June 1, 2008

By Sam Hemingway
Free Press Staff Writer

Dorothy Whiston was upset when she first learned in 2006 that her Roman Catholic diocese in Davenport, Iowa, was filing for bankruptcy.

The Midwestern diocese announced it was taking the step after concluding it lacked the funds to resolve a mounting number of lawsuits filed by dozens of victims of clergy sexual abuse, including one claim that a former bishop had molested boys.

"It was very painful," recalled Whiston, a regular attendee at St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Iowa City, Iowa.

Today, a month after a federal judge approved a bankruptcy reorganization plan for the Davenport diocese and the 105,000 parishioners it serves, Whiston sees things differently.

"I think it actually was a good experience," she said. "At the time, I was very skeptical, but we needed to enter into this process."

That process has resulted in profound changes for the Davenport diocese, which had already paid $10.7 million to 45 clergy sexual abuse victims prior to its decision to seek bankruptcy protection.

In order to pay out $37 million more in claims to an additional 162 priest sexual abuse victims, the diocese had to sell off a number of assets, including the site of its headquarters and the bishop’s residence. The bishop now lives in rental housing.

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One priest flunked a class on dogma in seminary school.

Another retired early because of crippling back pain.

Yet another priest was notorious for not paying his bills on time.

The 2,000 internal documents released by the Archdiocese of Portland on Tuesday evening revealed thousands of details about 14 priests accused of molesting children in Oregon from the 1950s to the 1990s.

But most of the details have nothing to do with sexual abuse.

As a result, the documents shed little new light on a sex scandal that involved dozens of priests, forced the Portland Archdiocese into an unprecedented bankruptcy in 2004 and cost in excess of $100 million.

With some exceptions, what’s notable is what’s not in the documents.

Thomas Dulcich, a Portland attorney who represents the archdiocese, said thousands of pages of documents are already in the public record and have been thoroughly scoured.

"Maybe there isn’t much more to the story," Dulcich said.

One file on the Rev. Erasto Guzman Chavez contains several pages regarding sex-abuse allegations. The file contains about 10 letters from parishioners at St. Alexander Parish in Hillsboro accusing the priest of molesting preteen and teenage girls. The allegations included kissing, touching breasts and putting his hand up one girl’s blouse.

"It is very upsetting to me to know that there was knowledge of this type of activity four years ago," one letter writer said.

"We as a community need to call into question our own responsibility in what has happened since Erasto Guzman’s inappropriate behavior was first reported."

The most recent release also includes hundreds of pages about the Rev. Maurice Grammond, the most notorious pedophile priest in Oregon.

Attorneys for those who accused Grammond of sexual abuse say church officials knew about his behavior by the late 1950s, but the archdiocese says nothing showed up in his personnel file until 1992.

On Feb. 6, 1992, the Rev. Charles Lienert, an archdiocesan official, wrote a memo indicating that Grammond had no previous allegations of sex abuse, even in the secret archives.

On the same day, Lienert wrote a second memo summarizing a meeting in which Grammond appeared "unannounced in an agitated condition" because of the accusations. Grammond told Lienert that he couldn’t remember what happened 20 years previously and threatened to hire a lawyer.

"He said that Archbishop Dwyer had talked to him about this years ago, and that Archbishop Dwyer was a decent bishop," Lienert’s memo said. "He said that Fr. Jim Harris was accused of child abuse fifteen years ago and nothing has happened to him."

The recent release includes more than 100 pages on Harris. A few carefully worded letters about his visit to a California psychiatric clinic in 1972 hinted that he had been accused of sexual abuse.

Absent from the latest release are any new documents about Thomas Laughlin, a former priest who admitted sexually abusing dozens of boys in Oregon over several decades. Laughlin pleaded guilty in 1983 to molesting two boys and later was defrocked.

Dulcich said Laughlin, who is still alive, is the subject of a recent multimillion-dollar lawsuit, and his attorney asked the archdiocese not to release his personnel file.

Kelly Clark, a Portland attorney representing dozens of people who claim they were molested by priests, said there were thousands of pages of documents about Laughlin that have yet to be made public.

Dulcich said the process of releasing documents was ongoing.

"You wonder if there is some other agenda on the part of the people who continue to complain about the archdiocese as it continues to release thousands of documents," he said.

Ashbel S. (Tony) Green: 503-221-8202; tonygreen@news.oregonian.com

The move is part of the Catholic Church’s bankruptcy reorganization plan

By Ryan Geddes
LocalNewsDaily.com
Apr 17, 2007

The Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon plans to release to the public internal documents about church personnel accused of child abuse over the last 50 years as part of its recently approved bankruptcy settlement, church officials and lawyers for sex abuse claimants announced Tuesday.

On Friday, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth Perris confirmed the Oregon Catholic Church’s proposed Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan, which was filed in 2004 after a wave of child sex abuse claims filed against priests and other church employees. That agreement calls for the court to approve about $50 million in settlements and to establish a fund for future payouts of about $20 million.

Tuesday’s announcement went a step further, approving the release of what claimants’ lawyers say are previously secret documents detailing accused pedophile priests’ activities. Initial releases will comprise "several dozen" documents on fewer than 12 priests, lawyers said, but in the future could become a "virtually comprehensive release of the archives of the past."

The documents are scheduled to be released in May.

"Now, for the first time, we have reached an historic agreement with the Archbishop, his lawyers, and representatives of the parishes that will lead to the release of significant historic documents and files concerning child abuse over the last half-century in this Church, secret archives of secret crimes and secret shame will be made public for the community to see and understand," said attorney Kelly Clark in a statement Tuesday.

Clark has represented victims of alleged church sex abuse for 15 years. Kelly and other victims’ attorneys praised the announcement, made at the U.S. Courthouse in downtown Portland Tuesday afternoon.

"We are especially pleased by Archbishop Vlazny’s decision to renounce the secrecy and protectiveness of the past and agree to the public release of a substantial portion of the personnel records of offending priests," said attorney David Slader, who also represents abuse claimants. "A policy of openness and transparency will go far toward preventing future tragedies."

In December 2006, U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan announced that more than 150 people who said they were sexually abused by Oregon priests had settled their civil lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Portland, a development that paved the way for last week’s approved bankruptcy reorganization plan and Tuesday’s records announcement.

"It is my sincere prayer that our ability to compensate the many victims will assist them in their efforts to achieve personal healing and peace of heart," Archbishop John Vlazny said at Tuesday’s news conference. "As we Catholics throughout this scandal have learned much about child abuse, it is my sincere desire that these lessons will not have to be repeated in any other forum."

Frank Lenzi of AM 860 KPAM contributed to this report

In a surprise move Tuesday, Portland Archbishop John Vlazny released 2,000 pages of documents on priests accused of sexually abusing Oregon children.

Vlazny described the release in a statement as "part of the healing process and in the interest of transparency."

Bud Bunce, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Portland, said the release had nothing to do with Pope Benedict XVI’s trip to the United States or the pope’s apology for the priest sexual abuse scandal.

ortland attorneys who have filed sexual abuse suits against the archdiocese said they were baffled by the unscheduled release, which comes less than two weeks after one round of failed mediation and a day before another is set to start.

"I don’t know how the archdiocese thinks," said attorney Kelly Clark, who represents dozens of people who say they were sexually abused by priests. "I just don’t get it."

Erin Olson, another plaintiff’s attorney who is scheduled to begin mediation today, also said she has no idea what was in the new batch of documents. But Olson said she doubts the release includes documents that name priests who haven’t been identified and are still working in parishes.

In 2004, the Portland archdiocese became the first in the country to seek bankruptcy protection from priest sexual abuse litigation. A 2007 settlement plan set aside about $70 million for priest accusers. And Vlazny promised to release church personnel files involving abusive priests.

The archdiocese released a batch of documents a few months later, but lawyers for the church and plaintiffs’ attorneys have been fighting over what else to release ever since.

In his statement, Vlazny explained that he opposed releasing documents involving priests where the accusations were weak or uncorroborated.

"We have made what we believe is a fair decision on document disclosure based on sound guiding principles and will continue on this course," Vlazny wrote. "We hope that the continuing release of documents in the spirit of healing and reconciliation will bring peace to the lives of those who have been harmed."

To read the documents, go to www.archdiocesedocuments.org/Documents.html

You can reach Ashbel S. (Tony) Green at 503-221-8202 or by e-mail at tonygreen@news.oregonian.com.

Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. — A year after the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Portland settled its bankruptcy case for about $50 million, it has released more of its files on priests accused of sex abuse — including some confidential personnel records.

The documents were expected to be released shortly after the settlement. But negotiations over the release stalled, sending the church and lawyers for the victims back to federal bankruptcy court.

An attorney for some of the alleged abuse victims criticized the latest release as piecemeal and said the archdiocese failed to provide any explanation or tie the documents together in a meaningful way for victims or the public.

"This is not the way to do it," said Kelly Clark. "This is how you do it if you want to frustrate that purpose."

Clark also said that releasing the documents out of context makes it look like the church did not find out about the alleged abuse in many cases until much later than it actually received complaints.

Mediation sessions on the release have been continuing before both sides were scheduled to head to U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan to ask for a decision. Hogan was one of two judges who mediated the settlement.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth Perris sealed most of the documents after the archdiocese became the first Catholic diocese in the nation to file for bankruptcy protection in July 2004.

She has scheduled hearings for arguments on lifting her order but is not expected to rule until October.

Archbishop John Vlazny says he authorized the release of about 2,000 pages of additional documents on Tuesday as "part of the healing process and in the interest of transparency."

By Ed Langlois

A Portland attorney who refused to enter talks over an Archdiocese of Portland document release is continuing a solo legal venture.

Erin Olson hopes to publicize thousands of pages of clergy personnel information.
Olson, who represented multiple accusers during the archdiocese’s three-year bankruptcy, came before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth Perris last week to push her point about the documents.

Perris has set up a hearings schedule that aims to settle Olson’s request by fall.
“It’s been a long time,” Perris told lawyers last week, urging them to find a resolution on documents soon.

Meanwhile, a mediation over document release will begin April 1, with the archdiocese and a handful of accusers’ lawyers being guided by retired Circuit Court Judge Lyle Velure. If that fails, U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan will step in to arbitrate. The process was the plan all along in case negotiations over the documents stalled.

In the $72 million sex abuse settlement reached a year ago, lawyers for accusers and the archdiocese agreed that documents would be released to shed light on how church leaders handled abusers. The archdiocese last June placed almost 400 pages of letters, depositions and memos on a website — www.archdiocesedocuments.org. Church leaders and their lawyers said more documents might follow, but did not want to give out private information that is not germane.

Negotiations began over what documents would be released when. Seven attorneys representing accusers joined, but Olson stayed out. Immediately after the web release, she had written to lawyers on both sides, urging that thousands more pages be unsealed.

Late last year, attorney Kelly Clark walked out of the document negotiations with the archdiocese, despite church leaders’ contention that the talks were progressing.
Tom Dulcich, legal counsel for the archdiocese, told Perris at last week’s hearing that neither side appears to be “dragging feet” in talks.

Bud Bunce, spokesman for the archdiocese, says Olson and Clark are trying to rush a process that had been planned out in advance with the agreement of everyone except Olson.

“We have already released a number of documents,” said Bunce. “We have said we will release more, and we are in the process of working that out. It does take a certain amount of time.”

The archdiocese had suggested that Olson’s document dispute could be handled by Hogan, who with Velure helped achieve last year’s landmark bankruptcy settlement. But Perris said such an appointment is not part of bankruptcy court rules.
Judge Perris, by setting the schedule the way she did, affirmed the archdiocese’s request that her decision be deferred until Judge Hogan has a chance to rule in his arbitration.

Meanwhile, parishes all over western Oregon are showing mandatory films and continuing an education process so that students, parents and staff can recognize and block possible sexual abuse. Last week, Catholics fasted and prayed for a day to promote healing of abuse victims and the church.

By Bill Bishop

The Register-Guard

PORTLAND — Lawyers who charge the Archdiocese of Portland is going back on a promise to open its records about priests who sexually abused children were back in court Thursday to ask a judge to decide what should happen to thousands of documents in question.

The judge set a schedule for hearings that should settle the controversy in October.

The disputed records were part of an April settlement in the archdiocese’s historic bankruptcy reorganization, the first in the nation by a Catholic diocese facing lawsuits that sought millions of dollars in damages for sexual abuse by priests.

The reorganization, filed in 2004, paid $77 million to settle 175 lawsuits. It allowed the archdiocese to continue operations without selling any parish or school properties. As part of the deal, Archbishop John Vlazny released some priest personnel and other church records, and said other documents may be released through a mediation process between the church and lawyers for victims.

The mediation process broke down last month when one of the main negotiators for abuse victims, attorney Kelly Clark of Portland, walked out. Clark said Thursday he is embarrassed that he ever believed church leaders intended to keep their promise.

Another lawyer for abuse victims, Erin Olson of Portland, then asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth Perris to open records that had been under seal in the case. Olson said she never had any faith in the mediation process between the church and Clark, and refused to participate in it.

Archdiocese spokesman Bud Bunce said Thursday that both lawyers are jumping to conclusions and rushing a process that had been set up for the purpose.

“We have already released a number of documents,” Bunce said. “We have said we will release more, and we are in the process of working that out. It does take a certain amount of time.”

In court Thursday, Perris made it clear that she intends to settle the controversy as quickly as possible.

“It has been a long time,” Perris told lawyers for both sides. “This process isn’t going to take another year. I can assure you of that.”

Perris encouraged both sides to continue negotiating to settle on as many disputed documents as possible through the mediation/arbitration process involving Clark. But she also set out a parallel court process that will conclude with a hearing Sept. 30 after which she will rule on any remaining documents.

The outcome either will set a precedent for Catholic organizations nationwide, or will shift the fight for church accountability to another diocese elsewhere in the country, said John Shuster, a former Catholic priest and current member of the national board for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

He said abuse survivors will never stop pushing for public safety from pedophile priests, and for accountability among church leaders who covered up their crimes against children.

“The bishop should be made to live up to what he agreed to,” said Shuster, who attended Thursday’s hearing. “There are priests out there who have committed serious sex crimes against children. They have never been identified. There is information in those records that is going to show more priests and more complicit church leaders. You can be 80 years old and still abuse a child. This is an issue of public safety.”

However, Bunce said church leaders have publicly and repeatedly apologized for abuse by clergy and for failures in leadership. He said the archdiocese has implemented policies to help educate parents, teachers and children about recognizing, reporting and preventing child abuse.

“We are not in denial about this,” Bunce said. “We understand it very clearly.”

By WILLIAM McCALL

Associated Press Writer

By Pete Springer

OPB.com

Portland, OR
February 25, 2008

Negotiations to release documents related to the Portland Archdiocese clergy sex abuse cases have broken down and will likely end up in mediation next month. Pete Springer reports.

Attorney Kelly Clark is representing more than a hundred abuse victims. He says nearly a year after reaching a legal settlement with the Archdiocese of Portland, very few documents have actually been released.

Clark says the release of the documents was key to settling the sex abuse lawsuits.

Kelly Clark: “We want the public to be able to learn what the archdiocese of Portland knew about sex abuse and when they knew it.  That’s all we’re saying, release the documents you said you’d release.”

However, there is no specific deadline for releasing these documents.

A spokesman for the archdiocese says they haven’t released everything because some of the documents are under a protective order and contain names and medical records of priests not involved in the lawsuit.

Clark withdrew from negotiations with the Archdiocese after it requested full names of abuse victims — rather than just initials — be used in court documents.  

The case heads back to court in March and will enter mediation in April.