Denverpost.com
By Electa Draper
The Denver Post
Posted: 04/16/2010 04:31:14 PM MDT
Updated: 04/16/2010 04:33:36 PM MDT
A Douglas County judge today continued until May 7 consideration of a a permanent restraining order against a priest that a St. Thomas More Parish family said worked to divide the parents from their 18-year-old son.
Judge Lawrence Raymond Bowling left in place a temporary protective order issued April 2 that prevents Father Paul Montez from contacting the family, visiting the boy’s high school or place of work. He declined to expand the order to keep Montez from attending mass at St. Thomas More, as the family had asked in their original request for a restraining order.
The Catholic Archdiocese of Denver removed Father Paul Montez from ministry in February in response to the family’s allegations, after church officials determined the 50-year-old priest had inappropriately interfered in the family’s affairs.
However, archdiocese spokeswoman Jeanette DeMelo said, the church found no evidence of sexual misconduct.
Montez, a Benedictine monk, grew up in the Pueblo area and has ministered in the Pueblo Diocese, including serving as pastor at St. Michael’s Church in Delta. He is currently living in Pueblo.
Montez joined St. Thomas More in July 2008 at the invitation of its pastor, Father Andrew Kemberling, according to archdiocese records.
Montez, who was at the hearing today, said he would not comment on the case until it is concluded. He is currently on a three-year leave from his Kansas-based monastic community, according to court records. Pueblo Diocese officials have not returned the Post’s calls about Montez’s status in that diocese.
The Bohs said they have been parishioners at St. Thomas More in Centennial for 12 years. Beginning in August 2008, the Bohs’ eldest son had worked at the church as a sacristan, the person who helps arrange vessels, vestments and everything needed by a priest to celebrate Mass.
Timothy and Teresa “Traci” Boh told Bowling that Montez spent nine weeks lying to their son about them and lying to them about their son, all the while encouraging the 18-year-old to move out of the Boh home in November. The young man stayed at the St. Thomas More youth center briefly, his parents said, before moving in with another parish family.
The Bohs further allege in their complaint that Montez described the family to their son and other parishioners as “crazy and mentally abusive.”
The Bohs said that Montez had begun manipulating their son more than a year ago by giving him dozens of gifts of clothing and a laptop computer. He took him on more than 200 outings.
“Montez started grooming him (for what we believe would have resulted in sexual assault had Montez not been stopped), over a year and a half ago,” the Bohs said in their complaint.
Electa Draper: 303-954-1276 or edraper@denverpost.com
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2nd Priest Removed At Centennial Catholic Church
Couple Accuses Father Paul Montez Of Stalking 18-Year-Old Son
7 News ABC
POSTED: 12:56 pm MDT April 16, 2010
UPDATED: 1:48 pm MDT April 16, 2010
CENTENNIAL, Colo. — A Catholic priest had been removed from duty for inappropriate conduct at a Centennial Catholic church where another priest was removed this month over allegations of sexual misconduct in the 1970s.
Timothy and Teresa Boh, who attend St. Thomas More Parish, obtained a temporary restraining order April 2, alleging that Father Paul Montez had been grooming their 18-year-old son for sex and stalking the family, the Denver Post reported.
The couple claims Montez, who is also known as Edgar Montez, attempted for more than a year to manipulate their son with dozens of gifts of clothing, a laptop computer and more than 220 outings to meals, movies and other events, the Post reported.
“Montez started grooming (our son), for what we believe would have resulted in sexual assault had Montez not been stopped,” the Bohs wrote in their court complaint.
On Feb. 11, the Archdiocese of Denver removed Montez from ministry and ordered him to leave St. Thomas More, the Post reported.
The Bohs were scheduled to return to Douglas County Court Friday afternoon to make the restraining order barring Montez from contacting their family members permanent.
Montez served at St. Thomas More where Father Mel Thompson was removed April 8 after allegations of sexual misconduct with a minor in the 1970s surfaced.
“We listened to the concerns of the parishioners and investigated,” Archdiocese spokeswoman Jeanette DeMelo told the Post. “We deemed Father Montez inappropriate in his conduct to others, and that’s why he was removed. We did not uncover any sexual misconduct.”