DENVER (CO)
Denver Post
By Eric Gorski
Denver Post Staff Writer
Denver Roman Catholic Archbishop Charles Chaput faxed letters Tuesday to 11 parishes across Colorado where a priest accused of child molestation formerly served, asking parishioners to come forward with information about child sexual abuse.
In response to a report Tuesday in The Denver Post detailing the allegation of abuse, Chaput also issued a statement detailing the steps the church has taken to protect children.
A 49-year-old Southern California man, Brandon Trask, notified the archdiocese this year that Harold Robert White had molested him in the early 1970s when White was pastor of St. Patrick's Church in Minturn, a small Eagle County town.
The 72-year-old White, who lives in a Denver retirement community, has said he does not remember Trask or the alleged abuse.
In the letters sent Tuesday to the 11 parishes where White served between 1960 and 1993, Chaput reiterates previous statements that White has been out of active ministry since 1993 and was laicized, or removed from clerical status, by the Vatican last year. Chaput also includes the years White served at the specific parish he is addressing.