Set of lawsuits filed against catholic churches in southern New Mexico
An attorney representing a group of victims says they were sexually abused by clergy members over a span of decades.
Eight separate lawsuits were filed in July at the same time, and each lawsuit accuses eight different priests of sexually abusing children from 3 to 15 years old. Their lawyer said the lawsuits were filed as the victims pursue accountability and look to the dioceses they say allowed the abuse to happen.
One of the lawsuits claims that Father Emilio Roure abused a child as young as seven years old in 1956 and continued to abuse her for eight more years inside of the ‘Shrine and Parish of our Lady Guadalupe’ in Dona Ana County. It claims he used his power as a priest to groom her.
“A couple of the perpetrators in these cases, the ones that we filed most recently, are notorious serial offenders,” said attorney Levi Monagle.
Among those offenders, Monagle said, is Bernard Bissonnette, who is accused of sexually abusing over 30 boys in New Mexico.
The lawsuit said the Roman Catholic Diocese of Las Cruces and Bishop Ricardo Ramirez knew about his “proclivity to sexually abuse children” and that the abuse happened at St. Eleanor Parish in Ruidoso. “So those kinds of cases with those kinds of priests represent the most disturbing manifestation of the clergy abuse phenomenon,” said Monagle.
https://www.krqe.com/news/new-mexico/set...exico/amp/
Madison priest arrested for trying to have sex with teenage girl in Clintonville
Officials say the 37-year-old man allegedly made plans to meet up with a 14-year-old girl to engage in sexual activity.
On Sunday night, Clintonville Police arrested Andrew Showers in Clintonville. He was booked into the Waupaca County Jail on charges of child enticement, use of a computer to facilitate a child sex crime, and attempted second-degree sexual assault of a child.
Clintonville Police say that during the course of the investigation they learned Showers is a priest in Madison. According to the St. James School website, Showers is employed as a parochial vicar at the catholic school in Madison.
https://www.wmtv15news.com/2025/08/26/ma...nticement/
An attorney representing a group of victims says they were sexually abused by clergy members over a span of decades.
Eight separate lawsuits were filed in July at the same time, and each lawsuit accuses eight different priests of sexually abusing children from 3 to 15 years old. Their lawyer said the lawsuits were filed as the victims pursue accountability and look to the dioceses they say allowed the abuse to happen.
One of the lawsuits claims that Father Emilio Roure abused a child as young as seven years old in 1956 and continued to abuse her for eight more years inside of the ‘Shrine and Parish of our Lady Guadalupe’ in Dona Ana County. It claims he used his power as a priest to groom her.
“A couple of the perpetrators in these cases, the ones that we filed most recently, are notorious serial offenders,” said attorney Levi Monagle.
Among those offenders, Monagle said, is Bernard Bissonnette, who is accused of sexually abusing over 30 boys in New Mexico.
The lawsuit said the Roman Catholic Diocese of Las Cruces and Bishop Ricardo Ramirez knew about his “proclivity to sexually abuse children” and that the abuse happened at St. Eleanor Parish in Ruidoso. “So those kinds of cases with those kinds of priests represent the most disturbing manifestation of the clergy abuse phenomenon,” said Monagle.
https://www.krqe.com/news/new-mexico/set...exico/amp/
Madison priest arrested for trying to have sex with teenage girl in Clintonville
Officials say the 37-year-old man allegedly made plans to meet up with a 14-year-old girl to engage in sexual activity.
On Sunday night, Clintonville Police arrested Andrew Showers in Clintonville. He was booked into the Waupaca County Jail on charges of child enticement, use of a computer to facilitate a child sex crime, and attempted second-degree sexual assault of a child.
Clintonville Police say that during the course of the investigation they learned Showers is a priest in Madison. According to the St. James School website, Showers is employed as a parochial vicar at the catholic school in Madison.
https://www.wmtv15news.com/2025/08/26/ma...nticement/
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
