Group Reacts to Church Sex Abuse Claims

By Cole Miller
KRQE
December 9, 2014

http://krqe.com/2014/12/09/group-reacts-to-church-sex-abuse-claims/

[with video]

There are new sexual abuse allegations against priests and friars in New Mexico. A national group is now responding to those allegations and is trying to track down victims. The allegations involve seven men that at one time served the Gallup area.

“I believe there have been 12 Gallup area priests that have been publicly accused of molesting children in the past and this now brings the total up to 19,” Barbara Dorris said.

The Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, is reacting to a news report that an additional seven Catholic priests and friars are now facing allegations of sexual abuse against children. SNAP says they are all from the diocese in Gallup.

“We would like to see church officials do everything within their power to do outreach, to turn over the documents they have regarding these accusations regarding the clerics,” Dorris, SNAP’s Victims Outreach Director, said.

Lawsuits are piling up around the state from people who claim they were abused by priests when they were young.

“The average age a victim of abuse as a child can come forward and begin to deal with this is mid to late 40’s,” Dorris said.

SNAP now wants the church to reveal where these seven men may have worked.

“Gallup Bishop James Wall has a responsibility to step forward and display real leadership,” Dorris said.

A spokeswoman for the diocese would only say that none of them are still with the church.

Dorris says no one in the church wants to take the first step.

“It’s a problem because they are so busy pointing fingers at everyone else,” she said. “One Franciscan province says it’s not us, it’s the other one and the Bishop says I can’t control it, it’s Franciscans.”

Much of this new information comes while the diocese is going through bankruptcy.

As for Dorris, she hopes this shines a light on the problem and others come forward.

The Diocese of Gallup wouldn’t comment on this matter any further. KRQE News 13 called the Archdiocese of Santa Fe but they never called back.