COLORADO
Courthouse News Service
By SAM REY
DENVER (CN) – A grieving woman who sought consolation from a Catholic priest claims in court that he took her clothes off, “prayed over her naked body,” sprinkled her with holy water and then sexually assaulted her.
Jane Doe No. 34 sued the Archdiocese of Denver in Denver County Court. The Archdiocese is the only defendant, though all the allegations concern its employee, Father Jose Saenz.
Doe claims she met Saenz when he was a pastor at Saint Mary of the Crown Mission in Carbondale, Colo. Saenz performed the funeral service for one of Doe’s friends, whose death left her “severely depressed to the point where she was having suicidal thoughts,” she says in the complaint.
The depression lasted for more than three months, she says, until July 4, 2011, when she called Saenz on the phone “to discuss her suicidal feelings.”
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