Church sued over alleged cover-up
A man and a woman whose allegations have led to a criminal indictment against a former Montgomery County priest are suing the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston and the Vatican over the handling of their accused abuser.
The suit, filed Monday in federal court, takes aim at the Holy See for heading a hierarchy that allowed Manuel La Rosa-Lopez to be ordained, even though, according to the suit, church leaders including former Bishop Joseph Fiorenza were aware as early as 1992 that he had been accused of molesting a young parishioner at St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Houston. The plaintiffs are seeking $20 million in damages.
The 51-page document primarily recaps three decades of allegations against La Rosa-Lopez and the latest developments in the investigation from search warrants, charging papers and sealed court records that were mistakenly made public. La Rosa-Lopez is slated to go to trial in March on five counts of indecency with a child.
Details of the 1992 allegation, disclosed in prior court records, indicate the abuse occurred in Harris County, where La Rosa-Lo-
pez was a seminarian at the time. The man behind that complaint is not among the federal plaintiffs.
The Archdiocese, in response to a request for comment, said it had just learned of the lawsuit late Monday from the media. “We take these allegations very seriously and continue to pray for all victims of sexual abuse,” the statement said. “We are unable to comment any further at this time.”
The lawsuit says that church leaders failed to stop La Rosa-Lopez’s unfettered access to children — either by informing law enforcement or parishioners — after the initial accusation.
“Instead, the Diocese kept this information secret and Bishop Fiorenza ordered La Rosa-Lopez to undergo ‘spiritual and psychological evaluations,’ ” the
suit states, adding that he was allowed to continue his priestly studies the next year. But in 1994, and without explanation, the suit says, La Rosa-Lopez was “abruptly transferred to Sacred Heart School of Theology in Hales Corner, Wisconsin.”
Despite his marred past, La Rosa-Lopez was allowed to take his priestly vows in 1996 and was posted to Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Conroe, where he is alleged to have molested both plaintiffs as children.
The accusers, now adults, live in Texas and Washington state respectively. The are listed as John and Jane Doe in the suit to shield their identities and have alleged to Conroe investigators that La Rosa-Lopez molested them from 1998 to 2000. Their claims became the foundation of his September 2018 arrest on three counts of indecency with a child. Two more charges involving a third accuser
followed in 2019.
According to the lawsuit, Fiorenza in 2001 — after learning of another allegation — met with the female accuser’s family and assured them La Rosa-Lopez “would be removed and would get help.”
“Bishop Fiorenza was aware of La Rosa-Lopez’s molestation at St. Thomas parish, but Fiorenza remained silent regarding this fact regarding this fact and simply assured JANE DOE’s devout parents that La Rosa-Lopez would be removed and would get help,” the document says.
The priest was removed from ministry but the allegation was again not disclosed to authorities or parishioners, the suit continues. La Rosa-Lopez received treatment at the Shalom Center, a Splendora rehabilitation center for priests, from April 2001 to January 2002. In 2004, he was allowed to continue working as a priest at St.
John Fischer Catholic Church in Richmond. In 2005, he was accused of raping a woman, according to a 2018 report to Sugar Land Police Department.
A pattern of keeping La Rosa-Lopez’s predatory behavior quiet continued as Cardinal Daniel DiNardo took over for Fiorenza, the lawsuit continues.
“Cardinal DiNardo knew or should have known La Rosa-Lopez was sexually dangerous to minors and grossly unsuited for such assignments,” the document states.
Also in 2018, La Rosa-Lopez was accused of offering to find another priest a larger parish — but only if he supplied sexual favors, according to a court document. The church was made aware of the allegation but it was not known if La Rosa-Lopez was ever reprimanded.