BY KRISTIAN FODEN-VENCIL
November 28, 2008
www.opb.org

Days after a judge ordered the Archdiocese of Portland to release documents involving the abuse of children by priests, lawyers have created a webpage to display the information. Kristian Foden-Vencil reports.

The documents were part of the 2007 agreement, in which the archdiocese paid $50 million dollars to settle 170 lawsuits.

The archdiocese put about half the documents on a webpage in the spring. But it refused to release others saying they weren’t relevant.

Judge Michael Hogan ruled Wednesday only some of the papers could be held back because of active litigation or jurisdictional issues.

Attorney Kelly Clark, who represented 40 victims, says they’ll be putting the new documents into chronological and geographic order.

Kelly Clark: "I would imagine people who would be wanting to be using this would be people who were themselves victimized, faithful men and women who simply want to know what about my parish?"

The church’s papers can be found at archdiocesedocuments.org.

The lawyers version, which will expand as documents are sorted, can be found at archpdxpriestfiles.com.

© 2008 OPB

BY PETE SPRINGER - OPB News
November 26, 2008

U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan Wednesday ordered the Archdiocese of Portland to release files of pedophile priests that the Archdiocese has been withholding.  Pete Springer reports.

Over a year ago, the Archdiocese of Portland agreed to release files on pedophile priests as part of a $70 million bankruptcy settlement.

They did release some documents, but refused to release others, claiming they contained personal information about priests not involved in the lawsuit.

But after months of arbitration and reviewing the documents, Judge Hogan rejected that argument.

His ruling is binding and cannot be appealed.

An attorney who represented the priest sex abuse victims in the bankruptcy case was not available for comment but says in a media release that he plans to use a website to post the church documents so that “the public can understand the history of the problem”.

Attorneys for the victims are planning to discuss the ruling publicly on Friday.

The Associated Press
11/27/2008, 4:40 p.m.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A federal judge ordered the release of more documents from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland that may shed light on how church officials responded to allegations that priests sexually abused minors.

The order from U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan on Wednesday was a result of the settlement in 2007 of about 175 lawsuits for $50 million to end the first bankruptcy filing in the nation by a Catholic diocese.

After the settlement, victim advocates and church officials disagreed over how many documents to release.

Hogan’s order requires the archdiocese to release documents about allegations of sexual misconduct by priests involving minors and the knowledge of the archdiocese about the allegations, or its response to them.

He said the order doesn’t apply immediately in the cases of priests involved in a related dispute over disclosure or in pending litigation.

Hogan’s decision says names of victims have been redacted from the documents.

Portland lawyer Kelly Clark, who represented more than 40 victims, praised the decision and said it meant the archdiocese must release almost all of the disputed documents.

"This is a good day for survivors, and all the men and women abused as boys and girls by priests of this archdiocese can feel rightly proud that they have stood their ground and did not let the archdiocese back out of its commitments," Clark said.

He said a Web site is under construction that will organize the documents so readers can understand the history of cases and how church officials enabled or covered up abuse.

The archdiocese released a statement that said almost all of the misconduct occurred from 1940 to the mid-1980s.

"Today the Archdiocese of Portland has comprehensive child protection policies and programs," it said, including an Office of Child Protection and national programs to audit protections and ensure that people who work with minors are appropriately screened.