Iowa State University, Loras College, Creighton University, Loyola University Chicago, Iliff School of Theology, the University of Denver, and St. Thomas Seminary
John Beno (November13, 1931 – December5, 2000) was a Catholic priest and Democratic Party politician from Colorado, U.S. He served two terms in the Colorado Senate, totaling eight years, from January 1979 to January 1987. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1959 and served as a priest in several southern Colorado communities, chiefly in Pueblo.[1]
Elections
Beno was first elected to the Colorado Senate in 1978. He was re-elected in 1982. He faced little opposition in the primary or general elections.[2][3]
Legislative leadership positions
Among the committees Beno served on in the Colorado Senate were the Appropriations Committee and the Joint Budget Committee.[4]
Sexual abuse allegations
A 2019 report by the Colorado Attorney General published after Beno's death implicated him in the sexual abuse of two children, one in 1961 and one in 1968 or 1969.[5]
^"John Richardson Beno". Legislator History Database — Colorado legislators past and present. Colorado General Assembly. n.d. Retrieved May 23, 2024.
^Colorado Attorney General (October 22, 2019). Roman Catholic Clergy Sexual Abuse of Children in Colorado from 1950 to 2019(PDF) (Report). State of Colorado. pp. 208–209. Archived(PDF) from the original on May 2, 2021. Retrieved May 23, 2021. When Victim #1 was in first grade at St. Francis Xavier Parochial School in Pueblo, Beno asked her to come to the rectory with him. He forced her to perform oral sex on him and then raped her. He ensured her silence by telling her that a child of God does not reveal this kind of incident and that to do so would be a mortal sin (p. 208)
