Bankruptcy Just Latest Shield for Rapist Priests

By Martin J. Chavez
Albuquerque Journal
December 7, 2018

https://www.abqjournal.com/1255186/bankruptcy-just-latest-shield-for-rapist-priests.html

Faced with civil and possible criminal litigation from victims of the horrific rapes of children by area priests, the Archdiocese of Santa Fe has announced its intent to declare bankruptcy. Archbishop John C. Wester disingenuously says this is to assist the “pursuit of justice for all victims.” The Chapter 11 filing is simply a way of avoiding responsibility and is just one part of a continuing cover-up by the Archdiocese.

Contemplate for a moment the horror of a child raped by a priest and the impact of that rape on the child as he or she grows into adulthood. The trauma doesn’t go away. I’m lucky to have spent eight years in parochial school – St. Charles and Holy Ghost – the latter years as an altar boy, and was never a victim. But some of my friends weren’t so fortunate, and I write this for them.

We now know that the Archdiocese was substantially aware for years that its priests were raping children and that it did little or nothing to rectify it. Most of what it did was cover it up and shield itself from the justice afforded victims through the courts. Here are just a few of the ways:

• To avoid liability, the Archdiocese began incorporating each parish separately to shield the individual parishes from the conduct of its rapist priests. Instead of moving priests from parish to parish, they moved assets from parish to parish.

• It then formed a trust to keep real estate away from victims. And as each victim comes forward, the church’s attorneys have grilled them as they would liars, questioning their integrity and their pain, as any insurance defense lawyer might in an auto accident case. They threaten to subpoena parents, children and siblings of victims. Most New Mexico Catholics don’t appreciate that our “one holy and apostolic church” is actually hundreds of separate corporate entities and that the place where Mass is held is held in a trust, primarily to keep it out of reach of rape victims.

New Mexico limits the period within which a criminal or civil action can be brought. But many childhood rape victims bury their trauma for decades only to have a triggering event bring it back to their immediate memory, well past any statute of limitations, and some are simply too ashamed to come forward. Other states have taken a different tact, removing any time period within which a rapist can be criminally charged. And that makes sense. Why should a rapist priest be allowed to escape jail just because he successfully escaped prosecution by hiding or taking advantage of efforts by the Archdiocese over decades to cover up the full nature of his depravity? But the Archdiocese has lobbied against such measures. It has yet to support a waiver of the limitations on civil actions, which would allow victims to come into the light and seek their justified compensation. Today, Sabine Griego, who has been accused in civil lawsuits of raping over 30 children, lives free in the beautiful mountains near Las Vegas, N.M. Almost no pedophile priests in New Mexico have gone to jail.

Though it is one of the wealthiest corporate entities in New Mexico and pays no taxes, the Archdiocese cries poverty as an excuse to avoid responsibility, some arguing that the Church will have to close its doors. A transplant, Archbishop Wester doesn’t understand that most New Mexico Catholics would prefer honesty and fairness and the word of God over a fancy church building and a cover-up of rapist priests. These victims are our children, our spouses and our neighbors. Whatever good Wester thinks he’s done by finally disclosing the names of pedophile priests has been washed away.

My Catholic upbringing taught me that the road to forgiveness passes first through acknowledgment. Archbishop Wester ought not be allowed to claim mea culpa while he actively works to deprive victims of justice. We are all hopeful that N.M. Attorney General Hector Balderas will not waver and will find truth for the victims. And for those rapist priests? The Legislature should remove the statute of limitations so that they can be prosecuted and victims can experience whatever healing can be found in our justice system.