Eight Abusive Clerics Assigned to One Catholic Church in New Mexico, Now the Archdiocese of Santa Fe Wants the Parish’s Help to Settle Victim Claims

SANTA FE (NM)
SNAP - Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests [Chicago IL]

April 26, 2021

Eight of the ‘credibly accused’ priests or other religious listed on the website of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe worked at St. Therese in Albuquerque. Now, this poor parish, devastated by the effects of these unconscionable assignments over which it had no control, is being asked to contribute to the Archdiocese’s universal settlement in its Chapter 13 bankruptcy reorganization. We hope that the faithful who attend this church begin to speak up and ask questions about what the Archdiocese has done to prevent this from happening again.

While this parish and so many others grapple with the effects of child sex abuse within their faith community, the Archdiocese of Santa Fe is focused on the financials. We believe that victims have long held the true liability of the horrific crimes done to them, the accountability and responsibility must come from the institution and hierarchy which enabled these named perpetrators.

All churches within the Archdiocese of Santa Fe are being asked to contribute or even raise funds for the Archdiocese’s Chapter 13 bankruptcy settlement, and parishioners have committed to doing whatever is necessary to help the Archdiocese. Unfortunately, while that may be understandable, we believe the elephant in the room is still invisible to many church-goers. That is, they are assisting the very institution that could have prevented these abusive clerics from ever walking into their parishes. Moreover, unless the faithful demand institutional change, we believe that down the road the Church will again allow known perpetrators to occupy the position of honor in the sanctuary.

CONTACT: Michael McDonnell, SNAP Communications Manager (mmcdonnell@snapnetwork.org,  267.261.0578), Zach Hiner, SNAP Executive Director (zhiner@snapnetwork.org, 517.974.9009)

https://www.snapnetwork.org/eight_abusive_clerics_assigned_catholic_church_new_mexico_archdiocese_santa_fe_parish_help_settle_victim_claims_apr21