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  Group Protests after Priest Sex Suit Dismissed

Seattle Post-Intelligencer [Seattle WA]
February 16, 2005

Members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests held a public protest at the Roman Catholic archdiocese headquarters in Seattle yesterday after the dismissal of a sex abuse lawsuit against the archdiocese stemming from the behavior of a former priest.

Friday, King County Superior Court Judge Paris Kallas dismissed Tim McKenna's claim against the Seattle Archdiocese, noting that the alleged abuse by former priest John Cornelius did not occur when McKenna was in the "protective custody" of the archdiocese.

McKenna, 46, of Idaho, said the now-defrocked priest sexually abused him from 1969 to 1975. He said he plans to appeal the decision. He said yesterday's protest was to let the "archdiocese know they can't bully me around."

"I'm not going away," McKenna said after the protest. "They prevailed legally but missed their moral obligation."

The Vatican removed Cornelius from the priesthood in 2004 after a church investigation into claims that he regularly sexually abused boys, often spending thousands of dollars of church money to buy them gifts. Cornelius could not be reached for comment.

Jim Biteman, a survivor's network representative in Seattle, said the group believes the church is stonewalling on abuse claims. The protest, he said, also speaks to the legal tactics of the archdiocese.

Seattle Archdiocese spokesman Greg Magnoni did not return calls seeking comment.

 
 

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