PORTLAND (OR)
The Oregonian/OregonLive
August 21, 2018
By Elliot Njus
The leader of the Archdiocese of Portland on Monday said he was shocked and discouraged over recent revelations of child sex abuse by priests and the subsequent cover-ups by church leaders.
In his first public comments since a Pennsylvania grand jury report detailed decades of abuse at the hands of 300 Roman Catholic priests in that state, Archbishop Alexander K. Sample apologized for harm done to the victims of abuse and called the latest allegations evidence of an “institutional and spiritual” failure.
His written statement also addressed the July resignation of prominent former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who served as archbishop of Washington, D.C. McCarrick faces allegations of sexually abusing a child nearly five decades ago as a New York priest. McCarrick, the first cardinal in history to step down in connection with the unfolding sexual abuse scandal, denies the allegations.
Portland’s archdiocese was driven to bankruptcy in 2004 after settling more than 100 claims of abuse at the hands of clergy and facing dozens more. It was the first Catholic diocese to file for bankruptcy over child sex abuse claims.
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