Father Francis Pettit
Archdiocese of Denver
Ordained: 1976
Retired: 2013
Died: 1987
Initiated process to Laicize: 2019
Assigned as follows:
- 1938-1939: Grand Junction, CO)
- 1968: St. Joseph’s, Fort Collins, CO)
- 1940-1943: Annunciation (Denver, CO)
- 1969: St. Jude (Denver, CO)
- 1944: St. Leo the Great (Denver, CO)
- 1970-1975: Our Lady of Fatima (Denver, CO)
- 1945-1947: Blessed Sacrament (Denver, CO)
- 1976: Notre Dame (Denver, CO)
- 1948-1953: St. Anthony of Padua (Hugo, CO)
- 1977-1980: Retired (Denver, CO)
- 1954-1957: Our Lady of Lourdes (Denver, CO)
- 1981-1986: Retired (Pueblo, CO)
- 1958-1963: St. Therese (Denver, CO)
- 1964-1967: On Sick Leave – Location Unknown
Summary of Sexual Abuse Allegations against Fr. Francis Pettit:
Fr. Francis Pettit was ordained to the priesthood in 1937, and served in multiple parishes in the Archdiocese of Denver. According to media reports, in October 2019, the Colorado Attorney General released a detailed report of a special investigation into the handling of child sexual abuse allegations by Colorado’s three Catholic dioceses. For the first time, Fr. Francis Pettit was publicly identified as a priest with a documented report of child sexual abuse.
According to the Report, in 1989, a witness reported to a priest in the Archdiocese of Denver that he or she was aware of Fr. Pettit repeatedly sexually abusing a female grammar school student at St. Therese in Denver in 1963. The witness reported seeing the child being taken from class on multiple occasions and sexually abusing her in the rectory. A second witness reported Fr. Pettit’s abuse of the girl in 2019. It is not clear if/when the victim herself reported anything to the Archdiocese.
By the time the second report was created in 2019, the victim was deceased, as was Fr. Pettit.
Horowitz Law is a law firm representing victims and survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and other clergy in the Archdiocese of Denver in Colorado. If you need a lawyer because you were sexually abused by a priest in Colorado, contact our office today. Although many years have passed, those abused by Catholic clergy in the Archdiocese of Denver now have legal options, but filing deadlines will apply so do not delay in reaching out to us. Our lawyers have decades of experience representing survivors of clergy sexual abuse in Colorado and nationwide. We can help.
Contact us at 888-283-9922 or [email protected] to discuss your options today.