Frontline – Catholic Church sex abuse story of Native Americans in Alaska

FRONTLINE reveals a little-known chapter of the Catholic Church sex abuse story: decades of abuse of Native Americans by priests and other church workers in Alaska. In The Silence, FRONTLINE producer Tom Curran and reporter Mark Trahant examine the legacy of abuse by a number of men who worked for the Catholic Church along Alaska’s far west coast in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They would leave behind a trail of hundreds of claims of abuse, making this one of the hardest hit regions in the country. video of show  is at: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/the-silence/

Frontline Investigates Church Sex Abuse in Alaska

The Silence – Tuesday, April 19, 2011, at 9 P.M. ET on PBS
FRONTLINE reveals a little-known chapter of the Catholic Church sex abuse story: decades of abuse of Native Americans by priests and other church workers in Alaska.

In The Silence, the first of two magazine segments airing Tuesday, April 19, 2011, at 9 P.M. ET on PBS, FRONTLINE producer Tom Curran and reporter Mark Trahant examine the legacy of abuse by a number of men who worked for the Catholic Church along Alaska’s far west coast in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They would leave behind a trail of hundreds of claims of abuse, making this one of the hardest hit regions in the country….

“This was 1970,” says Anchorage attorney Ken Roosa, who represented the Alaska victims in a class action law suit against the church. “It was absolutely unthinkable that the Catholic Church could be involved in the sexual abuse of children. There was nowhere for the kids to hide. There was no one they could talk to. The adults believed the abusers over their own children. It was a perfect storm for molestation.” As part of the church’s class action settlement with the victims, the bishop of Fairbanks, Donald Kettler, was asked to do something that no other bishop in the country had done on this scale: return to all of the villages where the abuse occurred and apologize to the victims in person.

In December 2010, FRONTLINE gained unique access to Bishop Kettler’s visit to the village of St. Michael — frequently referred to as “ground zero” for the abuse — where the bishop would come face-to-face with the reality of the abuse that the church had refused to acknowledge for years.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/the-silence/

Northwest Jesuits will pay $166 million to sex abuse victims

Northwest Jesuits will pay $166 million to sex abuse victims in bankruptcy settlement March 25, 2011

Bryan Denson, The Oregonian The Northwest’s Jesuits and their insurers have agreed to pay $166.1 million in a bankruptcy settlement aimed at compensating nearly 500 people with active claims of sexual abuse by priests.

The payout is one of the largest ever made by a religious organization in the United States to abuse victims. The settlement, part of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, is designed to restore financial stability to the Portland-based province….

Creditors include about 460 people with sexual-abuse claims against priests and another 15 or 20 with physical-abuse claims, Tamaki said. They are expected to vote in favor of the settlement some time in the next 45 days, with payments likely reaching them by early fall, he said.
Tamaki’s firm, headquartered in Yakima, represents nearly 100 people who he says were sexually abused in Washington and Montana.

“For them, it’s a record-breaking settlement and a day of justice for Native Americans who were sexually molested,” he said….
Under terms of the global settlement, the Northwest’s Jesuits, formally known as the Society of Jesus, Oregon Province, will pay $48.1 million and their insurer will pay $118 million. About $6 million from the settlement will go into a pool for future claims, he said.
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2011/03/northwest_jesuits_will_pay_166.html

Washington woman says Jesuit priest abuse ‘every single day … was a nightmare’ March 25, 2011, The Oregonian By Kimberly A.C. Wilson
….This morning, three years after she came forward as the initial plaintiff in a 21-plaintiff federal lawsuit in Spokane against priests from St. Mary’s — a suit filed three months before the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus declared bankruptcy — Mendez, now 55, is poised for a measure of justice.

The Northwest’s Jesuits and their insurers agreed to pay $166.1 million in a bankruptcy settlement aimed at compensating nearly 500 people with active claims of sexual abuse by priests in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington, including Mendez.
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2011/03/washington_woman_says_jesuit_p.html

21-plaintiff federal lawsuit in Spokane against priests from St. Mary’s
http://media.oregonlive.com/portland_impact/other/10%20-%20Amended%20Complaint%20for%20Damages.pdf