NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – A new lawsuit is going after a New Mexico diocese claiming decades of abuse committed by clergy members. The lawyers behind the suit are also launching an outreach project to encourage other victims to come forward.
Levi Mongale is representing the victim referred to as John Doe 203. According to the lawsuit, the victim was a few years old when he started getting abused by Father Lawrence Gaynor at St. Joseph Parish in Lordsburg in the 1960s. “When the abuser is a religious figure…and the fear of speaking out against the church and becoming a pariah in your own close religious community runs very, very deep,” said Mongale.
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According to the lawsuit, before John Doe was abused, Father Lawrence Gaynor was known within the diocese to be a danger. In a letter from two years before the alleged abuse, medical staff told the Catholic Diocese of El Paso which oversaw the Las Cruces and Lordsburg area at the time that Gaynor had “several episodes of poor judgment in relation to male adolescent patients” saying he was a threat to others and required ongoing psychiatric supervision.
But the suit claims he was placed in Lordsburg. “That warning from those medical professionals was disregarded by the bishop…it was in those circumstances that our client was abused a a young child,” said Mongale.
The lawyers are now trying to reach other potential victims. They’ve launched a website where victims can share their stories, be connected to resources, and the public can see a list of clergy members Mongale says have credible accusations of abuse. “For those who do feel the sort of pull to speak out about something that happened to them, we’re here to listen, we’re here to help,” said Mongale.
Since launching the site earlier this year, they say about six survivors have come forward. “The better we understand the clergy abuse crisis in New Mexico and the more opportunities we give abuse survivors to tell their stories and fill in information, their piece of the puzzle, the better chance we have to avoid repeating any of that history,” said Mongale.
News 13 reached out to the Las Cruces diocese but did not hear back.
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