NEW MEXICO
ABQ Journal
Two lawsuits filed Wednesday against the Archdiocese of Santa Fe took the unusual step of naming 40 alleged pedophile priests to show “patterns and practices of conduct” by the archdiocese that led to the sexual abuse of children.
The new complaints bring to 21 the total number of lawsuits filed against the archdiocese since 2012 by Albuquerque attorney Brad Hall on behalf of unidentified 20 men and a woman. Of those, 11 have been settled for undisclosed amounts, he said.
The lawsuits also call for the archdiocese to release documents showing the transfer of priests between parishes and to cite reasons for the transfers.
“Archbishop (Michael) Sheehan claims in the media a legacy of stopping the sexual abuse of minors by priests in the 1990s and 2000s, but still has not provided documents and transparency about the extent of the culture” that led to the abuses, the lawsuits contend.
The suits also contend that the archdiocese “did not go into each parish where these priests had been assigned and try to locate and help victims” in the 1990s and 2000s, when an estimated 200 lawsuits were filed against the archdiocese.
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