WASHINGTON
KGW
03/19/2005
Associated Press
Two lawsuits have been filed against a Northwest seminary, alleging that officials there were told by a former priest that he had molested boys at its now-defunct St. Thomas Seminary in Kenmore.
Attorneys representing 30 alleged victims of the former priest, Patrick G. O'Donnell, last week sued the Sulpician Seminary of the Northwest, which operated St. Thomas, and the Associated Sulpicians of the United States, based in Baltimore.
The complaints say O'Donnell told seminary officials he had molested boys there between 1968 and 1971.
A call to the Associated Sulpicians was not immediately returned Saturday.
The seminary sent O'Donnell to sexual deviancy counseling, but did not prevent his becoming a priest. O'Donnell led a parish in Spokane and worked as a Boy Scout chaplain, a youth director for the diocese and director of a diocesan youth basketball league, said Seattle attorney Michael Pfau, who filed the lawsuits.
The Sulpicians wrote glowing recommendations for O'Donnell's ordination, Pfau said, telling the Spokane bishop that he was "good priestly material."