Father John Holloway
Ordained: Unknown
Died: 1982
Assigned as follows:
- 1956: St. John's Church (Arcadia, IA)
- 1970-1971: Little Sisters of the Poor (Denver, CO)
- 1957-1960: Assumption Church (Emmetsburg, IA)
- 1972: St. John the Evangelist (Loveland, CO)
- 1961: On Duty Outside of the Diocese
- 1973: St. Mary's (Brush, CO)
- 1962: Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (Denver, CO)
- 1974-1975: Martin de Porres Church (Boulder, CO)
- 1963-1966: Sacred Heart Church (Roggen, CO)
- 1976-1978: Penrose Hospital (Colorado Springs, CO)
- 1967: The Mercy Hospital (Denver, CO)
- 1979-1982: Retired
- 1968: St. Anthony Hospital (Denver, CO)
- 1969: Holy Cross Church (Thornton, CO)
Summary of Sexual Abuse Allegations against Father John Holloway:
Father John Holloway 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 in the handling of child sexual abuse allegations by Colorado's three Catholic dioceses. For the first time, Fr. John Holloway was publicly identified as a serial child predator. According to the Report, Holloway's "grooming and child sex abuse stands out as the most calculated, horrific, and predatory we saw in our entire review. What also stands out is the Denver Archdiocese's ineffective responses to all 6 victims over a long period of time."
According to the Report, the first documented report of sexual abuse by Holloway was in 1972, after a child's mother raised the issue of Holloway sexually abusing her son during a parish meeting.
The man identified as Victim #1 in the Report reported his abuse by Holloway, who was also a trained psychologist with a Ph.D., in 2013. According to his allegation, he was abused at the rectory at Sacred Heart in Roggen in 1962. He first met Holloway while the priest was assigned to the Cathedral in Denver.
Victim #2 met Holloway in 1967 when he was a 12 year old patient at St. Anthony's Hospital in Denver. Holloway ingratiated himself into the boy's family and eventually gained the trust of the victim's parents. During an overnight visit with Holloway, the priest fed the child alcohol and a sedative, then sexually assaulted him. The Archdiocese later told the Vatican there was no evidence to suggest the abuse happened after it failed to investigate.
Victim #3 was an altar boy at St. John the Evangelist in Loveland when he was abused by Holloway. He says that the priest kissed and fondled him on multiple occasions in 1972 when the victim was 11.
Victim #4 says he was also abused as an altar boy at St. John the Evangelist in Loveland in 1972. At the time, the victim was 12 or 13 years. Abuse occurred at the parish and included repeated invitations by Holloway to go camping together. Holloway referred to the boy's penis as his "tent pole," and said he needed the boy's "tent pole" for the camping trips.
Victim #5 says he was abused by Holloway from 1970 to 1972, beginning when he was 12 or 13 years old. The boy knew the priest from St. John's in Loveland but there was no sexual contact until after Holloway was transferred to St. Mary's in Brush.
Victim #6 knew Holloway from Risen Christ in Denver. Starting in 1980, when he was 11, the victim says that Holloway forcibly raped him and engaged him in other ritualistic sex acts. Holloway told the child that he had a demon inside of him, and that the sexual abuse would remove the evil form him - and that it was the child's only hope of being allowed into Heaven someday. The abuse ended in 1982.
The Report characterizes the Archdiocese's responses as "harsh, adversarial, and manipulative of the victims. Not only did it never report any of Holloway's abuse to law enforcement, it never investigated any of it and then boldly pronounced it had no indication that Holloway was a child sex abuser." The pattern continues even now: when the most recent allegation was made to the Archdiocese in 2017, the Archdiocese "assured the Vatican that the allegation was not substantiated, after making no effort to investigate it."
Holloway died in the early 1980s, according to the Report.
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 adam@adamhorowitzlaw.com to discuss your options today.