NEW MEXICO
Renegade Catholic
Jay Nelson
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.
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