More priests are named in clergy sex abuse lawsuits By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola Gallup Independent correspondent religion@gallupindependent.com May 21, 2019 ALBUQUERQUE – Four new clergy sex abuse lawsuits were filed against the Servants of the Paraclete and the religious order’s fundraising foundation in Albuquerque’s 2nd Judicial District Court Thursday. Five men filed the lawsuits, claiming they were sexually abused as children by Catholic priests treated at New Mexico facilities operated by the Servants of the Paraclete. The men are represented by the Hall & Monagle law firm of Albuquerque. The Servants of the Paraclete operated clergy treatment centers in Jemez Springs and Albuquerque, with the Jemez Springs facility now known for its many “guest priest” sex abusers who were recycled into unsuspecting Catholic parishes after receiving treatment. Priests named “A vast but ultimately unknown number of sexually abusive pedophile priests were funneled through the Servants of the Paraclete facilities in New Mexico, and sometimes the Servants were extremely reckless and placed these known child sex abusers into parish settings, where they would inevitably have access to and power over children, and inevitably, sexual abuse followed,” attorney Levi A. Monagle stated in a news release Thursday. Priests named in the lawsuits include James Porter, William Goltz and Leo Courcy. All three men are deceased, and all were accused multiple times of sexual abuse prior to their deaths. The lawsuits allege the victims were sexually abused during a five-year window from 1968 to 1973. According to the lawsuits, Porter, Goltz and Courcy sexually abused minor children before and after repeated treatment stints at Servants of the Paraclete facilities. Porter was sent to the Servants of the Paraclete by the Diocese of Fall River in Massachusetts, Goltz was from the Archdiocese of Dubuque in Iowa, and Courcy was from the Diocese of Burlington in Vermont. Although none of the accused priests is believed to have been assigned to parishes in the Diocese of Gallup, previous lawsuits have indicated the Gallup Diocese received an unknown number of clergy sex abusers from the Servants of the Paraclete treatment centers, and the Gallup Diocese also sent a number of its sex abusers to Paraclete facilities. John Feit’s role The lawsuits offer claims about the Servants of the Paraclete that provide insight into how the three New Mexico Catholic dioceses, as well as out of state dioceses, were assigned clergy sex abusers from the Paraclete treatment facilities. The lawsuits assert the Servants operated a “supply ministry” program “whereby priests in the Servants’ custody were selected and sent by the Servants to assist in ministry at parishes that were short-handed.” By February 1967, the lawsuits state, the Servants developed a “graduated program of rehabilitation” to send priests in treatment to parishes without informing parishioners, parish pastors or local law enforcement. Some of the most startling claims concern the now notorious Rev. John Feit, who was found guilty of murder in 2017, for the Holy Week murder of Irene Garza in McAllen, Texas in 1960. A cloud of suspicion Feit, who left his Texas diocese under a cloud of suspicion, eventually became a member of the Servants of the Paraclete. The lawsuit alleges the founder of the Servants of the Paraclete was forced out of his position and replaced by Feit, who served as Superior of the Jemez Springs facility in 1968 and 1969. Feit allegedly developed the “graduated program of rehabilitation,” the lawsuits claim, because he believed “pedophiles needed to be placed in close contact with children if they were to overcome their urge to sexually abuse children” and Feit believed “any sexual abuse that children suffered in the process of rehabilitating a pedophile priest was unfortunate ‘collateral damage’ which was nonetheless worth the attempt at rehabilitation…” The lawsuits allege Feit was responsible for assigning Porter, Goltz and Courcy to ministry assignments where the three priests sexually abused more minor boys. In addition, Feit allegedly actively advocated against Porter’s laicization from the priesthood because of “the great deal of damage” it could do to Porter. Document destruction The Rev. David T. Fitzgerald, sP, the current Servant General for the Servants of the Paraclete, and Jeffrey E. Jones, the religious order’s Santa Fe attorney, were contacted for comment Monday. Neither responded to emailed questions. The Hall & Monagle law firm was also contacted about claims made in the lawsuits, including the claim the Servants of the Paraclete failed to keep a list of where they placed pedophile priests, or they destroyed all the lists they may have kept in the 1990s, when the Servants of the Paraclete and the Archdiocese of Santa Fe were named as defendants in numerous clergy sex abuse lawsuits. “Leaders of the Servants of the Paraclete have testified that they did not keep lists of the priests in their care, or where those priests were assigned,” Monagle responded in an email Monday. “They have separately testified that many documents were destroyed over the years, and the motive in destroying these documents was a religious one (such that the Servants should be protected from the normal legal consequences of evidence destruction by the First Amendment).” An incomplete puzzle According to Monagle, there is no known comprehensive list of all the pedophile priests who were treated at the Servants of the Paraclete New Mexico facilities. Monagle was also asked about the number of clergy sex abusers that Feit assigned to parishes in New Mexico and elsewhere. “We don’t know how many pedophile priests were assigned to parishes by Fr. Feit because we don’t know which pedophile priests passed through his care and because we don’t have personnel files or other documents for all such priests,” Monagle said. “We keepfinding new pieces of the puzzle when we get new personnel files – typically from a non-Paraclete defendant – with descriptions of Fr. Feit’s involvement in finding parish assignments, but it’s hard to complete a puzzle when many of the pieces have been destroyed,” he said.

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