WASHINGTON
KUOW
[with audio]
By BILL RADKE & MATT MARTIN
When the Seattle Archdiocese released names of 77 abusive clergy last week, many Catholics heralded a new era of transparency.
But attorney Michael Pfau raised an eyebrow. He knew something that wasn’t noted in the press release – or the flurry of news stories that followed. A major trial for a notorious pedophile priest was scheduled for June, and Pfau was interviewing victims.
“Why did you release these names late on a Friday afternoon before a holiday weekend in January?” Pfau said he would ask Archbishop Peter Sartain. “Why isn’t the archbishop addressing this in person, taking questions as opposed to putting out a list?”
Pfau has represented hundreds of people in abused by clergy in Washington state. One of his current cases involves Fr. Michael Cody, who worked at St. Edward’s Seminary, St. Luke, Holy Family, St. James Cathedral, Sacred Heart in La Conner, St. Charles in Burlington and Assumption in Bellingham.
The church knew of accusations against Cody as early as 1962. In a March 19, 1962, letter to Archbishop Thomas Connelly, a psychiatrist said Cody had admitted to molesting eight girls age 12 or under and described him as exhibiting “sadistic tendencies toward boys.” Cody spent time in treatment, then returned to the archdiocese, where others within the church expressed concern as he moved from parish to parish, according to documents, where he continued to abuse kids.
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