Anchorage Daily News

The head of the Jesuit order for the Northwest on Thursday denied the allegation in a new lawsuit that Alaska became a magnet or hiding place for problem priests.

The lawsuit filed this week in Bethel on behalf of 43 Alaska Natives accuses Catholic priests and volunteers of sexual abuse years or even decades ago, when they were children.

It's the latest in a string of lawsuits over the years, most of them targeting priests who came to Alaska from the Society of Jesus, Oregon Province. The province includes Alaska, Oregon, Washington, Montana and Idaho.

In a written statement Thursday morning, Father Patrick Lee, the head or provincial for the Oregon province, didn't address the new allegations of sexual abuse or other specifics from the lawsuit.

But he disputed the broad allegation contained within the lawsuit that Alaska became a dumping ground for pedophile priests.

"I have never seen any evidence of that," Lee said in the statement. "Jesuits requested to be assigned to this mission. It was seen as a very challenging place to go, but one which attracted Jesuits who had a deep desire to spread the gospel."

The lawsuit claims the Jesuit order intentionally sent the priests to isolated Alaska villages with little or nothing in the way of law enforcement. People had no place to report allegations of child sexual abuse, the suit says. There also weren't health care providers trained to detect signs of abuse, it says.

The Jesuits have settled a number of earlier Alaska claims, paying out $59 million since 2004.

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