DENVER (CO)
Denver Post

December 1, 2020

By Elise Schmelzer

Revelations about Father Charles Woodrich force reckoning among institutions named after priest

For four decades, Denverites invoked Father Woody’s name as they cared for tens of thousands of people without homes or food.

The local legend, formally known as Father Charles Woodrich, died in 1991, but his legacy remained in annual giveaways to the poor, in one of Denver’s largest homeless shelters, in programs administered by Denver’s Catholic university and in a day shelter for those who are hungry.

That legacy of Denver’s so-called “patron of the poor” was obliterated Tuesday when Woodrich was named as a child sex abuser in a report spearheaded by the Colorado Attorney General’s Office. Woodrich, according to the report, molested three boys between the ages of 12 and 16 in the 1970s and 1980s while he served as the pastor of Holy Ghost…