By Janet I. Tu
Seattle Times
May 19, 2009
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009235671_churchtrial19m.html
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| Former Seattle Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen pauses before answering a question in court Monday. |
With former Seattle Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen's testimony finished and one plaintiff settled, the focus of a trial against the Seattle Roman Catholic Archdiocese turns to the lone remaining plaintiff, who is expected to take the stand today. But Monday, the focus was mainly on Hunthausen, who testified that he knew nothing of an abusive priest's history when the priest served in Seattle in the late 1970s.
With former Seattle Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen's testimony finished and one plaintiff settled, the focus of a trial against the Seattle Roman Catholic Archdiocese turns to the lone remaining plaintiff, who is expected to take the stand today.
The plaintiff, now in his 40s, was abused several times when he was 13 by former Spokane priest Patrick O'Donnell.
O'Donnell, who has a long history of abusing boys, met the plaintiff at Seattle's St. Paul Church, where the priest served from 1976 to 1978. O'Donnell had been sent by the Spokane bishop to Seattle for sexual-deviancy treatment.
At issue is whether the Seattle Archdiocese -- and most notably, Hunthausen -- knew O'Donnell had an abusive history when he arrived here and how much responsibility it bears for the priest's actions.
Hunthausen, now 87, retired and living in Montana, walked to the witness stand slowly with the aid of a cane but spoke strongly and clearly.
Seattle's archbishop from 1975 to 1991, Hunthausen said he was never warned that O'Donnell had abused children and was astounded when he first heard of the abuse claims. He remembered "feeling so sad that I knew nothing about this."
The former archbishop acknowledged that in O'Donnell's case he did not follow the normal procedure of getting a written letter of recommendation from the sending bishop for any visiting priest serving in his diocese.
He said he simply trusted then-Spokane Bishop Bernard Topel, who was Hunthausen's close friend and spiritual adviser. Topel died in 1986.
Hunthausen said that back in the 1970s, when he learned Topel had a priest who wanted to study at the University of Washington, "I had no hesitation at all."
He realizes now "it was a breach on my part," he said. "I know I shouldn't have done that. I should've followed up."
When plaintiff's attorney Michael Pfau asked him whether that meant his close friend had sent him one of Spokane's most dangerous child molesters without warning him, Hunthausen said that was true. "That's why it hurts so much," he said.
Plaintiffs' attorneys asked Hunthausen whether he recalled placing James McGreal -- generally considered the Seattle Archdiocese's most notorious offender -- in various parishes and a hospital and removing him because he had abused children and patients. Hunthausen said no.
The plaintiffs' attorneys were trying to draw a parallel between Hunthausen's lack of memory regarding McGreal, and, by implication, his lack of reliable memory regarding O'Donnell.
By bringing up McGreal's case, plaintiffs' attorneys were also seeking to establish that the archdiocese back then didn't meet its responsibility to protect children from even its own abusive priests.
Archdiocese officials testified earlier in the trial that they allowed priests who had sexually abused children back in parishes, believing that those treated could be cured. The archdiocese at the time also didn't report offending priests to law enforcement.
When asked by Pfau if he knew in 1977 it was a crime for an adult to improperly touch a child, Hunthausen said it wasn't "in the forefront of my consciousness."
Hunthausen also allowed that no therapist ever directly told him it was OK to put a child molester back into ministry with children.
The trial stemmed from a 2005 lawsuit filed by four men. Two settled before the trial began. A third settled Monday morning for $550,000 -- the same amount that was on the table before the trial began.
Plaintiffs' attorney Timothy Kosnoff said his client settled because he didn't want to put his family through the ordeal of testifying about how the abuse damaged him and because he had achieved his aims of hearing archdiocese officials say publicly they had placed known child molesters in parishes, and hearing O'Donnell apologize.
"You all are seeing and hearing things" because two courageous men forced the archdiocese to trial, Kosnoff said of his clients. Kosnoff said the remaining plaintiff wants to see the trial to the end.
Janet I. Tu: 206-464-2272 or jtu@seattletimes.com
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