As reported by My San Antonio, the Billings Gazette, and others, a former tribal child, now an adult woman, is suing the Roman Catholic Diocese of Great Falls-Billings for alleged sexual abuse from a priest that was popular in the Northern Cheyenne.
The abuse allegedly occurred between 1955 and 1962 in Ashland's St. Labre Mission School.
The lawsuit, filed on December 30 in the Cascade County District Court in Great Falls, has been filed against the diocese as well as the school and the Capuchin Order, the Order of Friars Minor.
Though the priest at the center of the lawsuit is named, Rev. E.H., he is not a defendant in the lawsuit. E.H. currently still resides in Ashland but is now, at 85, retired.
A member of The Associated Press telephoned E.H. at his retirement home, seeking comment, but E.H. failed to return the call. Another message was left with the diocese and it was also unreturned.
E.H. reportedly started his career at the St. Labre Mission to close it down, but instead, he revived it. By the time E.H. retired, many decades later, the mission was the recipient of a $50 million endowment.
In the Northern Cheyenne community, E.H. is one of two men, both white, that have been awarded the title of honorary chief. Along with that honor, E.H. was also the subject of a book released in 2004 by R.S.F. called "Renegade Priest of the Northern Cheyenne."
Vito De la Cruz is the attorney representing the victim and filed the suit on her behalf. De la Cruz said that due to E.H.'s fame in the community it "makes it more difficult for victims to muster the courage to come forward."
Due to the statue of limitations, De la Cruz stated, his client is unable to press criminal charges against E.H. De la Cruz also claimed that his experience with these types of cases led him to advice his client to ignore going after the priest alone, but instead, to focus efforts on those that had an obligation to act but failed to do so.
De la Cruz told reporters: "If you find a rattlesnake in the backyard, you don't just throw it over the fence into the neighbor's yard so somebody else gets hurt, you do something about it."
It is requested in the lawsuit that both the diocese and the Capuchin Order issue a public declaration of their wrongdoing.
The victim, now in her 60s – identified as Jane Doe in the suit as she is concerned for her safety – alleges that abuse began in her pre-teen years and extended almost through to her 18th birthday.
In a news release De la Cruz wrote: "Tribal children molested in remote areas had nowhere to turn. When a perpetrator threatens a child with death or the death of a family member if they tell, as (D.H.) did, the secrets remain buried for years."
After the book about D.H. was released, My San Antonio did a story on him where he revealed that he had two struggles in his career: alcoholism was the first, and the second, involved his superiors ordering him to terminate a young female that had volunteered as his secretary.
The story also revealed information garnered directly from the book where D.H. "freely talks of being in love with the woman, but says there was no physical relationship."
Contact a personal injury lawyerthat specializes in these types of cases if a member of the clergy has abused you. Don't let a statute of limitations limit justice from being carried out.