A new report revealed that 43 Catholic priests in Colorado sexually abused at least 166 children over the past 70 years.
The report, compiled by the Colorado Attorney General’s office with the support of the state’s three Catholic dioceses, found over 120 incidents of abuse in the Archdiocese of Denver, at least 36 incidents in the Diocese of Pueblo, and at least three instances of abuse in the Diocese of Colorado Springs going back to 1950. An examination of diocesan records in conjunction with follow-up investigations found most of the victims were boys between the ages of 10 and 14, and just five priests were responsible for 102 cases of abuse.
Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver issued an apology “for the pain and hurt that this abuse has caused.”
“I am sorry about this horrible history — but it is my promise to continue doing everything I can so it never happens again. My sincere hope is that this report provides some small measure of justice and healing,” said Aquila.
Over two-thirds of the victims were sexually abused in the 1960s and 1970s, although at least 20 incidents occurred between the 1980s and 1990s. The most recent case of sexual abuse, as reported by the victims and documented in diocesan files, occurred in Denver in 1998. The most recent incident in the Colorado Springs diocese was around 1986, while the most recent case in Pueblo was in 1989. There was also a sexual misconduct incident in Pueblo in 2011.
The report notes that victims of clerical sexual abuse “steadily continue to report their past abuse.” It adds that it took on average 19.5 years before a Colorado diocese “concretely restricted” a priest’s authority after receiving an allegation of sexual abuse. Seven cases of abuse never received any restriction. In the past decade, however, dioceses in Colorado have “immediately suspended the powers of any accused priest pending further investigation.”
Despite a decline in cases of sexual abuse and stronger accountability measures by the church, the attorney general’s office said it could not conclude with certainty that there are no Colorado priests currently in ministry who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse. The report also noted the dioceses’ records and practices were flawed in such a way that it was “impossible to honestly and reliably conclude that no clergy child sex abuse has occurred in Colorado since 1998.”
