'It's better than nothing': Archdiocese unveils plaque to victims of clergy abuse
Sep. 23—Mary Stromberg Sheppeard said she was flooded with emotions when she heard that the Archdiocese of Santa Fe was dedicating a plaque to victims of clerical sex abuse, like herself.
"When I got the press release, I started crying," she said following a brief dedication ceremony Monday at the archdiocese's office in Albuquerque.
She immediately called two friends who also were victims of clerical abuse as girls.
"We all were crying," Stromberg Sheppeard said. "I couldn't stop crying. So I guess I was touched."
Also in attendance was Esther Lucero-Minor, who was raped by a priest when she was about 20.
"We were touched because it's putting into action — something, something," Lucero-Minor said. "It's better than nothing. It's something."
The ceremony, led by Archbishop of Santa Fe John C. Wester, dedicated the bronze plaque, located next to the front entrance of Archdiocese's Pastoral Center, 4000 St. Joseph's NW, in Albuquerque.
"I apologize personally, as the Archbishop of Santa Fe, for the abuse that took place," Wester said in an interview after the ceremony. "I recognize that they're just words, but it's from the heart. I think is important for people, for victims, to hear that from a living person."
The archdiocese emerged from a long-running Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in December 2022, agreeing to pay $121 million to more than 420 survivors of clergy sex abuse. A committee of survivors asked the archdiocese to erect a memorial to victims as part of the settlement.
"In remembrance of all victims of sexual abuse, living and deceased, in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe," the plaque reads, in part. "The Archdiocese acknowledges your pain and apologizes for our failure to listen, to intervene and to protect."
Wester said he considers the plaque as a symbol, and a starting point.
"It just represents, first of all, our sorrow at clergy sexual abuse and our deep regret and apology," he said.
The clergy abuse scandal broke early and publicly in New Mexico. Former Archbishop of Santa Fe Robert F. Sanchez resigned in March 1993, two days before a CBS "60 Minutes" report identified three women who alleged that Sanchez had sexually abused them as teenagers.
Since 2017, the archdiocese has voluntarily published a list of clergy who have been "credibly accused" of sexual misconduct. Currently, the names of 81 priests or other clergy appear on the list.
Wester said the scandal has taught the archdiocese to remain vigilant.
"We've learned to listen to our attorneys less and listen to our hearts more, to reach out and do what the church is meant to do, and to support people who are in need," he said.
"Constant vigilance is required to keep children and young people safe, because we're dealing with human nature," he said.
Stromberg Sheppeard, 74, said she was 17 when she was raped by a priest who had promised to drive her home to Albuquerque from El Paso. The priest first drove to Mexico where he raped her, she said.
She identified her abuser as the late Rev. Jesse Munoz. The Diocese of El Paso identified a priest named Jesse Munoz as a sexual abuser and removed him from ministry in 1980. He died in 1988.
Lucero-Miner, 74, said she was raped at about the age of 20 by a priest at the parish she attended in Albuquerque. She declined to identify the priest, saying she signed a nondisclosure agreement not to identify the priest or his parish.
Lucero-Miner said she fell into a "spiritual black hole" after the attack and later moved to Seattle.
"As a young Latina, I had nobody to go to, and I self-blamed and all that kind of stuff that you do," she said. She eventually met with her attacker and confronted him about the rape.
"He didn't like the fact that I called it a rape," she recalled of the meeting.
"'I really don't care what you have to say,'" she said she told him. "'You know what you did to me. What you don't know is the devastating effects that it had on my life.'"
