BishopAccountability.org
	Archbishop Levada Deposition Postponed until January By Joseph B. Frazier Associated Press, carried in KGW [Portland OR] August 2, 2005 A federal bankruptcy judge has agreed to postpone the deposition of Roman Catholic Archbishop William Levada in the Portland Archdiocese sex abuse bankruptcy case until January. Levada was the Archbishop of Portland from 1986-1995. He now heads the Vatican-based Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which enforces Catholic doctrine. It is the post held by former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before his election as Pope Benedict XVI. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth Perris, in an order signed last Friday, agreed to allow Levada to give a deposition in Portland Jan. 12, 2006, rather than this month. Court papers stipulate that Levada agree to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the court and to waive any diplomatic immunity he may have or acquire because of his elevated status in the Vatican, a sovereign state. The court filings also state that Levada will let the scope of his testimony and the validity of any privileges he may claim be decided by the court. Archdiocese spokesman Bud Bunce said he did not know whether Levada had signed the agreement. In July of last year, the Portland Archdiocese became the first in the nation to file for bankruptcy because of lawsuits by parishioners who say when they were youths they were sexually abused by priests. The dioceses of Tucson, Ariz., and Spokane, Wash., followed suit. Lawyers representing the victims want Levada to testify about the handling of priest abuse cases during his time in Portland, as well as on whether archdiocese officials engaged in a pattern of behavior which made it easier for priests to continue abusing their victims. Last month, attorneys for the church offered to make Levada available if he could choose which questions he would answer during the Portland bankruptcy proceedings. Lawyers for the alleged victims rejected that condition. Bunce said that at one point there were plans to take Levada's deposition in California on Aug. 12, but that would have put too much of a burden on church lawyers who would be busy with the mediation of some claims scheduled to begin Aug. 8. About 60 sex-abuse cases are scheduled to go to mediation. There are 249 cases pending against the archdiocese. Many others have been settled out of court. During a deposition from Levada in April 2004 his lawyers asserted an "internal governance" of church affairs in directing him not to answer some questions, according to court filings. Lawyers for the alleged victims contended there is no "internal church governance" protection in Oregon nor is there "church autonomy doctrine" that protects a church official from answering certain questions. An attempt of a claimant to prove sexual abuse by the clergy is strictly secular, plaintiff's lawyers claimed in arguments dated July 22.