A state district judge in Cameron County has issued a summary judgment in a case brought against the Catholic Diocese of Brownsville that alleged church officials tried to protect a priest accused in the alleged sexual assault of two siblings.
The case had been scheduled for a jury trial Monday but was canceled following the summary judgment signed Aug. 25, by 445th state District Judge Gloria Rincones, which closed out the case, court records show.
The Brownsville Herald has reached out to the Diocese and the attorney representing the siblings for comment. As of late Monday afternoon, neither have replied to a request seeking comment.
The lawsuit was filed March 26 , 2019, nearly two months after the Diocese released a list containing the names of 12 priests accused of sexually assaulting children. The accused priest, Father Benedicto Ortiz, was one of the 12 named in the list released by the diocese in 2019.
According to the diocese, Ortiz died in 2011.
The lawsuit filed in Cameron County alleges that in 1982 Ortiz was a priest at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Brownsville, where the individuals — referred to as L.C. and D.S. — attended church. They were between the ages of 10 and 13 at the time Ortiz began to assault them, the lawsuit alleges.
According to the lawsuit, the assaults started when L.C. and D.S. would spend the night with Ortiz and continued when he moved them into the rectory with him. Ortiz is accused of sexually abusing L.C. and D.S from about 1982 to 1985 by exposing himself to the children.
The lawsuit states the priest required “them to be naked in his presence, fondling them, requiring them to touch him, and engaging in oral sex, providing Plaintiffs with drugs and alcohol, playing pornographic videos, and masturbating in front of them.” Ortiz also took the children on trips with him to South Padre Island where the alleged abuse continued, the lawsuit states.
According to the lawsuit, the bishop at that time, Bishop John Fitzpatrick, knew the siblings were living in the rectory with Ortiz.
The Diocese issued a statement on Oct. 5 responding to a request for comment on the lawsuit stating, “The lawsuit against the Diocese of Brownsville was filed by two plaintiffs who claim misconduct by the priest in the early 1980s. The accused priest has been deceased since 2011. The lawsuit was filed in 2019 and has been proceeding through the court system since then, with delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic and other procedural reasons. We have always taken and continue to take these allegations seriously,” a portion of the statement read.
On Jan. 31, 2019, the diocese released Ortiz’s name along with the names of 11 other priests accused of sexually assaulting children. Many of the priests worked at parishes throughout at least 24 Rio Grande Valley cities. Six of the priests whose names were released have since died, including Ortiz, who died in 2011 at the age of 80. He was ordained a priest in 1957 in Puerto Rico.
The lawsuit states that then-Bishop Fitzpatrick knew L.C. and D.S. were living with Ortiz and that he transferred the priest from Our Lady of Guadalupe Church to St. Anne Mother of Mary in Pharr. L.C. and D.S. moved with Ortiz where the alleged assault continued, the lawsuit alleges. L.C. and D.S. lived with Ortiz for about three years until Fitzpatrick ordered Ortiz to not have any contact with them, according to the lawsuit.
The diocese has requested a summary judgment in the case because the dioceses argues that the statute of limitations has run out.
For years, the Catholic Church has been scrutinized for relocating abusive priests from their assigned churches to other locations, instead of cooperating with law enforcement and removing the accused from the clergy altogether.
Texas Catholic bishops made the decision to release names of clergy members “credibly accused” of sexually assaulting minors in October 2018, two months after a Pennsylvania grand jury uncovered rampant sexual abuse by priests who molested more than 1,000 children since the 1940s.
