SANTA FE (NM)
Yahoo! [Sunnyvale CA]
February 20, 2024
By Gabrielle Porter, The Santa Fe New Mexican
An archdiocese-maintained list of Catholic clergy members who have been deemed “credibly accused” of sexual abuse in Northern New Mexico parishes should also include others named by their accusers in a bankruptcy case, an attorney argues.
The claim, from Albuquerque attorney Levi Monagle, who represented about 140 people who made accusations against clergy in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe’s federal Chapter 11 bankruptcy case, is the latest salvo in a years-long battle over accountability in New Mexico’s part of the Catholic sex abuse scandal.
The list, initially published in 2017 by the archdiocese under Archbishop John C. Wester, includes the names of living and dead priests and other members of the Catholic clergy deemed by the archbishop and an independent review board to be credibly accused of sexual abuse. The list was last revised in March 2023.
But Monagle argues in a motion filed Tuesday in federal bankruptcy court that as a condition of exiting bankruptcy proceedings last year, the archdiocese committed to including another group of priests on that list: those identified by “proof of claim” in the bankruptcy case. In bankruptcy court, proof of claim is a form that creditors use to exert a claim against a debtor, Monagle said in an interview Tuesday.
“In this instance, the proofs of claim filed on behalf of our clients … were the bankruptcy equivalent of our lawsuits against the archdiocese,” he said.
Monagle asserts more than 50 clergy members are missing from the list under that category.
His motion, though, focuses on one clergyman in particular: the late Rev. Richard Spellman, a former priest at Holy Rosary Parish in Albuquerque whom one of his clients has accused of sexual abuse dating back to about 1957. Spellman doesn’t appear on the list of credibly accused priests.
The Archdiocese of Santa Fe did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
Albuquerque attorney Thomas Walker, who has represented the archdiocese in the case, declined to comment on the motion, and as of Tuesday afternoon had not responded in court.
Monagle noted in his filing the archdiocese opposes his request that Judge David Thuma require inclusion of clergy named in proofs of claim, and he included copies of emails in which Walker takes issue with Monagle’s reading of the agreement.
“You are missing the most important part of that section of the Non-Monetary Covenants. Or, we certainly disagree with your interpretation,” Walker wrote in an email dated July 24, 2023. “Credibly accused is determined by the Archbishop in consultation with the Independent Review Board. It is not determined by the survivor who made the accusation.”
Walker added in his interpretation, clergy named in proofs of claim should be considered for inclusion on the list, “but it does not mandate inclusion on the list.”
Monagle said that’s not how he reads the agreement.
“These are two different categories [of clergy] and I think they’re pretty plainly treated as two separate categories in the bankruptcy plan,” he said.
Monagle said many of his clients gave their blessing to the bankruptcy plan in part because they believed the priests, brothers and deacons named in proofs of claim would be held publicly accountable, even if the archdiocese didn’t consider their accusations credible.
“These people voted as to whether or not this plan would ultimately be allowed to proceed,” Monagle said. “… It’s important to the survivors involved, including but not limited to my client … that their perpetrators be acknowledged as perpetrators.”
Monagle said the history of the Catholic Church’s sex abuse scandal shows allowing the archdiocese to be the arbiter of who is credibly accused is problematic.
“The Catholic Church … has fought like hell to maintain a monopoly over the ability to determine which allegations are credible and which are not,” he said. “It was an unmitigated disaster for decades and decades and decades.”