Father Harold Robert White
Archdiocese of Denver
Ordained: 1960
Removed from ministry: 1993
Laicized: 2004
Death: 2006
Assigned as follows:
- 1960-1963: St. Catherine’s (Denver, CO)
- 1963-1965: St. Mary’s (Colorado Springs, CO)
- 1965-1968: St. Anthony’s (Sterling, CO)
- 1968-1970: St. John the Evangelist (Loveland, CO)
- 1970-1978: St. Patrick’s (Minturn, CO)
- 1970-1978: St. Mary’s (Eagle, CO)
- 1970-1978: Our Lady of Mt. Carmel (Red Cliff, CO)
- 1970-1978: The Interfaith Chapel (Vail, CO)
- 1978-1981: St. Mary’s (Aspen, CO)
- 1981-1983: Church of the Good Shepherd (Denver, CO)
- 1983-1986: SS. Peter and Paul (Wheat Ridge, CO)
- 1986-1989: St. Anne’s (Grand Lake, CO)
- 1987-1989: Our Lady of the Snow (Granby, CO)
- 1987-1989: St. Bernard (Fraser-Winter Park, CO)
- 1989-1990: Holy Names (Steamboat Springs, CO)
- 1990-1993: St. Patrick’s (Minturn, CO)
- 1990-1993: Our Lady of Mt. Carmel (Red Cliff, CO)
- 1990-1993: The Interfaith Chapel (Vail, CO)
- 1990-1993: Avon Catholic Community (Beaver Creek, CO)
- 1990-1992: St. Mary’s (Eagle, CO)
Summary of Sexual Abuse Allegations against Father Harold Robert White:
Father Harold Robert White was ordained a priest in 1960, and served in multiple parishes in the Archdiocese of Denver. According to media reports, Father Harold Robert White is accused in more than 60 cases of sex abuse against children between 1960 and 1981. He is accused of abusing both boys and girls.
Records also show how hard the Archdiocese of Denver worked to keep the allegations of abuse out of the public, by moving him from parish to parish. According to reports, Archdiocese of Denver officials knew in the 1960s of White’s “boy troubles,” and at least some officials believed even then that such men “carried the affliction with them to the grave.”
Documents show that Archdiocesan officials knew of an allegation against White as early as 1960. Church documents show that White was accused of sexually abusing 30 children between 1960 and 1981. At least one man has reported that White abused him in 1959 or 1960 before White was ordained.
The Archdiocese never reported White’s suspected abuses to law enforcement. Instead, whenever growing numbers of people became aware of White’s problems in one parish or city, Archdiocese of Denver officials determined, according to file correspondence, that it was time to transfer White to another parish. White worked in 10 different parishes over two decades.
In addition to parishioners, White’s godson reported that he was molested as a child at White’s family cabin in Grand Lake beginning in about 1963.
In the 1960s, Rev. James Kane reported a complaint of sexual abuse against White to the Archbishop, while White was at St. Anthony’s in Sterling, Colorado.
In 2005, another woman accused White of having sexually abused her as a girl from 1955-1968 at St. Anthony’s.
At least one man has accused White of sexually assaulting him when he was a boy at St. John the Evangelist in the late 1960s and another victim accused White of having sexually abused him at St. Patrick’s in the early 1970s.
In 1981, White was accused of having sexually abused at least one boy while at St. Mary’s in Aspen, Colorado. The boy told his parents, who contacted the Archdiocese, and White was “gone within the week.”
White has been named in 2/3 of the lawsuits settled by the Archdiocese of Denver since 2002.
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. They identified a staggering 63 documented reports of sexual abuse involving White, which accounted for nearly 40% of all of the victims identified in the entire state of Colorado.
White was laicized in 2004 and died in Cancun, Mexico in 2006.
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.