NEW MEXICO
The New Mexican
By Uriel J. Garcia
The New Mexican
Two men filed lawsuits Tuesday against the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and two of its Albuquerque parishes, saying they were sexually abused as boys by parish priests in the 1960s and ’80s.
In the complaints, the men allege the priests were among dozens who were part of a “culture of sex abuse.”
The cases are the latest in a series that began in the 1990s, accusing priests employed by the archdiocese of rape and other sexual crimes. The new suits say the archdiocese was negligent by failing to properly screen and supervise pedophile priests, and fostered a system that allowed them to flourish in the church.
Albuquerque lawyer Brad D. Hall is representing the victims, who are identified in court documents as “John Doe B” and “John Doe C.”
Last year, Hall filed suits on behalf of 10 other men who accused a long-deceased priest in Northern New Mexico of sexually abusing them when they had served as his altar boys.
The complaints filed Tuesday say the Archdiocese of Santa Fe created “one of the highest ratios in the United States of number of pedophiles to total priests employed.” Out of a total of 150 parish priests working for the archdiocese in Central and Northern New Mexico between the 1960s and ’80s, the complaints say, 40 were accused of child sexual abuse.
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