December 20, 2005

Spokane diocese plans ads seeking abuse complaints

SPOKANE (WA)
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SPOKANE -- The Catholic Diocese of Spokane plans advertisements seeking alleged victims of sexual abuse by priests who have not come forward to file a complaint.

As part of its bankruptcy case, the church hopes the $160,000 campaign will help determine how many people were abused by clergy in Eastern Washington. The deadline to file is March 10.

Ads are to appear in USA Today and the Jan. 8 western edition of Parade Magazine, as well as in newspapers in Washington state.

The move resembles that of the Archdiocese of Portland, the first in the nation to file for bankruptcy in the face of mounting sex abuse claims, which began running ads in January to alert victims of an April deadline.

Posted by kshaw at December 20, 2005 07:22 AM