The Catholic Diocese of Amarillo Release Names Of Sexual Abusers

The Diocese of Amarillo has published the names of 30 former priests who served in the diocese who have been accused of sexually abusing minors.

Of the 30, 22 are known to be deceased, five are or were in prison and one is awaiting criminal trial. None of these priests are in active ministry.

Bishop Patrick J. Zurek says the Diocese is publishing these names in conformance with the commitment to transparency in the Church, for healing, spiritual good, and assistance of victims of sexual abuse of minors by clergy.

These allegations have been made within the Diocese between January 1, 1950, and December 31, 2018.

 

Below is a list of 30 former priests who served in the diocese who have been accused of sexually abusing a minor provided by the Diocese of Amarillo:

 

Claude Barton

• Born: January 16, 1908
• Deceased: November 9, 1979
• Served in the Amarillo Diocese from November of 1958 through September of 1960 –
• Mary’s, Odessa
• John’s, Hermleigh
• Laurence, Amarillo
• Francic Convent, Amarillo

Orville Raymond Blum

• Born: July 8, 1937
• Ordained: Amarillo Diocese, May 26, 1962
• Served in the Amarillo Diocese from June of 1962 through June of 2002
• Alamo Catholic High School, Amarillo
• Laurence, Amarillo
• John the Evangelist, Borger
• Joseph, Stratford
• Blessed Sacrament, Amarillo
• Joseph’s, Amarillo
• Anthony’s Hereford

Thomas Hubert (Patrick) Burke

• Born: July 20, 1930
• Ordained: June 15, 1957, for the Diocese of Amarillo
• Served in the Amarillo Diocese from October of 1957 through February 25, 1975
• Sacred Heart, Amarillo
• Elizabeth, Lubbock
• Our Mother of Mercy, Wellington
• Patrick’s, Shamrock
• Mary’s, Spur

Terrance Burke

• Born: April 26, 1940, Ireland
• Ordained: August 4, 1975, Diocese of Amarillo
• Deceased: 2016
• Served in the Amarillo Diocese from October of 1975 through July of 2002
• Mary’s, Amarillo
• Joseph, Stratford
• Christ the King, Lubbock
• Holy Angels, Childress
• Immaculate Conception, Muleshoe
• Church of the Holy Spirit, Tulia
• Holy Name of Jesus, Happy
• Catholic Student Center, Canyon
• Mary’s, Clarendon
• Morning Star Hostel/Mark Schupp Center

Anthony Catalina

• Born: 1902
• Ordained: 1929 Vincentians (location unknown)
• Deceased: November 30, 1968
• Served in the Amarillo Diocese from October of 1958 through July of 1968
• Sacred Heart, Littlefield
• Sacred Heart, Petersburg
• Sacred Heart, Canadian

Laurence (Lorcan) Connaughton

• Born: November 23, 1920
• Ordained: June 17, 1951
• Excardinated: February of 1958
• Deceased: Probably
• Served in the Amarillo Diocese from October of 1951 through February of 1958
• Francis of Assisi, Amarillo
• Sacred Heart Cathedral/St. Mary’s, Amarillo
• Mary’s/Immaculate Heart of Mary, Groom
• Anthony of Padua, Dalhart

John W. Coppinger

• Ordained: 1972 Archdiocese of New York
• Served in the Diocese of Amarillo from June 18, 1972, through August 16, 1975

James Leslie (Laurence) Daly

• Born: October 2, 1902
• Ordained: May 4, 1930, Amarillo Diocese
• Deceased: June 26, 1988
• Served in the Diocese of Amarillo from September of 1930 through January of 1944 and July of 1963 through August of 1965
• Ann’s, Canyon
• Price Memorial College, Amarillo
• Mary’s, Clarendon
• Immaculate Conception, Vega
• Holy Angels, Childress
• Patrick’s, Shamrock
• Our Mother of Mercy, Wellington
• John the Evangelist, Borger
• Anthony of Padua, Dalhart
• Christ the King, Lubbock

Peter Paul DiBenedetto

• Born: September 14, 1940
• Ordained: Amarillo, Texas June 11, 1969
• Deceased: November 28, 1995
• Served in the Amarillo Diocese from June of 1969 through November of 1995
• Hyacinth, Amarillo
• Sacred Heart of Jesus, Spearman
• Immaculate Conception, Vega
• Immaculate Conception, Perryton
• Alamo Catholic High School, Amarillo

Edward R. Graff

• Born: January 30, 1929
• Ordained: May 19, 1955, Allentown, Pennsylvania
• Deceased: November of 2002
• Served in the Amarillo Diocese from September of 1992 through September of 2002
• Church of the Holy Spirit, Tulia
• Our Lady of Loreto, Silverton
• San Juan Diego, Quitaque
• Elizabeth Anne Seton, Turkey
• Abuse occurred in Diocese of Allentown
• Abuse occurred in Diocese of Amarillo

James C. Gurzynski

• Born: April 28, 1937
• Ordained: May 25, 1963, in Toledo, Ohio for the Diocese of Amarillo
• Deceased: April 8, 2013
• Served in the Diocese of Amarillo from September of 1963 through December of 2005
• Our Lady of Grace, Lubbock
• Sacred Heart of Jesus, Spearman
• Sacred Heart, Abernathy
• Sacred Heart, White Deer
• Ann’s, Canyon

Rosendo Herrera-Hernandez

• Born: March 1, 1965
• Ordained: July 13, 1996
• Served in the Amarillo Diocese from August of 1996 through February of 2000
• Laurence, Amarillo
• Vincent de Paul, Pampa
• Anthony of Padua, Dalhart
• Our Lady of Guadalupe, Amarillo
• BSA Hospital

Robert Patrick Hoffman

• Born: August 29, 1940
• Ordained: May 25, 1968
• Amarillo Diocese
• Lubbock Diocese – July of 1982 through July of 1987
• Served in the Amarillo Diocese from June of 1968 through July of 1983 and July of 1987 through December of 2000
• Margaret Mary, Lamesa
• Pius X, O’Donnell
• Immaculate Conception, Perryton
• Laurence, Amarillo

David Holley

• Born: 1929
• Ordained: 1958 Order of St. Benedict Abby, Bennet Lake, Wisconsin Incardinated into the Diocese of Worcester. Wisconsin
• Deceased: 2008
• Served in the Diocese of Amarillo from June of 1984 through December of 1984
• Joseph’s, Amarillo
• Sentenced to 275 years in prison in 1993 in Alamogordo, New Mexico

Rodney Charles Howell

• Born: August 15, 1932
• Ordained: July 6, 1965
• Deceased: January 10, 1993
• Served in the Diocese of Amarillo from September of 1965 through 1980
• Sacred Heart, Littlefield
• Phillip’s, Shallowater
• Michael’s, Ralls
• Pius, O’Donnell

John A. Howlett

• Born: 1947 Pallotines Dublin
• Served in Amarillo Diocese from January of 1961 through July of 1966 and February of 1971 through July of 1977
• Joseph’s, Lubbock
• Michael’s, Ralls
• Patrick’s, Lubbock
• Vincent Pallotti, Lubbock
• Anthony’s, Brownfield

James (Jim) D. Hutzler

• Born: February 26, 1944
• Ordained: July 25, 1980
• Served in the Diocese of Amarillo from 1973 through September of 1980 as a teacher and September of 1980 through July of 2002
• Alamo Catholic High School, Amarillo
• Our Lady of Grace, Lubbock
• Joseph, Amarillo
• Our Mother of Mercy, Wellington
• Anthony of Padua, Dalhart
• Joseph, Stratford
• Sacred Heart, Canadian
• Anthony’s Hospital, Amarillo
• Mary’s, Umbarger
• Theresa, Panhandle
• Sacred Heart, White Deer

Richard Wallace Lang

• Ordained: June 5, 1938, Vincentian Fathers of Western Province, St. Louise, MO
• Deceased: May 30, 1974
• Served in the Amarillo Diocese from December of 1941 through March of 1945 and August of 1957 through July of 1968
• Holy Souls, Pampa
• Sacred Heart, Canadian

Joseph Raymond Lopez

• Born: August 31, 1939
• Ordained: December 18, 1965, for the Diocese of Amarillo
• Left ministry in 1970, was voluntarily Laicized in July of 1973
• Deceased: 2005
• Served in the Diocese of Amarillo from August of 1966 through September of 1970
• Our Lady of Guadalupe, Amarillo

Gerald V. Lynch

• Born: January 21, 1916
• Ordained: December 21, 1947, Cistercian Order, Brighton Mass
• Incardinated into the Diocese of Amarillo on June 8, 1954
• Deceased: November 25, 1979
• Served in the Amarillo Diocese from 1951 through 1976
• Anthony of Padua, Dalhart
• Lucian’s/Price Memorial College, Amarillo
• Holy Angels, Childress
• Sacred Heart of Jesus, Spearman (Perryton)
• Sacred Heart, White Deer
• Church of the Holy Spirit, Tulia

Cletus Bernard McGorry

• Born: November 14, 1923
• Ordained: June of 1952 Franciscan Friars of the Atonement, Graymoor, New York
• Deceased: February 2, 1992
• Served in the Diocese of Amarillo from September 13, 1955, through January 10, 1988
• Anthony’s, Hereford
• Ann’s, Bovina

Aiden Maguire

• Ordained: Society of the Catholic Apostolate Pallotines, Ireland
• Deceased: Unknown – returned to Ireland in 1981
• Served in the Diocese of Amarillo from January of 1961 through December of 1965 and October of 1969 through August of 1981
• Elizabeth, Lubbock
• Anthony’s, Brownfield
• William, Denver City

Guillermo Morales-Martinez

• Born: April 6, 1958
• Ordained: July 16, 1988
• Served in the Amarillo Diocese from August of 1988 through November of 2007
• John the Evangelist, Borger
• Christ the King, Sunray
• Immaculate Conception, Dimmitt
• Sacred Heart, Canadian
• Sacred Heart of Jesus, Spearman
• Ann’s, Stinnett

Michael Dermot O’Brien

• Born: October 8, 1941
• Ordained: June 13, 1965
• Deceased: February 11, 1978
• Served in the Amarillo Diocese from September of 1965 through February of 1978
• Laurence, Amarillo
• Mary’s, Amarillo
• Holy Angels, Childress
• Ann’s Bovina

Alfredo Prado

• Born: 1930
• Ordained: Missionary Oblate of Mary Immaculate, San Antonio, Texas
• Fled to Costa Rica
• Not assigned to the Diocese of Amarillo
• Allegedly event occurred when conducting a Mission in the Amarillo Diocese

John Anthony Salazar-Jimenez

• Born: August 20, 1955
• Ordained: October 24, 1984, Calasanzian Piarist Fathers, Los Angeles
• Served in the Amarillo Diocese from July of 1991 through July of 2002
• Church of the Holy Spirit, Tulia
• San Jose, Hereford
• Accusations occurred in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles
• Accusation occurred in Diocese of Amarillo

1. Melton Silva

• Deceased: 1999
• Served in the Diocese of Amarillo from September of 1975 through September of 1980\
• Immaculate Conception, Perryton
• Holy Cross, Post
• Mary’s, Spur

John Sullivan

• Born: January 3, 1917
• Ordained: June 30, 1942, Diocese of Manchester, N.H.
• Deceased: 1984
• Served in the Diocese of Amarillo from January of 1961 through April of 1963
• Joseph, Amarillo

Peter Mukekhe Wafula

• Born: October 20, 1979
• Ordained: December 9, 2017 Crusaders of the Holy Spirit, Parana, Argentina
• Removed from the ministry July 10, 2018
• Served in the Diocese of Amarillo from February through July of 2018\
• San Jose, Hereford
• Teresa of Jesus, Friona
• Ann’s, Bovina
• Indicted by the Parmer County Grand Jury in October of 2018, awaiting trial

Bruce Edward (Michael) Wood

• Born: April 5, 1937
• Ordained: June 7, 1984, Amarillo, Texas
• Deceased: June 22, 2017
• Served in the Amarillo Diocese from July of 1984 through June 1, 1988
• Thomas the Apostle, Amarillo
• Joseph, Stratford
• Alamo Catholic High School, Amarillo
• Joseph, Amarillo