Priest Left Heavy Trail of Abuse
Fiorenza aware of past 'difficulties'

By Bill Murphy
Houston Chronicle
June 2, 2002

[See also Bishop Fiorenza's letter replying to this article.]

By the late 1960s, the Diocese of Worcester, Mass., knew it had a problem with the Rev. David Holley.

After he was accused of molesting at least two teen-age boys, the diocese ordered him into psychiatric counseling in 1968.

Over the next year, he was transferred to two other parishes, but "the father's difficulty" continued and he was not allowed to return to the diocese, then-Worcester Auxiliary Bishop Timothy Harrington wrote in 1970.

Worcester's problem went on to become New Mexico's and Texas' for nearly two decades after Holley was sent to a treatment facility run by the Paraclete order in New Mexico.

Deemed well enough to fill in at a parish in Alamogordo, N.M., Holley molested at least eight boys from 1972 to 1974.

Released from the facility's oversight in 1975, he bounced from the El Paso Diocese to the San Angelo Diocese - then under Bishop Joseph Fiorenza, now head of the Galveston-Houston Diocese - but was dismissed from parish duties because of relapses.

The relapses didn't stop until 1993, when Holley, now 74, was sentenced to 275 years for sodomizing and molesting boys in Alamogordo.

"When I heard that they had sent him from back East essentially to get rid of him, I felt like we didn't matter to them. We were just those hicks. I felt used (after learning) they shipped him off to New Mexico," said Vicki Francis, whose three brothers, all altar boys, were molested by Holley in Alamogordo. "I think it was pretty cowardly. You can say that's how I feel about those bishops back there."

Holley's clerical career exemplifies the problem that has arisen in Boston and elsewhere. The bishops' handling of cases such as Holley's has shaken the church and fueled a nationwide scandal.

Despite knowing of some of Holley's "past difficulties," Fiorenza wrote the Worcester bishop in 1982 that "with our shortage of priests, I am willing to risk incardinating him (accepting him as a diocesan priest) unless you would advise me against it, since you know him far better than I do. . . . If I do incardinate him, I will urge him to continue some form of supported therapy in order to guard against relapse."

The story of Holley's career is based on interviews with victims and clergy, court records, Holley's own correspondence and therapists' letters.

Born and raised in the Pittsburgh area, Holley had a painful childhood. "I was frequently beaten, burnt and cut by my stepfather and lived in isolation and rejection," he wrote in 1986 after undergoing psychotherapy.

In another letter, he said, "My forgiveness of my stepfather for the pain and abuse in my childhood was the key to my healing."

After serving in the Navy, he entered a Benedictine order outside Pittsburgh. But in the mid-1950s, the abbot said Holley wouldn't be allowed to take final vows because he was a notorious gossip and had cheated on a test.

Holley then entered an abbey in Wisconsin and was ordained in Milwaukee in 1958. He taught at a Benedictine-run school outside Boston for a year before being sent to a priory in Pennsylvania.

In 1962, Bishop Bernard Flanagan, head of the Worcester Diocese, allowed him to leave the Benedictines to become a priest in Grafton, Mass.

"My psychosexual disorder first began to manifest itself in approximately 1962," Holley said in a signed affidavit in 1993.

After a lawsuit was brought against the diocese in 1993, three men came forward to say Holley had abused them as boys while he was at Grafton.

At his next stop, in East Douglas, Mass., from 1964 to 1965, Holley's behavior became compulsive, abusing boys even when adult parishioners were around, said Phil Saviano of Boston, one of Holley's victims and now director of the New England chapter of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

Holley won boys over in a number of ways. He would stand behind their teacher, a nun, and silently mimick her words, Saviano said. A master of card tricks, he always carried a deck with him to entertain children.

Holley paid Saviano and the two others to stay after class and move furniture or perform other tasks, Saviano said. The three felt lucky to be singled out by the tall, heavyset, charming priest.

"One day, the deck of cards had naked pictures on them," Saviano said. "We were really curious about stuff like that."

He went on to show them some pornography, Saviano said, and in one encounter, he placed a boy's hand on his pants and began masturbating. Later, he coaxed children into performing oral sex, and instances of molestation became increasingly frequent.

"He was very brazen," said Saviano, 49. "There could be people in the church praying, and he would be outside the sacristy (the area near the altar where priests put on vestments) having sex with one kid or having sex with two kids."

"I was convinced I would get blamed for it," said Saviano, who settled his lawsuit against the diocese for $ 12,500. "I was so convinced it would all come down on my head that I could never tell anybody."

Holley was transferred to Boylston, Mass., where he served from September 1965 to February 1967. Three men from that parish joined Saviano in suing the diocese in 1993, alleging Holley molested them when they were boys. The diocese reached confidential settlements with them.

While serving at Our Lady of Fatima in Worcester in 1968, Holley acted as a hospital chaplain and visited an 18-year-old hospitalized boy who did not know him. He showed him "a pornographic book and (touched) his private parts," according to a Worcester bishop's office memo.

"There had been previous rumors and reports that Father H. was to be watched for evidence of immoral actions, but until now nothing could be proved," the memo says.

But Holley himself said in a later affidavit that before he became an incardinated diocesan priest in May 1967, Bishop Flanagan had twice called him in to discuss molestation allegations, cautioning "me against causing a scandal in the church."

At a 1994 deposition, Flanagan, who is now dead, testified, "I believe the only time I ever scolded him for this type of misconduct was when I had the report from the hospital, from Doctor's Hospital, and I laid it onto him heavy at that time. Other than that, I don't recall any time that I ever had to scold him."

After Holley molested the teen at the hospital, Flanagan placed him on leave of absence and sent him to a priest who was a psychiatrist. A month later, in September 1968, Flanagan assigned Holley to Southboro, where he served three months, before being transferred to Worcester for another nine months.

Harrington wrote of Holley's last year or so in the diocese: "During this time, he was transferred to two other parishes, where his problem became even more public, and a wake of trouble ensued."

"People have been so greatly disturbed by his behavior that we wonder whether he can avoid his reputation going before him in an area of this compact diocese," Harrington added. "We also question whether we can chance the possibility of his having another relapse."

Holley was treated at Seton Psychiatric Institute in Baltimore from August 1969 to early 1971, nearly 18 months.

"On a few occasions (at the hospital), he made seductive approaches to younger patients, but no known sexual activity was reported," Dr. Chang-Wuk Kang, his Seton psychiatrist, wrote in 1971.

Kang concluded: "The patient has made very little change in his basic personality problem and his behavior."

The Worcester Diocese refused to take Holley back. Flanagan instead urged Holley to go to the Paracletes for treatment. Holley resisted, saying in a letter that there was "a stigma" to being sent to the New Mexico facility and to the Seton Institute, known treatment centers for pedophile priests.

He later agreed to go. A month after arriving at the Paracletes' Pius XII Villa in Albuquerque, Holley wrote that he and other priests undergoing treatment for various disorders, including alcoholism, were conducting Mass at Albuquerque-area churches.

While Holley was still under their care in 1972, the Paracletes sent him to Alamogordo, where he served as a fill-in assistant pastor at St. Jude Mission Church, located across the street from a junior high.

Far from being cured, Holley went on a molesting spree in Alamogordo from 1972 to 1974.

Beginning in 1992, 17 men sued the Paracletes, Worcester and El Paso dioceses and Lovelace Health Systems, where he underwent psychiatric treatment. The defendants struck confidential settlements, and the Paraclete order later closed its New Mexico treatment centers.

Victims in Alamogordo estimated that Holley molested about 30 boys in the town, including some non-Catholics from the junior high.

Vicki Francis said her three brothers, altar boys at St. Jude, ranged in age from 9 to 13 when Holley abused them.

"He had altar boys give him oral sex in the sacristy before they went out to say Mass," she said.

Francis said parents informed St. Jude's pastor, the Rev. Wilfred Diamond, that Holley was molesting boys, but got nowhere.

After more parents complained, Diamond for the first time informed Bishop Sidney Metzger, head of the El Paso Diocese, which then included Alamogordo.

Metzger transferred Holley to St. Raphael's in El Paso in December 1975 after the psychatrist at the Lovelace center gave Holley a clean bill of health, saying, "I consider a re-emergence of his thoughts, impulses and behavior patterns of the past to be extremely unlikely under any foreseeable circumstances."

Four months later, in April 1976, the Rev. A. Dixon Hartford, then-chancellor of El Paso Diocese, told Holley his assignment at St. Raphael's was "immediately terminated and that I would have his things packed and shipped wherever he wished."

An El Paso man in 1992 alleged that Holley had molested him while assigned to St. Raphael.

In January 1977, Metzger appointed Holley associate pastor of the Church of Our Lady of the Valley. But in May, Metzger took away Holley's privileges to serve as a priest, advising him to return to lay status and get "professional psychological consultations."

Holley then moved on to the San Angelo Diocese, also in West Texas.

San Angelo Bishop Stephen Leven, then head of the diocese, wrote Worcester Diocese in 1977 that the "very serious personal affliction" that ended Holley's career in Worcester "made it imperative for him to leave El Paso as well."

Leven sent him to Southdown in Aurora, Ontario, where numerous pedophiliac priests have been treated.

Metzger, in a letter, praised Leven for showing a "very Christ-like concern for Father Holley." But he added: "You and I also know from our experience with such unfortunate matters that such cases are always a calculated risk."

Two months later, Holley returned to serve in San Angelo Diocese, working at six different churches in less than seven years, some simultaneously.

During all his time in New Mexico and Texas, Holley was still a Worcester priest on loan, in effect, to other dioceses. Fiorenza, who became bishop of San Angelo Diocese in 1979, informed the Worcester Diocese in June 1982 that he was considering making Holley a San Angelo diocesan priest.

He asked Flanagan if there were any reason San Angelo shouldn't incardinate him.

Holley, he wrote, "is very sensitive about his past and becomes most emotional in talking about it or if he thinks any of the priests are too inquisitive about his past ministry before coming to West Texas."

Flanagan wrote back: "You indicate your awareness of his past problems, and I don't think of anything I might add by way of further information."

Six months later, Fiorenza informed Flanagan that he had decided against incardination because "some of his past problems surfaced again. . . . I have made it clear to him that I will give him a fair chance to exercise his priesthood here, but if there is one more lapse, I will ask him to leave."

In May 1984, Fiorenza wrote Bishop Harrington, who had taken over as head of Worcester Diocese: "During this period of time on a few occasions his past problems surfaced."

Harrington, who is now dead, wrote back: "You were more than generous in giving him a second chance in 1982."

Fiorenza declined to be interviewed. Monsignor Frank Rossi, chancellor in charge of Galveston-Houston Diocese's administrative affairs, passed on some Chronicle questions to Fiorenza and relayed answers.

Before the Chronicle obtained correspondence and documents on Holley, Rossi discussed the 1982 letter in which Fiorenza acknowledged he was willing to incardinate Holley despite knowing of his "past difficulties."

Rossi said at the time that Fiorenza had been referring to Holley's past "poor people skills," not sexual misconduct.

After the Chronicle obtained the documents, Fiorenza sent a fax saying "past difficulties" referred not only to Holley's poor people skills but also to his "problems with alcohol."

Fiorenza said his reference in the 1982 letter to "supported therapy" meant that Holley should continue at Alcoholics Anonymous.

In one incident in San Antonio that occurred while under Fiorenza's supervision, Holley gave a deck of pornographic cards to a boy enrolled in a youth alternative program.

Fiorenza said Holley had given the boy a ride in his car, and it was this incident that led him to dismiss Holley from the diocese in 1984.

"I was not aware of his sexual problems before I learned he had pornographic materials in his possession," Fiorenza said in a fax. "My regret is that I did not know of Holley's sexual problem. I don't believe I mishandled this case because I never knew of any previous sexual misconduct problems."

Monsignor Larry Droll, who became San Angelo Diocese chancellor in 1980 and still holds the post, said he did not know Holley to have an alcohol problem or to attend alcoholism support groups.

Nothing in voluminous diocesan correspondence and reports from therapists or the Paracletes indicate Holley had any kind of alcohol problem.

Robert Curtis, one of the Alamogordo victims and an Albuquerque lawyer who has studied most of the court papers and depositions from the New Mexico civil and criminal cases, said, "Alcoholism was never an issue. His problem was 'poor people skills?' If they say that 'poor people skills' is performing oral sex on little boys, I would agree with their definition. And if they say it refers to alcoholism, it's just another lie."

In a 1994 deposition, Flanagan was asked: "It's your memory that Bishop Harrington explicitly informed Bishop Fiorenza of what Father Holley's problems were?"

"Yes," replied Flanagan.

Flanagan was asked about Fiorenza's letter informing him that he had decided against incardinating Holley and another letter saying he had dismissed him from the diocese. Flanagan testified that Fiorenza in both instances wrote after learning Holley had engaged in "sexual misconduct."

Fiorenza "didn't describe what it was," Flanagan testified. "I would figure it was some kind of sexual misconduct."

Reporter Brooks Egerton of the Dallas Morning News wrote in 1997 that Fiorenza had been willing to incardinate Holley despite knowing his "past difficulties."

Rossi said Fiorenza or another diocesan official in 1997 sought a correction from the Morning News because the "past difficulties" referred to "poor people skills." The newspaper refused to run a correction, Rossi said.

Morning News Executive Editor Gilbert Bailon said, "There was nobody asked at senior management about a correction."

"As we wrote it, we stand by it," he said. "We have seen nothing from (Fiorenza or his subordinates) to refute what we wrote."

On leaving San Angelo Diocese in 1984, Holley began serving at an Amarillo church, where he tried to seduce the 16-year-old nephew of a newly ordained priest by showing him a soft-porn movie and porn photos. The boy rebuffed Holley's advances, retired Amarillo Bishop Leroy Matthiesen said.

Matthiesen said Fiorenza told him at that time that Holley had, had similar problems with pornography and young boys while serving in San Angelo Diocese.

"I called Bishop Fiorenza. He told me he'd gotten complaints from parents. Holley was taking altar boys to Midland and treating them to dinner and whatnot. And the parents were concerned," Matthiesen said.

Fiorenza said Holley was showing "dirty pictures and exotic images and these videos," Matthiesen says. "Now that would be a big red flag today, but in those days we weren't sensitive to those issues."

Matthiesen said he told Holley to move on after the attempted seduction.

In 1986, Holley, then in Albuquerque, told Harrington that he would be applying for a chaplain's post at the local Veterans Administration Hospital.

Harrington advised him that he should inform the Albuquerque bishop that he wanted to serve as a priest in the diocese and to lay out his past problems.

If "another bishop were to approach Bishop Flanagan or me, Bishop (Michael) Pfeifer (now head of San Angelo Diocese), Bishop Fiorenza, Bishop Matthiesen or whomever, you can be certain that we will be frank with each other," Harrington wrote.

Holley didn't get the chaplain's job after Harrington advised the hospital to contact Fiorenza and Matthiesen.

But in 1987, he was hired as chaplain at St. Anthony Hospital Central in Denver after Harrington informed a Denver archdiocesan official that Holley was in good standing.

A year later, the Rev. R. Walker Nickless, Denver archdiocese vicar of priests, took away Holley's privileges to serve as a priest in the archdiocese after the head chaplain at St. Anthony's informed him Holley was no longer a hospital chaplain.

Holley continued living in Denver, but did not get another post anywhere.

Curtis said he informed the Worcester Diocese in the early 1990s that Holley had abused him in Alamogordo. He also said he would be bringing a civil lawsuit and would urge a New Mexico district attorney to bring criminal charges.

The Worcester Diocese then reclaimed Holley in 1992 for the first time in nearly two decades and ordered him to meet with diocesan officials. They sent him to an institute in Maryland for treatment.

Two men abused by Holley at St. Jude Mission in Alamogordo filed the first lawsuits against the Paracletes, Worcester and El Paso dioceses and others in December 1992. Fifteen other victims signed on.

Saviano and the three victims from the Worcester Diocese filed suit in Massachusetts the next year.

In early 1993, three decades after he said he began experiencing his psychosexual disorder, Holley was indicted on criminal charges in Alamogordo. That March, he pleaded guilty to eight crimes, including aggravated sodomy, sodomy and sexual assault. He is now in a geriatric unit at the state prison in Los Lunas, N.M.

Nearly a decade after he went to prison, Holley's victims and their relatives are still angry at how the church handled him.

"It's amazing to think," Saviano said, "he was that much of a problem early in his career and that he was allowed to remain a priest another 30 years."