Abuse suit witness Flynn dies

Rita Flynn, a lifelong Roman Catholic who was a key witness in the child sex abuse lawsuit that resulted in the bankruptcy of the Diocese of Spokane, died Tuesday after a stroke at age 85.

Flynn, who raised 11 children in north Spokane’s Assumption Parish, was among the first to raise suspicions about Patrick O’Donnell, a pedophile and now defrocked priest.

“Without her, the survivors never would have been able to prove that bishops knew about O’Donnell and his history of molesting children,” said Seattle attorney Tim Kosnoff. “She refused to be silenced by the bishops.”

After O’Donnell was removed from the diocese in the 1970s to undergo sexual deviancy counseling in Seattle, Flynn again raised alarms when she learned that the priest had returned to work at Morning Star Boys Ranch in Spokane.

“Her lifelong membership in the Catholic Church made her an even more dedicated champion of those who had been abused by priests, and she devoted much energy to this in the later decades of her life,” according to a statement by Flynn’s family.

A vigil for Flynn will be at 4 p.m. Sunday and a memorial service at 10 a.m. Monday, both at Assumption Church, 3624 W. Indian Trail Road.