Priest apologizes for linking abuse, native culture

FAIRBANKS, Alaska -- A retired Jesuit official has written a letter of apology for remarks suggesting a priest's alleged abuse of native Alaskan boys wouldn't have much effect because their culture was "fairly loose" on sexual matters.

"I am aware that certain remarks made during my recent deposition have received widespread attention and that people have found them hurtful," the Rev. William Loyens, 77, wrote to Harold Brown, president of the Tanana Chiefs Conference. "For this I am sorry and I apologize."

The conference is a tribal consortium of 42 villages in Interior Alaska promoting unity and self-determination.

Loyens, who holds a doctorate in cultural anthropology, made the initial comments in a deposition that is part of a lawsuit brought by eight men who claim they were abused as boys in western Alaska villages.

The men contend the late Rev. Jules Convert, a Jesuit village priest, fondled them between 1955 and 1977 as they slept, or in one case, watched a movie.

"I do not believe I said, nor did I mean to imply, that sexual molestation would have little effect on Native Alaskans because their culture was `fairly loose' on sexual matters," Loyens, now retired and living in Spokane, Wash., said in the Monday apology.

"What I said, speaking as an anthropologist, is that I think the general American culture is much more uptight about sexual matters." Brown said he was happy Loyens wrote the letter.