Father John Beno
Diocese of Pueblo
Ordained: 1959
Died: 2000
Assigned as follows:
- 1960: Sacred Heart Cathedral (Pueblo, CO)
- 1961-1964: St. Francis Xavier (Pueblo, CO)
- 1965-1967: St. Peter’s (Rocky Ford, CO)
- 1968-1969: Our Lady of the Assumption (Pueblo, CO)
- 1970-1983: St. Anne (Pueblo, CO)
- 1984: Absent on Leave
- 1985-1994: Unknown
- 1995-1999: Retired
Summary of Sexual Abuse Allegations against Fr. John Beno:
Fr. John Beno was ordained a priest in 1959, and served in multiple parishes in the Diocese of Pueblo. 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. Beno was publicly identified as a priest with multiple documented reports of sexual abuse.
According to the Report, Victim #1 reported her abuse to the Diocese of Pueblo in 1995. She reported that she was a five year old girl at St. Francis Xavier in Pueblo when Beno asked her to come to the rectory with him. Once there, she says that Beno forced her to perform oral sex upon him and then he raped her. He told her that she had to keep it quiet because to tell anyone would be a mortal sin and she would no longer be considered a “child of God.” She recalls that the incident occurred in late 1961.
The matter was later settled by the Diocese, despite the fact that Beno claimed he had no memory of the incident and did not believe that it happened.
Victim #2 reported her abuse to the Diocese of Pueblo in 2005. According to her report, she was a junior at Seton High School in Pueblo when she encountered Beno. He asked her to meet him in the basement at Our Lady of the Assumption parish in Pueblo, where he lived. He then raped her and threatened her with excommunication if she told anyone.
She recalls that this incident occurred in 1968 or 1969 when she was about 16 years old. The woman also told the Diocese that she met with Beno in 1985 at her request. He arrived at their meeting with several lawyers, and admitted that the incident occurred. She also said that he threatened her with eternal damnation and otherwise intimidated her into never telling her secret.
Beno died in late 2000.
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.
Contact us at 888-283-9922 or [email protected] to discuss your options today.