Seattle University removes archbishop’s name from complex

SEATTLE – Seattle University’s athletics and recreation center will no longer be named after the late Archbishop Thomas Connolly.

The Seattle Times reported the Jesuit school’s board last week approved removing Connolly’s name because of his role in covering up for a known pedophile priest for years beginning in the 1960s. The board renamed the facility “Redhawk Center” after the school’s mascot.

Documents show that as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Seattle, Connolly moved former Father Michael Cody from parish to parish in Western Washington in the 1960s and 1970s despite knowing Cody sexually abused children.

Rev. Stephen V. Sundborg, president of the university, said in a statement Friday that he brought the matter to the board after reviewing letters and documents.

Connolly died in 1991.

A spokesman for the archdiocese did not immediately respond Friday to messages.