Montana victims recall abuse

Of more than 500 Native Americans who claimed to be abused between the 1950s and the 1980s by Jesuits across the Northwest, 140 of them came from Montana.

Now, a little more than a month after the Portland-based order of Catholic Jesuit priests agreed to pay a $166.1 million settlement, many of those Montana victims are in Great Falls this week for compensation negotiations, the Great Falls Tribune reports.

“It’ll take about 10 weeks to complete it all,” says Andrew Chasan, whose firm, along with three others, represented 141 victims, including about 40 from Montana.

“It’s hard,” Chasan said. “These are very difficult stories. … This may be only the second or third time they’ve told this story in their lives.”

Most of the time, Chasan was the first person who the victims ever told, he said.

“The number 500 is just the tip of the iceberg,” Chasan said. “But the shame of it all keeps (other victims) from coming forward.”

SOURCE AND FULL ARTICLE

Montana victims recall Jesuit priests’ abuse (Great Falls Tribune)