Denver Archbishop Aquila Appears to Downplay New Catholic Church Abuse Cases

DENVER (CO)
Colorado Times Recorder

December 4, 2020

By Madeleine Schmidt

Following the release of a report this week on the history of child sexual abuse at the hands of Colorado Catholic priests that identified dozens of new survivors and nine new perpetrators, Denver Archbishop Samuel Aquila seemed to once again downplay the severity of the abuse.

The supplemental report released Tuesday by the Colorado Attorney General’s office was a follow up to a report on clergy sexual abuse released last year. Tuesday’s report, which concludes a 22-month investigation into how Colorado’s three Catholic dioceses sheltered abusers over seven decades, identified an additional 46 abuse survivors and nine priests that came to light since the release of the first report.

Those cases include the late Rev. Charles B. Woodrich, known as Father Woody, who has long been touted by the church as an icon for altruism toward Denver’s homeless population, and Father Joe Walsh, who sexually abused children living at the Sacred Heart Orphanage in Pueblo.

In a letter published on the Denver Archdiocese’s website, Aquila seemed to diminish the severity of these new findings, underscoring the fact that in Colorado’s 212 documented abuse cases involving 52 priests, “over 85 percent of the incidents occurred more than 40 years ago,” and that “nearly half of the total incidents were committed by one man, Harold White.”

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