A Public Archive for the Priest Abuse Documents from the Portland Catholic Archdiocese Bankruptcy Case
Posted on April 16, 2008 under News Updates
Portland, Apr. 16, 2008 (CWNews.com) - The Archdiocese of Portland, Oregon, has released thousands of documents related to sex-abuse accusations against Catholic priests, in an unscheduled step that caught victims’ lawyers by surprise.
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Posted on April 16, 2008 under News Updates
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Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Posted on March 14, 2008 under News Updates
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March 14, 2008
Posted on March 13, 2008 under News Updates
A federal bankruptcy judge today set a schedule for deciding whether to release about 2,000 pages of documents related to priest abuse in Oregon.
A final decision is not likely until the fall.
The Portland Archdiocese emerged from bankruptcy last year after agreeing to pay priest accusers more than $50 million. Church officials and attorneys for most of the plaintiffs also agreed on a process for releasing secret church personal files.
Posted on February 25, 2008 under News Updates
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.”
Posted on June 7, 2007 under News Updates
Associated Press Writer
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - The Archdiocese of Portland released 30 previously secret documents Wednesday detailing sexual abuse of boys by priests. Read the Entire Entry Here
Posted on April 27, 2007 under News Updates
National Catholic Reporter,
April 27, 2007
A federal judge has approved a $75 million settlement plan for the Portland, Ore., archdiocese that will provide financial relief for about 175 people who say they were sexually abused by priests.
As part of the settlement, the archdiocese has agreed to make public documents, mostly personnel files, on priests accused of sex abuse. The documents are expected to be released in mid-May. Details of the settlement were announced April 17.
Lawyers for victims called the agreement to release the documents "historic" and said it would mark the end of "the era of secrecy" when silence prevailed over abuse complaints.
"This policy of openness and transparency will go far in preventing future tragedies," David Slader, lawyer for a number of victims, told The Associated Press.
Posted on April 18, 2007 under News Updates
PORTLAND, Ore. – Secret files on Roman Catholic priests accused of sex abuse will be released as part of a $75 million settlement signed yesterday by the Archdiocese of Portland, which will be allowed to reorganize from the first bankruptcy in the nation filed by a Catholic diocese.
The documents, mostly personnel files, are not expected to be released until mid-May. But lawyers for victims called the agreement to release the documents “historic” and said it would mark the end of “the era of secrecy” when silence prevailed over abuse complaints.
“This policy of openness and transparency will go far in preventing future tragedies,” said David Slader, who represents a number of victims, including one whose case prompted the diocese to declare bankruptcy in July 2004 on the eve of trial.
Posted on April 18, 2007 under News Updates
PORTLAND - Previously private personnel files of pedophile priests will be made public under a bankruptcy reorganization plan for the Archdiocese of Portland that was approved Tuesday.
The papers, to be released as early as next month, will include documents showing knowledge and cover-up of the priests’ activities by Catholic Church leaders.
"There is plenty there to cause frustration and anger," said Portland lawyer Kelly Clark, who represented more than 100 people abused by priests over the years and who obtained confidential copies of church records in the course of preparing for trials.
The cover-ups that Clark learned of happened more than 15 years ago, he said. The documents show no efforts by church leaders in the past decade to move priests to a different parish after they had been accused of abuse - a practice that deepened the Catholic clergy abuse scandal when it surfaced in Boston five years ago, Clark said.
Posted on April 17, 2007 under News Updates
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.