PORTLAND (OR)
The Oregonian
August 1, 2019
By Maxine Bernstein
The Archdiocese of Portland will pay nearly $4 million to settle claims by eight men who say they were sexually abused when they were boys in the 1970s and 1980s by a priest on the Oregon coast.
The Rev. Pius Brazauskas, who died in 1990, abused three of the men when they were between ages 5 and 12, according to a lawsuit they filed in January 2018. Brazauskas French kissed them, groped their genitals and pressed himself against them, they said.
The suit marked the first time anyone publicly named Brazauskas as an alleged child abuser, said their lawyer Peter B. Janci of Portland. After the suit was filed, five other men came forward to allege similar abuse.
Brazauskas was assigned to Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in North Bend at the time.
The initial plaintiffs in the case, identified only by initials as J.B., S.R. and S.F., will receive $675,000 each under the settlement. They are now in their 40s.
Of the five others, S.S. will receive $675,000, J.N. $475,000; B.S., $440,000, A.S. $125,000 and D.G. $100,000, according to court documents.
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