LINCOLN CITY (OR)
The News Guard
Published: August 16, 2005
By JOE HAPP
The News Guard
"I'm not trying to bring down the church," said Tidewater resident Peter Carlich. "I'm looking for closure, for justice."
Carlich, 59, is one of 68 men currently making claims of sexual abuse by priests against the Archdiocese of Portland. He is seeking $10.2 million in damages and alleges he was molested as a sophomore at the now-defunct Tillamook Catholic High School by the late Rev. Gerald Dezurick, a local parish priest. The claims are now in crucial settlement talks that are expected to run through the middle of September.
Carlich's lawsuit was merged with the others after the archdiocese declared bankruptcy in July of 2004.
"We're not even litigants any more; we're creditors," he said, with a note of bitterness creeping into his voice.
Carlich said he decided to sue the archdiocese after sex abuse charges against priests in the Boston Archdiocese surfaced a few years ago. Unlike many men he knows who have similar histories, he said he has no trouble being open about it.