Leading U.S. bishop becomes part of abuse crisis

SPOKANE, Wash. -- Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane was among a group of Roman Catholic leaders who traveled to Rome in April to brief the pope on the child sex abuse scandal rocking the U.S. church.

Five months later, Skylstad's leadership is in question after revelations that a ex-priest in the Spokane Diocese with ties to Skylstad had a history of abusing boys.

An attorney for the boys says Skylstad and his predecessor bishops failed to protect children from the Rev. Patrick G. O'Donnell in the 1970s and 1980s.

Skylstad was a priest in Spokane during some of that time but was not elevated to bishop until 1990, after O'Donnell had left.

However, O'Donnell had worked with Skylstad as his associate pastor at Assumption parish in Spokane, and the two priests had shared living quarters in 1974-76.

Skylstad said he did not notice much unusual in O'Donnell's behavior when they worked together.