OREGON
Oregonian
By Bryan Denson | The Oregonian/OregonLive
on May 04, 2015
For many decades, a Servite friar who served at a Catholic shrine in Portland kept his sexual molestation of three boys a secret.
But the nature of Brother Gregory Atherton’s shame went public this month, when lawyers for 508 people who won a $660 million judgment against the Archdiocese of Los Angeles for clergy abuse released a massive trove of personnel files.
Atherton, who is 89 years old and living in an undisclosed location, fully acknowledged his wrongdoing and apologized to his Servite brothers, said the Rev. John Fontana, the provincial of the order’s roughly 55 friars in the U.S.
Once the allegations were substantiated, Atherton was immediately removed from public ministry, placed out of contact with children and placed under a “safety plan,” Fontana said. But Servites don’t turn their back on their own, he said, and they found work for him out of the public midst.
“One victim, in his adult life, decided he needed to talk to Brother Greg,” said Fontana, who witnessed what he described as a touching meeting between Atherton and the man. He recalled the words spoken by Atherton’s victim: “If I’m going to follow the gospel, I forgive you.”
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