BishopAccountability.org

5 new clergymen named in alleged abuse case

By Mike Springer
KOAT
December 09, 2014

http://www.koat.com/news/5-new-clergymen-named-in-alleged-abuse-case/30145210

[with video]

GALLUP, N.M. —Five new clergy members accused of sexual abuse are believed to be publicly named for the first time in a motion filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
 

The motion seeks financial and insurance statements from the province of Our Lady of Guadalupe and the province of St. John the Baptist.

Court documents name Rev. Julian Hartig and Brother Mark Schornack, who are believed to have been accused of abuse publicly in the past. The documents also name Fr. Ephraim Beltremea, Fr. Eugene Botello, Fr. Crispin Butz, Fr. Finnian Connolly and Fr. Clemetine Wottle as possible abusers.

It’s believed to be the first time those names have been mentioned publicly tied to any alleged abuse.

“We believe church officials should go and visit every parish where these men worked and beg anyone with knowledge of these crimes and misdeeds to come forward,” said Barbara Dorris, outreach director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priest. 

She said putting the names of those accused out there publicly could encourage other possible victims to come forward.

“For anyone who's harmed by them, to know that there are others who have been accused of this so they don't feel so alone. They feel it is safer to come forward. It's safer to reveal what's happened to them and to begin to heal,” Dorris said. 

The alleged abuse for those seven clergy happened between the 1960s. and 1970s, according to court documents.

The Diocese of Gallup said most of those men mentioned are dead. It added none of the men currently work for the Diocese of Gallup.

 




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