Seattle, USA - Jury selection is expected to begin later this week in a sex abuse lawsuit against the Seattle Catholic Archdiocese, which would become one of few such cases across the country to go to trial.
In court papers, four men claim they were sexually assaulted by Patrick O'Donnell, a former Spokane priest currently residing in Skagit County. Former Seattle Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen is named in the suit, among other church officials who supervised O'Donnell.
Spending most of his 26-year tenure as a priest in Spokane, O'Donnell served as a parish priest in Seattle's St. Paul parish between 1976 and 1978. He came to that post, according to the plaintiffs, after church officials learned he had been sexually abusing boys in Spokane.
The plaintiffs argue in court documents that, on hearing of the assaults from O'Donnell's supervisors, Hunthausen directed him to sex predator treatment. Still, they say Hunthausen restored O'Donnell's ministerial credentials six weeks after he arrived in Seattle and appointed him to a leadership position at a parish school.
During his time in Seattle, plaintiff's attorney Michael Pfau says, O'Donnell was allowed to obtain a doctorate in psychology at the University of Washington. His thesis, Pfau contends, was titled "A Prisoner's Dilemma: Evoking Trust Between Children and Adults."
Responding to the allegations in a statement, Archbishop Alex Burnett said:"I deeply regret the abuse these victims endured. Our goal and our consistent practice are to offer fair and just settlements and to provide psychological and pastoral care for victims of clergy sexual abuse."
Such settlements have meant that none of the dozens of plaintiffs filing such suits against Seattle Catholic institutions has gone to trial. That could change in coming weeks if the current suit proceeds as planned.
Attorneys for both sides were resolving pretrial motions Monday, with jury selection expected to begin Wednesday before Superior Court Judge Paris Kallas. A date for opening statements has not been set.