Rev. Thomas Behnke-Assignment Record

Rev. Thomas Behnke, o.c.d. (aka Richard Thomas Behnke)

Summary of Case: Behnke was accused of sexually abusing at least six boys in several dioceses, all beginning when the boys were in about the sixth grade. There were at least two formal complaints to religious authorities, one in 1959 and another in 1963. The abuse is said to have occurred in parish rectories and on trips. Behnke organized religious retreats for boys under the age of 15 to Mexico, Japan, Ireland, Greece, and France. He lived at the Servants of the Paraclete in New Mexico from the mid-1990s on, and died in November 2008.

Ordained: 1949

Start	Stop	Assignment	Town/Accusations	State	Position	Notes
1949 San Antonio archbisop was Robert Emmet Lucey (1941-1969)	1950	Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Saint Teresa	San Antonio	TX	6/8	Parish had a grade school with 409 students and a high school with 62 students.
1950 Dallas bishop was Joseph Patrick Lynch (1911-1954)	1954	Mount Carmel Preparatory Seminary	Dallas	TX	Behnke is listed as "Very Rev." and as Vicar and Director 1951-1954.	Seminary had 19-33 students.
1954	1955	Monastery of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and the Little Flower	Oklahoma City • Accused in a 2002 lawsuit of having sexually abused a boy "for years" while at this parish. (Turley Law Center October 17, 2009)	OK	7/8
1955	1963	Immaculate Heart of Mary	Pearsall • Behnke is said to have abused children in the San Antonio diocese as early as 1959. (Turley Law Center October 17, 2009) There was a formal complaint from a boy in 1959 to religious authorities and one from 1963. (Latin American Herald Tribune Oct. 23, 2009)	TX	3/3, 1/3, 1/2, 1/4
1955	1963	Missionary Catechists of the Immaculate Hearts of Jesus and Mary (Violetas)		TX		This was a mission of Immaculate Heart of Mary in Pearsall.
1955	1963	St. Mary and St. Joseph's	Dilley	TX		This was a mission of Immaculate Heart of Mary in Pearsall.
1955	1963	St. Augustine's	Moore	TX		This was a mission of Immaculate Heart of Mary in Pearsall.
1955	1963	Our Lady of Mt. Carmel	Bigfoot	TX		This was a mission of Immaculate Heart of Mary in Pearsall.
1955	1963	Our Lady of the Lakes	Derby	TX	From 1958-1963 this parish is noted to have been attended specifically by Behnke.	This was a mission of Immaculate Heart of Mary in Pearsall.
1963	1965	Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and St. Therese	San Antonio	TX	3/6, 3/7 Parochial Vicar	Parish had a grade school with 360-334 students and a high school with 133-135 students.
1965	1966	Immaculate Heart of Mary	Pearsall	TX	1/2
1965	1966	Missionary Catechists of the Immaculate Hearts of Jesus and Mary (Violetas)		TX		This was a mission of Immaculate Heart of Mary in Pearsall.
1965	1966	St. Mary and St. Joseph's	Dilley	TX		This was a mission of Immaculate Heart of Mary in Pearsall.
1965	1966	St. Augustine's	Moore	TX		This was a mission of Immaculate Heart of Mary in Pearsall.
1965	1966	Our Lady of Mt. Carmel	Bigfoot	TX		This was a mission of Immaculate Heart of Mary in Pearsall.
1965	1966	Our Lady of the Lakes	Derby	TX		This was a mission of Immaculate Heart of Mary in Pearsall.
1966 Oklahoma City and Tulsa bishop was Victor Joseph Reed (1958-1971)	1968	Holy Rosary	Harthorne	OK	1/1
1966	1968	St. Edward's	Pittsburg	OK		This was a mission of Holy Rosary in Hartshorne.
1968	1969	Immaculate Heart of Mary	Pearsall	TX	1/2 Behnke is referred to as "Very Rev."
1968	1969	Missionary Catechists of the Immaculate Hearts of Jesus and Mary (Violetas)				This was a mission center of Immaculate Heart of Mary in Pearsall.
1968	1969	St. Joseph's	Dilley	TX		This was a mission of Immaculate Heart of Mary in Pearsall.
1968	1969	St. Augustine's	Moore	TX		This was a mission of Immaculate Heart of Mary in Pearsall.
1968	1969	Our Lady of Mt. Carmel	Bigfoot	TX		This was a mission of Immaculate Heart of Mary in Pearsall.
1969 John Raphael Quinn replaced Reed as Oklahoma City and Tulsa bishop (1971-1977) Oklahoma City and Tulsa split and Oklahoma City was raised to an archdiocese in Dec. 1972.	1974	Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and St. Therese	Oklahoma City	OK	3/6, 3/5 Behne was listed as Pastor 1972-1974	This was the Provincial House of the Discalced Carmelites, Southwestern Province. Behnke took boys under the age of 15 during the 1960s and 1970s on spritual retreats to Mexico, Japan, Ireland, Greece, and France.
1969	1974	Our Lady of Guadalupe	Packing Town	OK		This was a mission of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and St. Therese in Oklahoma City.
1974 San Antonio archbishop was Francis James Furey (1969-1979)	1978	Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and St. Therese	San Antonio	TX	4/6, 3/5	Parish had a school with 320-330 students. Behnke is noted to be "Richard Thomas Behnke".
1978 Dallas bishop was Thomas Ambrose Tschoepe (1969-1990)	1984	St. Mary of Carmel	Dallas • Behnke was accused in a 2002 lawsuit of having abused a boy from 1978-1980, while at this parish. (Dallas Morning News May 18, 2003) There were at least four other accusers, all of whom were boys, and who were said to have been abused beginning when they were in about the sixth grade. The abuse is said to have occurred at St. Mary's rectory and on trips. (The Dallas Morning News October 17, 2009)	TX	1/3	Parish had a school with 333-289 students.
1984	1988	Cathedral-Santuario de Guadalupe	Dallas	TX	2/3, 2/2
1988	1989					Behnke is not indexed in the 1989 Directory.
1989 San Antonio archbishop was Patrick Fernandez Flores (1979-2004)	1992	Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and St. Therese	San Antonio	TX	7/10, 5/7, 6/8	Parish had a school with 340-343 students.
1992	1997	Marylake-Carmelite Novitiate	Little Rock	AR	4/5, 5/5, 5/6, 5/7	This was the novitiate of the Discalced Friars of the Province of St. Therese.
1997 Santa Fe archbishop was Michael Jarboe Sheehan (1993- )		Servants of the Paraclete	Jemez Springs	NM		Behnke is not indexed in the Directories after 1997. He lived from the mid-1990s on at a facility for troubled priests, the Servants of the Paraclete, in Jimez Springs, NM. He died Nov. 9, 2008.

Source: Official Catholic Directory (New York: P.J. Kenedy and Sons, 1949-2009 )

Priests in a Parish: We use the following convention to show a priest's place among the clergy of a parish: 1/2 means that he is the first priest listed in the Official Catholic Directory (usually the pastor) and that there is a total of two priests at the parish. The shorthand 3/4 means that the priest is listed third on a four-priest roster. See our sample page from the Directory.

Note: The Official Catholic Directory aims to report the whereabouts of Catholic priests in the United States on January 1 of the Directory's publication year. Our working assumption is that a priest listed in the Directory for a given year was at the same assignment for part of the previous year as well. However, Kenedy and Sons will sometimes accept updates well into the year of publication. Diocesan clergy records are rarely available to correct this information. The Directory is also sometimes misleading or wrong. We have tried to create an accurate assignment record, given the source materials and their limitations. Assignment records are a work in progress and we are always improving the records that we post. Please email us with new information and corrections.

This assignment record collates Behnke's career history as it is represented in the Official Catholic Directory with allegations as reported in the media. We make no representation regarding the truth of the allegation we report, and we remind our readers that the U.S. legal system presumes that a person accused of or charged with a crime is innocent until proven guilty. Similarly, individuals who may be defendants in civil actions are presumed not to be liable for such claims unless a plaintiff proves otherwise. Admissions of guilt or liability are not typically a part of civil or private settlements. For more information, see our posting policy.

This assignment record was last updated on June 6, 2019.