SEATTLE (WA)
Associated Press via KVEO
July 23, 2018
By Gene Johnson
Retired Seattle Archbishop Raymond G. Hunthausen, whose outspoken support for nuclear disarmament, gay rights and an expanded role for women in the church made him one of the most controversial U.S. bishops, has died at 96.
Hunthausen died Sunday at his home in Helena, Montana, the Seattle Archdiocese said.
Hunthausen, who was born in Montana, served as the bishop of Helena from 1962 to 1975 and as archbishop of Seattle from 1975 to 1991. He was the last living American bishop to have participated in all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council, called by the pope in the early 1960s to modernize the church, the archdiocese said.
* * *
Advocates for sex abuse victims say Hunthausen could have done more to protect young parishioners, but they also credit him with being more proactive than his predecessors or other bishops around the country. The archdiocese has paid out tens of millions of dollars to child sex abuse victims, including in many cases that stemmed from Hunthausen’s tenure.
In 2009, Hunthausen became one of the highest ranking Catholic officials in the U.S. to testify at a sex-abuse trial, one that pertained to a priest who had been transferred from Spokane to Seattle for deviancy treatment. Hunthausen granted the priest, Patrick G. O’Donnell, full powers of ministry without the documentation usually required for transferred priests.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.