CO Attorney General: 43 Catholic Priests Sexually Abused 166 Kids Since 1950

Patheos blog

Oct. 24, 2019

By Hemant Mehta

Yesterday, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser (below) announced the results of his office’s investigation into child sexual abuse in the Catholic archdioceses across the state. His 263-page report covered a period of 70 years, and what his staff found was damning:

The Report reveals that it is more likely than not that from 1950 to the present there have been at least 127 children victimized by 22 Roman Catholic priests in the Archdiocese of Denver, at least 3 children victimized by 2 Roman Catholic priests in the Diocese of Colorado Springs, and at least 36 children victimized by 19 Roman Catholic priests in the Diocese of Pueblo. Thus, over the last 70 years in Colorado, a total of at least 166 children have been victimized by 43 Roman Catholic priests.

If that’s not enough, 97 victims were apparently abused even after Catholic leaders were aware the priests in question were predators. They didn’t do anything to punish those priests… and then they struck again.

One priest alone, Rev. Harold Robert White, had 63 victims. He was shifted to six different parishes over the course of 15 years.

While none of the priests in question are currently serving in the ministry, that’s only as far as Weiser knows. Of those priests who are credibly accused of sexual abuse and still working in a Church, he wrote, “We know of none, but we also know we cannot be positive there are none.” Yikes…

If there’s any upside for the Catholic Church here, it’s that leaders appeared to work in conjunction with the AG’s office, though there’s doubt that the Church truly handed over all its personnel files. The AG didn’t have the legal power to obtain documents that the Church didn’t want to give his office.

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