Father Delbert Blong
Diocese of Pueblo
Ordained: 1952
Retired: 1991
Died: 1999
Assigned as follows:
- 1953-1967: Our Lady of Guadalupe (La Junta, CO)
- 1968-1976: Sacred Heart (Alamosa, CO)
- 1972-1973: Liturgical Commission
- 1977-1982: Newman Center of Southern Colorado (Pueblo, CO)
- 1977-1985: Christ the King (Pueblo, CO)
- 1986: Newman Apostolate of Fort Lewis (Durango, CO)
- 1986-1991: St. Columba (Durango, CO)
- 1987-1990: Durango Deanery (Durango, CO)
- 1991-1994: Defensores Vinculi, Diocesan Tribunal; Pro-Synodal Judges, Diocesan Tribunal
- 1992-1993: Retired
- 1994-1999: Retired
Summary of Sexual Abuse Allegations against Father Delbert Blong:
Father Delbert Blong was ordained a priest in 1952, and served in multiple parishes in the Diocese of Pueblo. According to media reports, in 1993, a teacher in Boulder, Colorado filed a lawsuit against the Diocese of Pueblo and Father Delbert Blong. The man said that Blong infected him with the AIDS virus after sexually abusing him for more than 20 years.
The 36-year-old victim, a substitute teacher in the Boulder public schools, said Blong began abusing him as a parochial school student in 1971 and continued on a regular basis until November 1992.
As a result, the victim alleged that Blong knowingly transmitted the HIV virus to him through unprotected sexual contact. The victim also alleges that two of Blong's lovers have died of AIDS and that two others are HIV positive.
The abuse allegedly began during a counseling session in 1971 when the victim was an eighth-grade student and occurred regularly and repeatedly until approximately November of 1992. The victim said the molestation took place on trips and in rectories in both Colorado and New Mexico.
According to media reports, Blong admitted to abusing the victim and transmitting the virus to him.
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. Investigators report that they reviewed the documented allegations of six victims abused by Blong between 1950 and 1980 in LaJunta and Alamosa. As early as his first assignment, Investigators said Blong "engaged in grooming behavior and sexual misconduct that was blatant, that continued even after the Pueblo Diocese Bishop told him to stop, and that was known to the Pueblo Diocese right after it began." They continued, "the Pueblo Diocese also was dishonest with the victims, the public and parishioners about its prior knowledge (dating back to the 1950s) of Blong's sexual abuse of children."
Blong died in Colorado in 1999.
Horowitz Law is a law firm representing victims and survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and other clergy in the Diocese of Pueblo 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 Diocese of Pueblo 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.
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