The Portland Catholic Archdiocese Priest Abuse Document Archive

Portland Archdiocese to release documents related to sex abuse claims

Posted April 17, 2007

The move is part of the Catholic Church’s bankruptcy reorganization plan

By Ryan Geddes
LocalNewsDaily.com
Apr 17, 2007

The Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon plans to release to the public internal documents about church personnel accused of child abuse over the last 50 years as part of its recently approved bankruptcy settlement, church officials and lawyers for sex abuse claimants announced Tuesday.

On Friday, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth Perris confirmed the Oregon Catholic Church’s proposed Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan, which was filed in 2004 after a wave of child sex abuse claims filed against priests and other church employees. That agreement calls for the court to approve about $50 million in settlements and to establish a fund for future payouts of about $20 million.

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Deal in Portland Archdiocese Bankruptcy

Posted April 13, 2007

Foxnews.com
Friday, April 13, 2007

PORTLAND, Ore. —

A judge overseeing the bankruptcy filing of the Archdiocese of Portland will confirm a proposed $75-million deal for current and future sex abuse claims against priests and other church officials, according to court documents filed Friday.

The decision from U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth Perris leaves intact the compensation proposed in a plan negotiated by the plaintiffs and the archdiocese, the first in the nation ever to declare bankruptcy.

The judge asked lawyers to make one change and draw up final documents for her approval.

About 175 people who claimed they were molested by priests or other church officials have agreed to settle their cases for about $52 million.

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THE SECRETS OF A SMALL-TOWN PRIEST

Posted October 15, 2000

MICHAEL WILSON - The Oregonian

October 15, 2000

Correction: PUBLISHED CORRECTION RAN 10/16/2000, FOLLOWS:
* University of Portland is affiliated with the Congregation of Holy Cross. An incorrect affiliation was reported Sunday in an article about the Rev. Maurice Grammond’s history of sexual abuse.

The boy would talk to God while he walked to school.

God, let me do well on my test today. God, let me make a friend today. God, let me not get beat up today.

The boy was new to the small mill town of Oakridge, east of Eugene, a rougher place than anywhere he’d ever lived. He was 12 years old, and his was a boy’s Catholicism. He believed God was looking out for him, listening to him.

He enjoyed Mass at St. Michael’s Catholic Church. He wanted to be an altar boy, to please his mother, but more important, to please a girl he saw at church.

He asked the priest to put him on the list and checked every week, but never saw his name.

"Then something wonderful happened," the boy, now grown into a middle-age man, recalled. "Or so I thought at the time."

A new priest came to Oakridge.

The boy had never heard of the Rev. Maurice Grammond. No one in 1950s Oakridge had. Now everyone knows him. An obscure parish priest has become the Archdiocese of Portland’s greatest shame.

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