SEATTLE (WA)
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
By CLAUDIA ROWE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Jessie Dye, the controversial outreach coordinator who worked with dozens of people claiming sexual molestation at the hands of priests, has resigned from the Seattle Archdiocese but plans to continue working with abuse sufferers around the country.
In Seattle, Dye positioned herself as an impartial mediator between victims and the Catholic Church, but she had been trained as a lawyer and kept active her membership in the Washington State Bar until three months ago -- a fact that many abuse victims were outraged to learn.
Advocacy groups have pleaded with Archbishop Alex Brunett to replace Dye with a social worker or a therapist. The new liaison for victims, however, is Denise Aubuchon, an assistant director for human resources at the archdiocese, who will retain her current title and personnel duties while taking calls on the priest-abuse hot line.
"I don't know what kind of message that sends," said Tim Kosnoff, a lawyer who has settled several high-profile cases in Seattle on behalf of abuse victims. "Frankly, they'd do better going with somebody like a clinical social worker."