Sanchez Is Gone but Questions Linger

By Jay Nelson
Renegade Catholic
January 22, 2012

http://www.renegadecatholic.com/blog/2012/01/sanchez-questions-linger/

Welcome! We've been waiting.

The tenth Archbishop of Santa Fe, the Most Reverend Robert Fortune Sanchez, who resigned in disgrace for gross mishandling of clergy abuse among his priests while taking sexual advantage of a number of young women, has died. And so, we are led to believe, ends the crisis here.

The crisis, maybe, but not the mystery. One of his close associates, Fr. Arthur J. Perrault, a notorious perpetrator that Sanchez covered up for and gave repeated "second chances" to, fled just before being publicly accused and his location is still unknown. Sanchez' own 760-page deposition under oath, taken over four days, has still not been fully released, even after lawsuits by news media. Why? What secrets still lurk?

What has been revealed indicates that as a shepherd of his flock, the archbishop knew little and cared less. The beloved and charismatic leader admitted under oath that he asked no questions, launched no investigations, never looked in anyone's personnel files, and never once tried to minister to victims, victims' families, or parishes where accused priests had been removed. The single time he ever spoke to civil authorities was once when they called him: he simply felt he had no responsibility whatsoever to report anything to anyone.

Meanwhile, the Archbishop was keeping busy with members of his flock. He admitted to having relations with at least 11 young women after becoming New Mexico's highest prelate, the former high school ethics teacher even seducing at least one in the chapel of the archepiscopal residence.

And all this while sexually-disturbed clergy who had been turned over to the Servants of the Paraclete in Jemez Springs for treatment were dispersed to parishes throughout the Archdiocese without supervision or warning. New Mexico became a dumping ground for the toxic waste of the Catholic Church.

Sanchez not only victimized young women himself, he victimized the entire Archdiocese. The victims who suffered, the faithful who depended on him for protection, everyone was betrayed by him.

So let those who mourn remember his good points, his ready smile and soft handshake, his charisma, the pride he brought to the Hispanic community. But let them also ask themselves some hard questions about whether such adulation is deserved, what makes shepherds worthy of their trust. Because if they don't, sure as night follows day, someday the forgiven man of sin will be forgotten, and sooner or later a new monster will appear.