Unlocking Sex Abuse Scandals in the Church at Home and Abroad

In December of 2018, the Archdiocese of Santa Fe filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. According to the website United States Courts, this filing allows an entity to stay in business and pay creditors over time, as opposed to total liquidation. This filing occurred as a result of the civil litigation the church has been dealing with to address decades of sexual abuse of minors by the clergy ...

According to The Santa Fe New Mexican, on March 29 a new lawsuit was filed against the Church alleging that the Church had knowledge of priests abusing students at St. Catherine’s Indian School but never took legal action. There is also documentation in the form of a letter from a priest to the archbishop and the pope that suggests there may have been up to 70 victims. Though the case was or...

Father Adam Ortiz y Ortega, who was a pastor at Santa Maria de la Paz, was accused in 2013 of crude and inappropriate behavior and was removed from the cathedral for a brief period before being reinstated and cleared of the allegations, according to an article in the Santa Fe New Mexican. Some parishioners were confused and concerned by this and left Santa Maria de la Paz for other congregations. ...

Pope Francis has also recently validated claims of sexual abuse of nuns by priests. This abuse has come to light following the establishment of the #Metoo movement that acknowledged that where there is a an imbalance of power, adults can also be victims of abuse. The Women Church World magazine attested that the scandal involves nuns being forced to abort the babies of priests or to bear children that priests wo...