actions of a few priests have finally hit home. With the threat of bankruptcy looming over the Diocese of Spokane, Catholics in Eastern Washington are coming to grips with the fallout from the sex abuse scandal. 12/5/2004 | Catholic leaders of Eastern Washington are guiding their churches into the unknown. On Monday, the Diocese of Spokane will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection – a legal arena fraught with uncertainty and bound by the secular application of law. 12/4/2004 | The Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane settled with five victims of clergy sexual abuse Friday – three days before the diocese is scheduled to file for bankruptcy protection.
11/25/2004 | As the Catholic Diocese of Spokane prepares to file for bankruptcy, it now faces an additional challenge: a lawsuit from its insurance company. Five insurance carriers – all owned by CNA, a Chicago-based global insurance organization – filed a complaint for declaratory relief this week, asking a judge to determine how much they're liable to pay under the diocese's insurance policies. 11/20/2004 | SEATTLE – Catholic Archbishop Alexander Brunett has accepted the resignation of a priest who says he himself was molested by a priest as a child. 11/12/2004 | When Spokane Bishop William Skylstad gathers with fellow church leaders at next week's meeting of the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, he will be one of only three bishops in the country who have chosen to file for bankruptcy as a way to deal with the growing number of sex abuse claims. 11/11/2004 | A week after failed settlement talks with victims of clergy sex abuse, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane announced Wednesday that it will file for bankruptcy by the end of the month.
Video: Diocese Bankruptcy Protest
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10/31/2004 | Attorneys for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane will try to reach a settlement during mediation this week with 28 victims of clergy sex abuse. 10/31/2004 | SEATTLE – A former Roman Catholic priest ousted from the ministry for molesting boys diverted thousands of dollars of church money for personal expenses – in some cases showering his alleged victims with cash, gifts and vacations, according to a Seattle archdiocese investigation. 10/9/2004 | The nation's Roman Catholic bishops said Friday they will spend the next nine months deciding whether to make any changes in the policy they enacted at the height of the clergy sex abuse crisis that includes permanently barring guilty priests from church work.
9/12/2004 | ROME – Pope John Paul II summoned U. S. cardinals to the Vatican two years ago, at the height of the church's sex abuse crisis, and made a stirring pronouncement. 9/4/2004 | VATICAN CITY – Pope John Paul II assured American bishops from New England on Thursday that he supports their efforts to address the damage wrought by clerical sex abuse, acknowledging the scandal "cast a shadow" on the Church.
8/21/2004 | A Roman Catholic priest who has sponsored Colombian students in Pullman and Western Washington has been accused of sexual abuse by a former student who moved to the United States with the priest's aid. 8/13/2004 | VIENNA, Austria – A papal emissary investigating suspected homosexuality and child pornography among student priests shut down the seminary at the center of the scandal Thursday, acknowledging his probe had bared "very painful" revelations of sexual misconduct. 8/7/2004 | In what victims claim was a major legal victory, a judge ordered Roman Catholic bishops Friday to turn over secret personnel files on 40 priests accused in lawsuits of molesting children in Northern California. 8/7/2004 | PORTLAND – One reason the Portland Archdiocese filed for bankruptcy was that insurance companies refused to pay any more for settlements to alleged victims of priest abuse, Archbishop John Vlazny said Friday.
7/17/2004 | VIENNA, Austria – Austria's Roman Catholic Church is scrambling to contain a widening sex scandal after it emerged that police had seized what one magazine described as tens of thousands of pornographic photographs from a local seminary. 7/16/2004 | Shame silenced the boy. As a young man, the pain drove him to contemplate suicide. For years, the suffering became so unbearable, he said, that he completely blotted it from his memory. 7/7/2004 | People involved in sex-abuse lawsuits against the Spokane Diocese are watching the Portland case closely, but attorneys say situations are much different. News that the Archdiocese of Portland filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy stunned Michael Ross, a vocal Spokane Diocese critic and co-founder of the local Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. 7/7/2004 | The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland filed for bankruptcy Tuesday, becoming the first Catholic diocese in the United States to seek financial protection against millions of dollars in potential sexual-abuse claims. 7/2/2004 | A dozen lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane alleging clergy sexual abuse now will move forward after a judge on Thursday rejected the diocese's motion to dismiss them.
6/12/2004 | DENVER – A national support group for people molested by priests called Friday for U. S. Roman Catholic bishops to open their closed-door summit in Colorado next week.
2/28/2004 | The percentage of priests accused of sexual abuse in the Catholic Diocese of Spokane is higher than the national average.
8/24/2002 | Patrick G. O'Donnell's departure from the priesthood in 1986 left a Catholic parish and the Spokane psychology community seething.
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