ALAMOGORDO (NM)
Alamogordo Daily News
June 17, 2020
By Nicole Maxwell
https://www.alamogordonews.com/story/news/local/community/2020/06/17/catholic-priest-abuse-servants-paraclete-seek-lawsuit-dismissal-david-holley/5170809002/
The Servants of the Paraclete, named in a lawsuit over child sexual abuse by Catholic priests, asked a New Mexico court to dismiss the case in a June 10 response.
The Servants of the Paraclete is one of several defendants, including two Alamogordo Catholic parishes, named in the case filed in the 2nd Judicial District Court in Bernalillo County. The suit was filed by “John Doe” and alleged negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, vicarious liability, public nuisance and racketeering.
The Servants of the Paraclete denied the allegations in the original complaint, admitting only that, acting as a nonprofit corporation, it ran a facility in Albuquerque and Jemez Springs in 1971. The Servants of the Paraclete was originally founded as a recovery and rehabilitation facility for alcoholic and drug addicted clergy before they started receiving priests with pedophilic tendencies.
“The complaint fails to state claims, in whole or in part, upon which relief can be granted as a matter of law,” the response states.
Fr. David Holley was a patient at Servants of the Paraclete in the early 1970s before he was sent to Alamogordo to what was then St. Jude Mission Church. It is St. Jude Catholic Parish now.
The Servants of the Paraclete’s response states that many of the allegations are “completely irrelevant and immaterial to this action and/or because they constitute argument, not alleged facts.”
While the name of the victim in New Mexico who filed the suit remains anonymous, one of Holley’s Worcester Diocese victims remained vocal about his experience.
Holley abuse victim shares story
Phil Saviano was 11 years old when he first met the late Fr. David Holley in March 1964.
Saviano spoke to the Alamogordo Daily News via phone on May 11.
Saviano was in a catechism class in Holley’s second parish assignment at St. Denis Church in Douglas, Massachusetts. Holley was assigned to St. Denis for 18 months before being reassigned to another church within the Worcester Diocese, Saviano said.
“I was one of his earliest victims,” Saviano said. “My family lived just up the street from the church and the rectory. I was not an altar boy but I was Catholic.”
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