A former Jesuit official recently testified that "fairly loose" sexual practices among Alaska Natives would have lessened the impact of sexual abuse, the Associated Press reports.

In a deposition, Rev. William "Lom" Loyens, 77, seemed to downplay the claims of four Native men who say they were abused by a Jesuit priest. Loyens said that the alleged abuse would not have affected someone from Athabascan and Yupi'k culture as much as it would have affected a non-Native.

As a former Jesuit Superior of Alaska, Loyens oversaw the late Rev. Jules Convert, the target of the abuse lawsuit by the four men. The mens' attorney said Loyens is attempting to justify Convert's alleged abuse.

"It is absolutely unacceptable and beyond belief that after all the publicity, all the anguish, all the scandal, and all the pain caused by priests who have raped and abused children, that Father Loyens ... would try to justify, minimize and excuse the sexual abuse of my clients by a priest on the basis of their culture," the lawyer told the AP.

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'Loose' culture cited in abuse suit (AP 3/7)