A wave of new legal action has been filed against the Catholic Church, accusing two dioceses in southern New Mexico and West Texas of decades-long concealment of child sexual abuse by priests. Eight separate lawsuits filed this week claim that the Diocese of Las Cruces and the Diocese of El Paso knowingly hid abuse allegations to protect clergy and avoid scandal.
The suits, brought by the Davis Kelin Law Firm and Huffman Wallace & Monagle, allege that minors aged 3 to 15 were sexually abused between 1956 and 1990. According to the legal teams, the Church failed to act on credible allegations, instead reassigning known abusers to new parishes.
“These survivors are still carrying the trauma every day,” said Levi A. Monagle, an attorney representing the plaintiffs. “There’s a dangerous myth that these abuses are part of a closed chapter. For the people who lived through this, it remains painfully current.”
The legal filings name seven specific priests accused of abuse: Monsignor Albert Chavez, Father David Holley, Father Emilio Roure, Father Wilfrid Diamond, Monsignor Gonzalo Morales, Father Bernard Bissonnette, and Father Joaquin Resma. An unnamed visiting priest is also mentioned in the filings.
Many of the priests had ties to the Servants of the Paraclete facility in Jemez Springs, New Mexico — a controversial center once used to rehabilitate clergy. According to Monagle, this facility often released priests back into parish work without proper oversight, even after repeated abuse allegations.
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“Priests like Holley and Bissonnette were shuffled from parish to parish despite well-documented histories of child abuse,” Monagle explained. “They were placed back into communities where they continued to harm children.”
The lawsuits allege that Church officials failed to notify law enforcement and, in some cases, went to great lengths to silence victims and shield clergy from accountability.
Among the churches named are Our Lady of Health in Las Cruces, Our Lady of Purification in Doña Ana, Immaculate Conception in Alamogordo, Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mesilla Park, St. Anthony in Anthony, and St. Eleanor in Ruidoso.
Monagle emphasized that many survivors may still be unaware that others shared similar experiences. “It’s common for victims to think they were the only one,” he said. “But abusers rarely target just one child.”
To support those affected, the law firms have launched NMPriestAbuse.com, a resource hub offering information about known offenders and available support services.
“These lawsuits aren’t just about compensation,” said Monagle. “They are about change — demanding institutional accountability, support for victims, and transparency from the Church moving forward.”
The Diocese of Las Cruces and the Diocese of El Paso have not issued any public statements in response to the lawsuits.
