12/01/2004

By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS  / Associated Press

This was supposed to be the week that three brothers from the Seattle area finally got to ask Roman Catholic leaders in court why a serial pedophile was allowed to prey on them as children.

Instead, two of the brothers and their father stood in the snow outside the Spokane Diocese headquarters on Tuesday and demanded that Bishop William Skylstad abandon his plan to file for bankruptcy protection for the diocese. That plan has indefinitely postponed a civil trial that was supposed to begin Monday.

The three brothers contend in their Spokane County Superior Court lawsuit that they were sexually abused by former Catholic priest Patrick O'Donnell — first in Spokane and then in Seattle when O'Donnell was transferred there. They contend Catholic leaders in Spokane and Seattle covered up for O'Donnell, and now don't want the truth to emerge.

"O'Donnell sexually molested our sons," the father told a news conference. The brothers, identified as "John Doe" in their lawsuit, asked that their names not be revealed.

Skylstad, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, has repeatedly denied in public and in court depositions that he knew O'Donnell was a pedophile.

"I'm convinced Skylstad lied about when he knew," the father said.

One of the brothers said Skylstad has refused to take personal responsibility for O'Donnell's crimes, even though he was O'Donnell's superior at a Spokane parish in the 1970s.

"It was Bishop Skylstad who was assigned to supervise one of the most prolific pedophiles uncovered to date," the brother said.

The Rev. Steve Dublinski, vicar general of the Spokane Diocese, listened to the news conference and said the bishop has repeatedly apologized to victims.

"He did not know Patrick O'Donnell had these proclivities," Dublinski said.

He also disputed that the bankruptcy filing, planned for next Monday, is intended to prevent victims' lawyers from interrogating Skylstad in court. The bankruptcy process allows ample opportunity for the issues to be aired in court, Dublinski said.

O'Donnell, 62, served as a priest in Spokane and Seattle until he was removed from ministry in 1986. He has acknowledged he sexually abused boys from the time he was in seminary.

The family lived first in Spokane, and allege O'Donnell abused the boys there. The family then moved to Seattle and O'Donnell, as a longtime family friend, made contact with the brothers again after he was transferred there. The brothers said they kept silent about the abuse for years.

"Bishop Skylstad, I needed your protection when I was a child," one brother told the news conference.

The Spokane Diocese so far faces 19 lawsuits involving 58 plaintiffs who accuse nine diocesan priests and two Jesuits of sexual abuse. Of those, five lawsuits and 28 sexual abuse claims involve O'Donnell.

The diocese has said the claims far exceed the total worth of the diocese, and that filing for bankruptcy protection would allow a federal bankruptcy judge to determine the amount each victim should receive and which assets would be used to pay claims.

Catholic dioceses in Portland, Ore., and Tucson, Ariz., previously filed for bankruptcy protection.

Michael Ross, a local leader of the victims' group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said the Spokane Diocese has suffered from weak leadership for decades, and that reports of child abuse date back to at least the 1930s.