NEW MEXICO
KOAT
By Doug Fernandez
JEMEZ SPRINGS, N.M. —For years, many priests suspected of sexual abuse and those who admitted to it were sent to the Servants of the Paraclete in Jemez Springs.
That wasn’t the original purpose of the facility, but over the years it’s become best known for that disturbing legacy.
In the late 1940s, the servants were founded in northern New Mexico and opened a center near Jemez Springs. Its original purpose was to help priests with alcohol or emotional problems.
Over the years the focus expanded.
In 1963, the Rev. Eugene Fitzgerald wrote a letter to the Vatican to address to the pope. In the pages was a summary of reverend Fitzgerald’s thoughts on problem priests, specifically pedophiles, wanting them removed from the active ministry.
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