BROWNSVILLE (TX)
kurv.com [McAllen, TX]
February 3, 2022
By JSalinas
There will be a trial this spring for one of two lawsuits that claim top officials with the Catholic Diocese of Brownsville protected a priest accused of child sexual assault.
The civil suits were filed about two months after the Diocese in 2019 released its list of priests who had been accused of sexually abusing children. The plaintiffs claim one of the 12 priests on the list, Father Benedicto Ortiz, continuously sexually abused two siblings.
The Brownsville Herald reports the abuse is alleged to have begun in 1982 while Ortiz served at Our Lady of Guadalupe in Brownsville, and continued when the Bishop at the time moved him to Saint Anne Mother of Mary in Pharr. State District Judge Gloria Rincones set May 16th as the date for one of the lawsuits to be heard.