Houston, Texas, Nov 28, 2018 / 10:11 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Investigators have executed a search warrant on the chancery offices of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. A search warrant obtained by the district attorney’s office for Montgomery County was served Wednesday morning by officers from the Texas Rangers and Conroe Police Department.
According to local media reports, the district attorney’s office is seeking documents related to the case of Fr. Manuel La Rosa-Lopez, who was arrested by Conroe police in September on four charges of indecency to children.
The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston was unavailable to comment on the search, or to clarify whether it was limited to the case of La Rosa-Lopez.
The district attorney’s office has already conducted searches at two churches where La Rosa-Lopez had been previously assigned – St. John Fisher in Richmond and Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Conroe – as well as the Shalom Treatment Center in Splendora, where La Rosa-Lopez was sent for evaluation and treatment in the early 2000s.
While stationed at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Conroe, Father Manuel La Rosa-Lopez was accused in 2001 of kissing and inappropriately touching a 16 year-old girl. Following consideration of the allegation by both civil authorities and the archdiocesan review board in 2003, La Rosa-Lopez was allowed to return to ministry in 2004.
On Aug. 10, 2018, a 36-year-old man alleged to the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston that Fr. Manuel La Rosa-Lopez sexually abused him from 1998-2001, when he was a high school student and La Rosa-Lopez was assigned to Sacred Heart Parish.
The archdiocese said in a statement following La Rosa-Lopez’s arrest Sept. 11 that it had immediately reported the man’s allegation to Child Protective Services.
In October, a third individual came forward with allegations that La Rosa-Lopez had sexually abused him on several occasions during the mid-1990s. According to reports, a lawyer for the third accuser said that the family of the alleged victim had reported La Rosa-Lopez at the time.
La Rosa-Lopez is currently released on bail and scheduled to return to court in January.
Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston and president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, has found himself at the forefront of the American hierarchy’s response to the sexual abuse crisis. He chaired the U.S. bishops’ conference general assembly in early November, during which he announced that the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops had instructed them to delay voting on a proposed code of episcopal conduct or on the creation of an independent commission for investigating allegations of misconduct against bishops.
Last week, DiNardo was the subject of a television report claiming he had knowingly left two priests in active ministry despite “credible accusations” of abuse having been made against them. Cardinal DiNardo denied that either case was “credible.”
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This is what I anticipated if the Church failed to initiate investigation and reform, and the fault lies with Pope Francis for twice refusing the US Bishops to go forward. Cardinal DiNardo stated the allegations against the priests were not credible. Now it’s the judgment of law enforcement including Texas Rangers to determine credibility. Some Catholics perceive this as a Godsend. Prejudice and proverbial rush to judgment is more likely to be a major issue in priests some who may well be innocent charged and incarcerated. What’s at stake now is Church privacy and integrity. Will all privacy be exposed? Will the seal of confession be next? I’m unaware of any Govt investigation of the Catholic Church anywhere at any time that benefited the Church and led to reform. The Catholic Laity led by Catholic attorneys need to step in and take control.