Jesuits settle abuse claims

Alberta Sena, far left, and Dorothea Skalicky, far right, listen as Leander James, center, describes the settlement in the legal case against the Society of Jesus, Oregon Province on Friday March 25, 2011, at a press conference in Spokane, Wash. Both of the women were victims of clergy sex abuse in Lapwai, Idaho.

In one of the largest settlements of the ongoing sex abuse scandal of the Roman Catholic Church, the Jesuit order of the Northwest will pay about $166 million to more than 500 survivors, most of whom are Alaska Native or American Indian.

Under the proposed settlement The Society of Jesus, Oregon Province, also will apologize and provide pertinent records of the approximately 140 priests and brothers accused over the span of 30 years from the 1950s to the 1980s.

In many cases, accused priests were reassigned by the order in Portland to Alaska Native villages and Indian reservations in Montana, Eastern Washington, Idaho and Oregon, according to abuse survivors and their attorneys.

“Problem priests were put on reservations,” said Dorothy Skalicky, 42, who said she was abused as a girl by a priest growing up on the Nez Perce Reservation. More here. Kevin Graman, SR

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