Holley's History
1968 - Bishop Bernard J. Flanagan (Boston) wrote in a therapy referral that "this man has been molesting teen-age boys on at least two occasions... most recently in a hospital from which he has been barred... and with carrying around and showing these boys pornographic magazines and books".
1970 - Worcester MA Bishop Timothy Harrington told a psychiatrist at the Seton Psychiatric Institute where Holley was receiving treatment "people have been so greatly disturbed by his behavior that we would wonder whether he can avoid his reputation going before him in any area of this compact diocese".
1971 - placed in the care of Servants of the Paraclete in New Mexico for treatment after it was determined that he was abusing children in Massachusetts. While at Servants of the Paraclete, while let out on weekends, he molested children at nearby parishes. He was transferred to Alamogordo, New Mexico, where he molested another ten boys. (In 1993, he pleaded guilty to raping 8 of them.)
1977 - After psychiatric hospitalization, Holley was termed "a calculated risk".
1982 - Texas Bishop Joseph Fiorenza wrote that although he knew of 'Father' Holley's "difficulties, nevertheless, "with our shortage of priests, I am willing to risk incardinating him," appointing him a diocesan priest in Texas.
1987 - Denver Archbishop James Stafford (now Cardinal Stafford) appointed Holley Assistant Chaplain at St. Anthony's Central. October 5, 1987 letter to Holley from Rev. Lawrence St. Peter, an official of the Denver Archdiocese, said, "I have contacted your bishop, Bishop Timothy J. Harrington of Worcester, Massachusetts, and he assures me that you are a great priest in good standing and that he has given you permission to be a chaplain at St. Anthony Hospital Central, Denver", despite being previously barred from a hospital.
Archdiocese of Denver quietly removed Holley. He lived in a Northwest neighborhood of Denver, unsupervised for three years prior to his arrest.
In his 30-year career as a priest, bishops sent him for inpatient psychiatric treatment at least twice, then institutionalized him again when abuse allegations resurfaced in the early 1990s.
In a 1993 affidavit in the New Mexico lawsuit, Father Holley testified that "my psychosexual disorder first began to manifest itself in approximately 1962". Well before he was officially made a diocesan priest in 1967, he testified, "Bishop Flanagan (Boston) had received reports that I had sexually molested boys" in three parishes. (Source: Dallas Morning News)
The Archdiocese of Denver appointed Holley (who bishops knew was a pedophile) in 1987-88. It takes the average (child) victim 30 years to come forward. Victims from Holley's early days in Worcester Diocese and New Mexico have come forward and it is likely victims from the early 1980s have yet to come forward.
Holley was sentenced to 275 years in prison. New Mexico Governor rescinded parole for David Holley.
For More Information:
Letters Show Worchester Diocese Wanted Rev. Holley Out
Read our Profile on Phil Saviano
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