A recent court filing in the Portland Archdiocese bankruptcy case shows that one of the priests accused of abusing half a dozen boys has asserted his Fifth Amendment right more than 80 times.

The attorney for the Reverend Donald Durand told The Oregonian that the accusations against his client are false.

Durand was ordained in 1958. He has served in parishes in Portland, Salem, Corvallis and Silverton, before his retirement in 2001.

Hundreds of accusations of sexual abuse have been made in the last few years against more than three dozen Oregon priests.

Attorney Gary Bisaccio says he has clients who have made accusations against Durand involving conduct from the 1960s to the early 1990s.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)