Settlement helping victim of Colorado Catholic priest abuse start a new life

Catholic Sexual Abuse

A state-led investigation into child sex abuse by Catholic priests in Colorado in 2019 discovered 52 priests were responsible for sexually assaulting 212 children between the 1950s and 1999.

Now, one of the victims is telling a story of healing after he reached a settlement with the church.

“I never thought I would come out of the darkness,” said Troy Gallegos, a Denver man who kept his story a secret for more than four decades. “I’m still trying to climb out of there.”

Gallegos was a lead altar boy at Saint Francis De Sales Catholic Church in Denver. He said he kept the secret out of fear and out of respect for his mother’s visible position with the Denver Archdiocese.

“I used to hate to go to school because it was right next to the church,” Gallegos said. “I was always nervous because the

Lawsuit accuses Tucson priests of sexually abusing minors in southern Arizona

Catholic Sexual Abuse

A third victim has come forward in a federal lawsuit accusing Catholic priests of sexual abuse of minors across southern Arizona in the 1970s and 1980s.

Initially filed in December, the lawsuit claims that the Tucson Diocese and Los Angeles Archdiocese covered up abuse and moved priests around instead of reporting them to law enforcement.

The racketeering lawsuit was filed following a change to the Arizona Child Victims Act, which increases the statute of limitations for survivors of childhood sexual abuse from age 20 to 30 and allowed adults older than 30 to file claims up until Dec. 31, 2020.

Just before the December deadline, hundreds of civil lawsuits were filed in Arizona courts by people who said they suffered abuse as children in Arizona

New clergy sex abuse claims against archdiocese pour in as filing deadline arrives

Catholic Sexual Abuse

As a 5 p.m. deadline to file sex abuse claims against the Catholic Church loomed, roughly 50 claimants filed forms saying they were preyed upon by members of the clergy.

Another 370 claimants filed proof of claim forms saying the Archdiocese of New Orleans owed them millions of dollars for other reasons, from outstanding utility company bills to accidental falls on church property.

The New York-based firm processing the compensation demands received at least 56 claims in which the claimant’s name and address was intentionally omitted, a likely signal those were filed by anonymous clergy abuse victims.

That number is likely to grow, according to attorneys counseling alleged victims.

Uncertainty surrounding the total number and value of claims could linger throughout the week. Claims can