Friday, October 09 2009
Great Falls Tribune
greatfallstribune.com
By TRAVIS COLEMAN
Tribune Staff Writer
Native Americans sexually abused by Jesuit priests have less than two months to seek damages from the bankrupt church.
The Society of Jesus, Oregon Province filed for bankruptcy protection in February in the wake of more than 200 lawsuits alleging that priests sexually abused children in northwestern states.
One condition was that victims have until Nov. 30 to file an abuse lawsuit against the Jesuits. After that, no claims can be brought against them. The Jesuits have since 2001 paid out more than $25 million to sex abuse victims.
Attorneys have in recent weeks canvassed the state looking for Native Americans to come forward with claims, and one group stopped in Great Falls and the Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation on Thursday.
Attorneys Kenneth Roosa of Alaska and Rebecca Rhoades of California accompanied Elsie Boudreau, a clergy sex abuse victim who is now reaching out to other victims. Boudreau said the church routinely dumped their "problem priests" in remote Native American communities, where they continued to molest and rape children. Boudreau added that there are nearly 300 victims of clergy sex abuse in her native Alaska.
Boudreau was abused by Father James Poole starting when she was 10. The molestation continued until she was a student at Carroll College in Helena. She wrote him a letter when she was 19 demanding that the abuse stop and it did. Poole later admitted the abuse and Boudreau settled with the Jesuits.
"It has allowed me to find my voice and for the first time be OK in my body," Boudreau said.
The attorneys believe there are clergy sex abuse victims in Montana because priests who molested elsewhere were relocated to Indian mission schools in Montana.
"It's highly unlikely they stopped molesting down here," Roosa said, adding that they have gotten no claims yet.
Attorneys are focusing on claims against multiple now-deceased priests, including Father Augustine Ferretti and Father Bernard McMeel, who were believed to have spent time on either the Flathead, Rocky Boy's or Fort Belknap Indian Reservations. They had histories of molesting children, Roosa said.
Another law firm — Tamaki Law Offices of Yakima, Wash. — has also been in Montana to search for clergy sex abuse victims. Another group of attorneys, the Northwest Attorneys for Justice, are also looking for victims.
Tamaki attorney Bryan Smith said they have been holding meetings on the Flathead, Fort Belknap and Crow reservations. They have about 15 claims so far from Montana.
"We have been slowly but surely turning up survivors," Smith said.
According to attorneys, there are claims against at least five priests who served at the St. Paul's Indian Mission during and before the 1970s.
"The more people we can bring forward, the better," Smith said. "There really is no harm in coming forward in telling your story and making a claim."
The Jesuits' bankruptcy filing does not mean that the society won't be able to pay claims, but there also is no guarantee of compensation if a claim is filed.
Boudreau's abuse victim's network can be reached at 907-529-2843. Tamaki Law Offices can be reached at 800-801-9564.