.
Is the Pope's version of a Rush Limbaugh for Catholics. In looks, demeanor, and effectiveness. An embarrassment for educated intelligent Catholics.
.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
SNAP Revolution in L.A. Today. Event Friday 11 AM to be Last at Cathedral, Moving Action to Fed Buildings
.
.
Ya Basta! This morning Jim Robertson, pictured left, was elected to run the new SNAP Los Angeles.
Friday 11AM there will be an event in front of the Cathedral, and Jim Robertson, elected to run the group locally, promises it will be the last event at that church property until things change.
On Friday, we may even march to the new location for future SNAP L.A. events, three blocks south to the Federal Building, (I believe it will be at the Main Street entrance), where we can leaflet and start conversations with individuals who can actually DO SOMETHING about prosecuting the perverts in the Catholic priesthood and their enablers.
The press statement below, from SNAP by whoever was running the Los Angeles branch before today, once again went out with a major mistake in the copy. Jim promises that future press statements from SNAP will be researched and contain information of genuine news value.
Survivors in Los Angeles now have local control and we can build a democratically run organization. Plus now we can proofread and fact check our press releases before they go out to the media:
************
SNAP PRESS STATEMENT WITH ANOTHER GREAT BIG MISTAKE
Hopefully the last incorrect press statement to come out of SNAP in Los Angeles for a long time:
*****************
Please consider coming to this event!
Clergy sex victims release more church records
Church had 'centers' for predators as far back as 50 years ago
Frustrated by 'on-going church secrecy,' SNAP urges Pope to 'come clean'
Group is also upset because LA archdiocese & priests still hiding documents
One Catholic official admitted that 30% of rejected seminarians are later ordained
What
Holding signs and child hood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims will release a dozen pages of once secret church records proving that the Pope and other top Catholic officials - in Rome and here - knew much about pedophile priests even decades ago. (Several of the documents have never been released before publicly). They will also urge
-- the Pope to disclose how he and his office handled pedophile priests for years from 2001-05, and
-- Cardinal Roger Mahony to prod the Pope to directly answer questions about recent allegations against the Pope,
-- Mahony to speed up the release of thousands of pages about LA predator priests and cover ups.
When
Wednesday, March 31 at 11:00 a.m.
Where
Outside Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, 555 W. Temple St. (at N. Grand Ave.) in Los Angeles
Who
A few clergy sex abuse victims who belong to a support group called SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, including a California police officer who did a week-long vigil in front of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels seven years ago.
Why
Newly released records, including letters to the Vatican in the 1960s, show a Catholic official admitting a "tremendous problem" of predator priests. The documents prove that almost 50 years ago, top church staff knew how widespread and incorrigible pedophiles are. They severely undercut recent claims by the Pope's defenders that he and others in the church hierarchy mishandled cases because they were "on a learning curve."
Some of the records are written by the head of the Paracletes, a religious order that tries to rehabilitate predator priests. Decades ago, he admitted that "There are now in many parts of the world (facilities) "where 'Christ's wounded priests' may be cared for."
*****
ENOUGH
It goes on and on and there is no focus, no idea what the press event is being called for at all.
*********
THE RELIGIOUS ORDER IS
"The Servants of the Paraclete"
Not "the Paracletes" although that is the name every reporter who got that press statement from SNAP today is now trying to find.
ENOUGH!
No more press statements with mistakes from SNAP
Los Angeles, we hope.
****
WE NEED TO PLEDGE in the new SNAP Los Angeles to do research and know the subject matter, beginning study DAYS BEFORE conducting any press events.
No more embarrassment for L.A. Survivors, as we watch our "spokesmen" get up and say incorrect information, stumble, not know names, not know where the church is they are referencing because they do not live or know anything about Los Angeles. I for one am so glad that this period of what felt like a strangelhold from St. Louis is over, and we can finally start doing SNAP events with panache, the way they should be done in Los Angeles.
YA BASTA!
Enough of this impotence. SNAP is going to accomplish things in Los Angeles, starting this Good Friday.
Paragraph removed from lead:
Jim's election came not a day too soon, as SNAP sent out the press statement above last night with a major error, referring to the "Paracletes." The religious order they referenced are "Servants of the Paraclete."
A lot of Los Angeles survivors had grown weary of continuing professional mess-ups that we have learned to expect from SNAP in Los Angeles the last few years.
As a result the press is not getting the whole story and many survivors dropped out of the movement locally, agreeing among ourselves that we need representatives who live in Los Angeles, not Orange and Ventura Counties. Most of us in L.A. are media savvy enough to run a press conference, we don't need or want David Clohessy in St. Louis to tell us what to say and do.
FINAL NOTE: It's weird SNAP National Office would make a mistake about "The Paracletes"
Weird, considering both SNAP and "The Servants of the Paraclete" are headquartered in St. Louis. Like we have Spielberg and CBS, St. Louis is a company town for secretive religious orders in the Catholic Church.
.
Posted by Kay Ebeling, Producer
The City of Angels Is Everywhere
PS That press statement SNAP put out last night for the L.A. Event today sounds like it was written by a college student finishing an assignment they forgot late at night, no time to really do it right, but it doesn't matter because they only wanted a C on the paper anyway.
ENOUGH!
WE have had enough in L.A.
YA BASTA!
***
Background on the Servants from City of Angels 4:
Monday, June 9, 2008
PROOF: Letters re problem priests at Paracletes in NM prove bishops knew about pedophilia in priesthood and destroyed files, regularly and secretly
The letter below is a sampling of documents recently passed to City of Angels Network, which we are in the process of scanning and uploading for an upcoming post. This one letter reveals the Catholic Church hierarchy destroyed records of pedophile priests per "legal advice." On page 2, the director of Via Coeli writes, "Once these documents have been read, please destroy them." The 1989 letter is a progress report on George V. Bredermann, an Arizona pedophile priest with a long entry in the bishopaccountability database of sexual predators in the church.
AND:
Monday, June 16, 2008
PROOF: Bishops knew about pedophile priests as far back as 1950s and worked to keep the problem secret. Documents here, click to enlarge
The documents scanned in below prove the Catholic Church hierarchy knew pedophile priests were a problem as far back as the 1950s. Fr. Gerald Fitzgerald, director of Via Coeli in New Mexico,
.Ya Basta! This morning Jim Robertson, pictured left, was elected to run the new SNAP Los Angeles.
Friday 11AM there will be an event in front of the Cathedral, and Jim Robertson, elected to run the group locally, promises it will be the last event at that church property until things change.
On Friday, we may even march to the new location for future SNAP L.A. events, three blocks south to the Federal Building, (I believe it will be at the Main Street entrance), where we can leaflet and start conversations with individuals who can actually DO SOMETHING about prosecuting the perverts in the Catholic priesthood and their enablers.
The press statement below, from SNAP by whoever was running the Los Angeles branch before today, once again went out with a major mistake in the copy. Jim promises that future press statements from SNAP will be researched and contain information of genuine news value.
Survivors in Los Angeles now have local control and we can build a democratically run organization. Plus now we can proofread and fact check our press releases before they go out to the media:
************
SNAP PRESS STATEMENT WITH ANOTHER GREAT BIG MISTAKE
Hopefully the last incorrect press statement to come out of SNAP in Los Angeles for a long time:
*****************
Please consider coming to this event!
Clergy sex victims release more church records
Church had 'centers' for predators as far back as 50 years ago
Frustrated by 'on-going church secrecy,' SNAP urges Pope to 'come clean'
Group is also upset because LA archdiocese & priests still hiding documents
One Catholic official admitted that 30% of rejected seminarians are later ordained
What
Holding signs and child hood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims will release a dozen pages of once secret church records proving that the Pope and other top Catholic officials - in Rome and here - knew much about pedophile priests even decades ago. (Several of the documents have never been released before publicly). They will also urge
-- the Pope to disclose how he and his office handled pedophile priests for years from 2001-05, and
-- Cardinal Roger Mahony to prod the Pope to directly answer questions about recent allegations against the Pope,
-- Mahony to speed up the release of thousands of pages about LA predator priests and cover ups.
When
Wednesday, March 31 at 11:00 a.m.
Where
Outside Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, 555 W. Temple St. (at N. Grand Ave.) in Los Angeles
Who
A few clergy sex abuse victims who belong to a support group called SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, including a California police officer who did a week-long vigil in front of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels seven years ago.
Why
Newly released records, including letters to the Vatican in the 1960s, show a Catholic official admitting a "tremendous problem" of predator priests. The documents prove that almost 50 years ago, top church staff knew how widespread and incorrigible pedophiles are. They severely undercut recent claims by the Pope's defenders that he and others in the church hierarchy mishandled cases because they were "on a learning curve."
Some of the records are written by the head of the Paracletes, a religious order that tries to rehabilitate predator priests. Decades ago, he admitted that "There are now in many parts of the world (facilities) "where 'Christ's wounded priests' may be cared for."
*****
ENOUGH
It goes on and on and there is no focus, no idea what the press event is being called for at all.
*********
THE RELIGIOUS ORDER IS
"The Servants of the Paraclete"
Not "the Paracletes" although that is the name every reporter who got that press statement from SNAP today is now trying to find.
ENOUGH!
No more press statements with mistakes from SNAP
Los Angeles, we hope.
****
WE NEED TO PLEDGE in the new SNAP Los Angeles to do research and know the subject matter, beginning study DAYS BEFORE conducting any press events.
No more embarrassment for L.A. Survivors, as we watch our "spokesmen" get up and say incorrect information, stumble, not know names, not know where the church is they are referencing because they do not live or know anything about Los Angeles. I for one am so glad that this period of what felt like a strangelhold from St. Louis is over, and we can finally start doing SNAP events with panache, the way they should be done in Los Angeles.
YA BASTA!
Enough of this impotence. SNAP is going to accomplish things in Los Angeles, starting this Good Friday.
Paragraph removed from lead:
Jim's election came not a day too soon, as SNAP sent out the press statement above last night with a major error, referring to the "Paracletes." The religious order they referenced are "Servants of the Paraclete."
A lot of Los Angeles survivors had grown weary of continuing professional mess-ups that we have learned to expect from SNAP in Los Angeles the last few years.
As a result the press is not getting the whole story and many survivors dropped out of the movement locally, agreeing among ourselves that we need representatives who live in Los Angeles, not Orange and Ventura Counties. Most of us in L.A. are media savvy enough to run a press conference, we don't need or want David Clohessy in St. Louis to tell us what to say and do.
FINAL NOTE: It's weird SNAP National Office would make a mistake about "The Paracletes"
Weird, considering both SNAP and "The Servants of the Paraclete" are headquartered in St. Louis. Like we have Spielberg and CBS, St. Louis is a company town for secretive religious orders in the Catholic Church.
.
Posted by Kay Ebeling, Producer
The City of Angels Is Everywhere
PS That press statement SNAP put out last night for the L.A. Event today sounds like it was written by a college student finishing an assignment they forgot late at night, no time to really do it right, but it doesn't matter because they only wanted a C on the paper anyway.
ENOUGH!
WE have had enough in L.A.
YA BASTA!
***
Background on the Servants from City of Angels 4:
Monday, June 9, 2008
PROOF: Letters re problem priests at Paracletes in NM prove bishops knew about pedophilia in priesthood and destroyed files, regularly and secretly
The letter below is a sampling of documents recently passed to City of Angels Network, which we are in the process of scanning and uploading for an upcoming post. This one letter reveals the Catholic Church hierarchy destroyed records of pedophile priests per "legal advice." On page 2, the director of Via Coeli writes, "Once these documents have been read, please destroy them." The 1989 letter is a progress report on George V. Bredermann, an Arizona pedophile priest with a long entry in the bishopaccountability database of sexual predators in the church.
AND:
Monday, June 16, 2008
PROOF: Bishops knew about pedophile priests as far back as 1950s and worked to keep the problem secret. Documents here, click to enlarge
The documents scanned in below prove the Catholic Church hierarchy knew pedophile priests were a problem as far back as the 1950s. Fr. Gerald Fitzgerald, director of Via Coeli in New Mexico,
New Videos Today:
.
Why isn't Pope being charged as accessory after the fact, on MSNBC Morning Joe March 30, 2010.
Why isn't Pope being charged as accessory after the fact, on MSNBC Morning Joe March 30, 2010.
Skewered News Coverage
.
Will do a story at AlterNet SoapBox about this next week, keeping my notes here:.
Here is link to: 86 Pages of Documents Released to New York Times last week by Jeff Anderson re 200 Deaf Children...
Then below is transcript of the part of the March 29, 2010, Joy Behar Show on HLN with Anderson and Cullen. Unfortunately, the videos now at CNN include ONLY the babbling of Bill Donohue of the Catholic League, and leave out Cullen and Anderson:
Now back to today`s guest host, Judge Jeanine Pirro.
PIRRO: The sex scandal plaguing the Catholic Church has finally landed at the Vatican gates. New allegations claim that the Pope Benedict knew about an American priest who molested up to 200 deaf boys and failed to take any action. The Pope responded harshly yesterday saying he would not be intimidated by petty gossip. Since when are allegations of child abuse petty gossip?
So what did the Pope know and when did he know it? Joining me to discuss this tonight are Kevin Cullen, reporter with "The Boston Globe" and author of "The Crisis in the Catholic Church"; Jeff Anderson, an attorney who has filed thousands of lawsuits against the Catholic Church on behalf of victims; and Bill Donohue, President of the Catholic League.
I`m going to start with Kevin tonight. Kevin, I still have your book "Betrayal". I`ve had it for years, and of course, you and I met when I did one of the first grand jury investigations into this priest pedophile cover-up with respect to some of the priests in my jurisdiction.
And of course, my question is, talk about Wisconsin. What happened with the priest pedophile case there and what even brings it close to the Pope?
KEVIN CULLEN, AUTHOR, "THE CRISIS IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH": Well Jeanine, as you mentioned, this is deja vu all over again. The situation here, while I think it`s changed the tenor of the debate and elevated or brought it back into the news is that before he was Pope Benedict, the Pope was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. And in that position with the Vatican he was in charge of discipline and doctrine and handled a lot of these cases.
When they left whether the United States or Ireland or any place else, it went through the Cardinal`s office.
And in this specific case the allegations are is that Cardinal Ratzinger then called off the dogs, called off the trial, the church trial of this priest named Murphy in Wisconsin who was accused of abusing so many children in this deaf institution.
PIRRO: And Kevin, as you say at the time the now Pope was as Cardinal Ratzinger, the head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, which is a position where -- and checked this out today where their task is to maintain and defend the integrity of the faith and to examine and prescribe errors on false doctrine.
And as such -- and I`ll go to Jeff with this -- documents were unearthed in the Wisconsin case, I think by Jeff which is what brings it into the newspapers these days.
Jeff, how did you find out about this stuff? When I was the D.A., I could not get this information, most of it was protected and back in Rome.
JEFF ANDERSON, ATTORNEY FOR VICTIMS OF SEXUAL ABUSE: Well, look, for 25 years, as you know it, Judge, it`s tough to get these documents. But we`ve been, by court order, requiring them to turn these over. And I`ve been, for 25 years, requiring that of the bishops across the country.
But in this case, we just got a turnover of documents in which these documents were embedded. And I`m not surprised that the Vatican, of course, is in charge of this.
But what shocked me when I saw this is this is the first documentation we`ve seen directly from this cover-up of the serial predator in Wisconsin through the Archbishop, directly to Cardinal Ratzinger and Rome and then Rome and Cardinal Ratzinger instructing the Archbishop and other clerics to abate the process, keep it secret and forget about the kids.
PIRRO: All right, now I`m going to go to you, Bill --
BILL DONOHUE, PRESIDENT OF THE CATHOLIC LEAGUE: Right.
PIRRO: -- I mean, you know, what we`ve got here are two Bishops who, in this case and the priest in Wisconsin beseeched the Vatican and said get rid of this guy and asked him to take action against him. Instead the church trial was halted and they refused to defrock him. So what`s going on here?
DONOHUE: I want to take issue with several things that have been said including -- this is probably the biggest frame I`ve ever seen in my life.
PIRRO: But why would anybody want to frame the church?
DONOHUE: Can I -- can I -- let me go through the timeline, which neither one of these gentlemen did. Abuses took place in the 1950s. The reasons we don`t know --
PIRRO: No, no, not that tape, I`m talking Wisconsin.
DONOHUE: No, that`s what I`m talking about.
PIRRO: Ok.
DONOHUE: In the 1950s that`s when it started.
PIRRO: If you yell, it doesn`t make your point, Bill. And I can hear you.
DONOHUE: But Jeanine, Jeanine --
PIRRO: What?
DONOHUE: You gave these two guys both of them -- their opportunity, right?
They began in the 1950s. The victim`s families didn`t bring it to the attention of the authorities until the mid 1970s. The cops investigated and they found nothing and they dropped it. The great hero of Archbishop Weakland out of Wisconsin never even bothered to notify the Vatican until 1996. Ratzinger never even knew about this.
PIRRO: So you -- you deny that Ratzinger, now the Pope, knew about it. And you say that because it was beyond the statute of limitations. There was nothing they could do.
DONOHUE: As a matter of fact --
PIRRO: Isn`t there a Canon Law, Bill irrespective of the civil law and they were not referring these cases to civil courts anyway. Shouldn`t you, instead of leading these victims, you know, delivering them to the wolves, shouldn`t you be shepherding the victims as opposed to moving these pedophile priest around?
DONOHUE: First -- first of all, the hero of the left Archbishop Weakland could have brought -- could have had a trial on this in Wisconsin. He could have been investigating this. Why did he wait so long? But look, it went to Ratzinger`s office. Ratzinger`s office, I get hundreds of letters every day that I don`t read. But even --
PIRRO: Oh, don`t even go there, Bill. You know the buck stops at the top.
DONOHUE: No, no, and you know what? What did they do, they could have said, the statute of limitations has run out. Instead they said let`s authorize a trial.
PIRRO: Ok.
DONOHUE: You know why they didn`t defrock him because he hadn`t been found guilty yet and the guy died. What in the world do you want them to do with that case?
PIRRO: Ok, Kevin, talk to me. What`s your response on this?
CULLEN: Well, first of all, I think I would just like to put a little context in this. I think, one thing we have to remember is that there`s only been one bishop in the history of the United States who was actually disciplined and/or lost his job because of complicity in abuse.
And there`s the clear difference here. Were not talking about the priests who abuse children, that`s one thing. But they could only be enabled that they were being moved around and not being dealt with when these allegations first surfaced. I think what`s happening here, as we said with Cardinal Law, what happened is that our newspaper, "The Boston Globe," was able to go to court and get documents.
It wasn`t what "The Boston Globe" said; it`s what Cardinal Law said in his own document. That`s what ran him out of town. This is what`s happening in this case.
But I think the bigger issue here is that the bishops who enabled the abusers all these years, they were never dealt with.
PIRRO: You know what?
CULLEN: There was never -- and that`s why it`s coming home to roost.
PIRRO: But let me ask you this, Kevin thank you. But let me ask you this. You said that there`s one leftist bishop. What about the other bishops? What about 200 deaf boys` families and where is the church is can say, look, the Civil Statute of Limitations have passed. Why didn`t they defrock this guy? Do you think 200 deaf kids are lying?
DONOHUE: Well, no, no, I`m not saying that. I`m simply saying that you want to go where the action is, go to Wisconsin. You can`t put it on Ratzinger`s desk.
PIRRO: Of course you can.
DONOHUE: Because he never got it until 1996, he never got it until 1996.
PIRRO: All right, so why didn`t he defrock him in `96?
DONOHUE: Because they started the trial. They did exactly what they were supposed to do.
PIRRO: But they halted the trial.
DONOHUE: What?
PIRRO: Bill, they halted the trial --
DONOHUE: Halted the trial when the guy is ready to drop dead in a couple of days.
PIRRO: He was ready to drop dead but he didn`t drop dead. They should have defrocked him instead they said he can`t say mass outside of archdiocese.
You know what Jeff, let me ask you something. How do you get a- hold of these documents? How do you prove when Bill -- and you know what? And I respect you, Bill, I mean, you work for the church, I get it.
But what do we do for the victims in these cases? How do we prove that this got to Ratzinger, now the Pope?
ANDERSON: Well, we prove it through the testimony of the survivors but in this case and in these cases, we use the church documents that they have kept secret for centuries and decades.
And in this case, the Archbishop wrote directly to Ratzinger, asking for his intervention because he had jurisdiction over the removal of the priest. They started an investigation. They went to Rome --
PIRRO: And you know what? Jeff, you`re right.
ANDERSON: And the documents go directly to the Pope and they go directly to Ratzinger and the tale is in the documents. The documents don`t lie because those are the words of Ratzinger, his secretary Bertone and --
(CROSSTALK)
PIRRO: Ok, I got to wrap it up. We`re coming back. Ok. Stay right there.
More on the Catholic Church scandal when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PIRRO: We`re back with my panel talking about the Catholic Church scandal that`s made it all the way to the Vatican`s doorstep.
I`m going back to you, Bill. In addition to this case from Wisconsin, when Bishop Ratzinger or Cardinal Ratzinger was in Munich, he moved a pedophile priest by the name Hullermann from Essen to Munich. All right.
He was in charge and presided over meeting where everyone knew he was pedophile. He was an admitted pedophile, the documents are clear. And he was moved to another parish and molested more kids. Was then convicted by the civil authorities and -- get this -- the guy, the priest Hullermann was suspended of his pastoral duties ten days ago.
Shame on the Church and I`m Catholic. I don`t want to read this stuff.
DONOHUE: The guy was in Essen and then they asked him, can we go to Munich for the therapy? Quite frankly, I think the Church bought the liberal line on this nonsense in giving therapy because a psychiatry can fix people. I would have thrown him out.
(CROSSTALK)
PIRRO: Thank you very much.
DONOHUE: But that`s the hard line.
PIRRO: So you believe that it goes to Ratzinger, that he knew about it because he presided over the meeting. He then allowed to removal to another --
DONOHUE: They said, will you allow him to have therapy in Munich and he said yes. That was the end of it in terms of his role in this.
PIRRO: Hogwash. He moved him to a parish in Munich.
DONOHUE: Even the "New York Times" is saying that there is no evidence that that happened.
PIRRO: That`s not true. Gruber`s (ph) the one who`s taking the heat for it.
(CROSSTALK)
DONOHUE: So you know that Ratzinger did it and "The New York Times" is wrong?
(CROSSTALK)
PIRRO: All right. Jeff let me ask you this. What do we do in terms of the law? Do we make these bishops accountable for facilitation of pedophilia when they move these priests around that they know are pedophiles?
ANDERSON: What we have to do is hold the bishops and the Vatican accountable for their role in the cover up of these crimes. The question isn`t always when they knew, the question is, what did they do when they knew that a kid was abused and what they did in that case. What they`ve done across the country as we uncovered for 25 years, is when they learn they protect the priests and their own reputation instead of the kids.
PIRRO: Yes.
ANDERSON: And that`s really what it`s about. They choose to protect their reputation and avoid scandal instead of worrying about these kids.
PIRRO: And you know, Jeff, what the shame of this is? The shame of this is there are practicing Catholics out there. It`s Holy Week, I`m one of them, but I am outraged at the thought that the Pope may have known about this.
And finally Kevin, I`m going to give you the last word. Why is this coming forward now? Why are we talking about it at Holy Week? What is it that`s bringing us here and just say it in 15 seconds because I want to go to Bill.
CULLEN: Well Judge, you know, seven years ago we dealt with the abuse of priests. Right now it seems like this is really addressing the enablers where it really was not addressed seven years ago.
PIRRO: Good point, we`re moving up the ladder. You`re absolutely right Kevin.
And Bill, how do we restore faith in the Catholic Church?
DONOHUE: Well, I think we`re doing it already. There were six accusations made between 2008 and 2009. I`ll put that up again for anybody. We`re going back 50 years. I want to see the 50-year records on the partisans and Jews and the public school industry.
But you know what? I`m setting the record straight. Tomorrow in "The New York Times", I have an op-ed page which I have written myself. And then I want to hear what the reaction will be.
PIRRO: Ok. All right. What a shock. We`ve got Bill here expressing himself with an op-ed piece.
Thanks, guys. We`ll be back right after this short break
Will do a story at AlterNet SoapBox about this next week, keeping my notes here:.
Here is link to: 86 Pages of Documents Released to New York Times last week by Jeff Anderson re 200 Deaf Children...
Then below is transcript of the part of the March 29, 2010, Joy Behar Show on HLN with Anderson and Cullen. Unfortunately, the videos now at CNN include ONLY the babbling of Bill Donohue of the Catholic League, and leave out Cullen and Anderson:
Now back to today`s guest host, Judge Jeanine Pirro.
PIRRO: The sex scandal plaguing the Catholic Church has finally landed at the Vatican gates. New allegations claim that the Pope Benedict knew about an American priest who molested up to 200 deaf boys and failed to take any action. The Pope responded harshly yesterday saying he would not be intimidated by petty gossip. Since when are allegations of child abuse petty gossip?
So what did the Pope know and when did he know it? Joining me to discuss this tonight are Kevin Cullen, reporter with "The Boston Globe" and author of "The Crisis in the Catholic Church"; Jeff Anderson, an attorney who has filed thousands of lawsuits against the Catholic Church on behalf of victims; and Bill Donohue, President of the Catholic League.
I`m going to start with Kevin tonight. Kevin, I still have your book "Betrayal". I`ve had it for years, and of course, you and I met when I did one of the first grand jury investigations into this priest pedophile cover-up with respect to some of the priests in my jurisdiction.
And of course, my question is, talk about Wisconsin. What happened with the priest pedophile case there and what even brings it close to the Pope?
KEVIN CULLEN, AUTHOR, "THE CRISIS IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH": Well Jeanine, as you mentioned, this is deja vu all over again. The situation here, while I think it`s changed the tenor of the debate and elevated or brought it back into the news is that before he was Pope Benedict, the Pope was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. And in that position with the Vatican he was in charge of discipline and doctrine and handled a lot of these cases.
When they left whether the United States or Ireland or any place else, it went through the Cardinal`s office.
And in this specific case the allegations are is that Cardinal Ratzinger then called off the dogs, called off the trial, the church trial of this priest named Murphy in Wisconsin who was accused of abusing so many children in this deaf institution.
PIRRO: And Kevin, as you say at the time the now Pope was as Cardinal Ratzinger, the head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, which is a position where -- and checked this out today where their task is to maintain and defend the integrity of the faith and to examine and prescribe errors on false doctrine.
And as such -- and I`ll go to Jeff with this -- documents were unearthed in the Wisconsin case, I think by Jeff which is what brings it into the newspapers these days.
Jeff, how did you find out about this stuff? When I was the D.A., I could not get this information, most of it was protected and back in Rome.
JEFF ANDERSON, ATTORNEY FOR VICTIMS OF SEXUAL ABUSE: Well, look, for 25 years, as you know it, Judge, it`s tough to get these documents. But we`ve been, by court order, requiring them to turn these over. And I`ve been, for 25 years, requiring that of the bishops across the country.
But in this case, we just got a turnover of documents in which these documents were embedded. And I`m not surprised that the Vatican, of course, is in charge of this.
But what shocked me when I saw this is this is the first documentation we`ve seen directly from this cover-up of the serial predator in Wisconsin through the Archbishop, directly to Cardinal Ratzinger and Rome and then Rome and Cardinal Ratzinger instructing the Archbishop and other clerics to abate the process, keep it secret and forget about the kids.
PIRRO: All right, now I`m going to go to you, Bill --
BILL DONOHUE, PRESIDENT OF THE CATHOLIC LEAGUE: Right.
PIRRO: -- I mean, you know, what we`ve got here are two Bishops who, in this case and the priest in Wisconsin beseeched the Vatican and said get rid of this guy and asked him to take action against him. Instead the church trial was halted and they refused to defrock him. So what`s going on here?
DONOHUE: I want to take issue with several things that have been said including -- this is probably the biggest frame I`ve ever seen in my life.
PIRRO: But why would anybody want to frame the church?
DONOHUE: Can I -- can I -- let me go through the timeline, which neither one of these gentlemen did. Abuses took place in the 1950s. The reasons we don`t know --
PIRRO: No, no, not that tape, I`m talking Wisconsin.
DONOHUE: No, that`s what I`m talking about.
PIRRO: Ok.
DONOHUE: In the 1950s that`s when it started.
PIRRO: If you yell, it doesn`t make your point, Bill. And I can hear you.
DONOHUE: But Jeanine, Jeanine --
PIRRO: What?
DONOHUE: You gave these two guys both of them -- their opportunity, right?
They began in the 1950s. The victim`s families didn`t bring it to the attention of the authorities until the mid 1970s. The cops investigated and they found nothing and they dropped it. The great hero of Archbishop Weakland out of Wisconsin never even bothered to notify the Vatican until 1996. Ratzinger never even knew about this.
PIRRO: So you -- you deny that Ratzinger, now the Pope, knew about it. And you say that because it was beyond the statute of limitations. There was nothing they could do.
DONOHUE: As a matter of fact --
PIRRO: Isn`t there a Canon Law, Bill irrespective of the civil law and they were not referring these cases to civil courts anyway. Shouldn`t you, instead of leading these victims, you know, delivering them to the wolves, shouldn`t you be shepherding the victims as opposed to moving these pedophile priest around?
DONOHUE: First -- first of all, the hero of the left Archbishop Weakland could have brought -- could have had a trial on this in Wisconsin. He could have been investigating this. Why did he wait so long? But look, it went to Ratzinger`s office. Ratzinger`s office, I get hundreds of letters every day that I don`t read. But even --
PIRRO: Oh, don`t even go there, Bill. You know the buck stops at the top.
DONOHUE: No, no, and you know what? What did they do, they could have said, the statute of limitations has run out. Instead they said let`s authorize a trial.
PIRRO: Ok.
DONOHUE: You know why they didn`t defrock him because he hadn`t been found guilty yet and the guy died. What in the world do you want them to do with that case?
PIRRO: Ok, Kevin, talk to me. What`s your response on this?
CULLEN: Well, first of all, I think I would just like to put a little context in this. I think, one thing we have to remember is that there`s only been one bishop in the history of the United States who was actually disciplined and/or lost his job because of complicity in abuse.
And there`s the clear difference here. Were not talking about the priests who abuse children, that`s one thing. But they could only be enabled that they were being moved around and not being dealt with when these allegations first surfaced. I think what`s happening here, as we said with Cardinal Law, what happened is that our newspaper, "The Boston Globe," was able to go to court and get documents.
It wasn`t what "The Boston Globe" said; it`s what Cardinal Law said in his own document. That`s what ran him out of town. This is what`s happening in this case.
But I think the bigger issue here is that the bishops who enabled the abusers all these years, they were never dealt with.
PIRRO: You know what?
CULLEN: There was never -- and that`s why it`s coming home to roost.
PIRRO: But let me ask you this, Kevin thank you. But let me ask you this. You said that there`s one leftist bishop. What about the other bishops? What about 200 deaf boys` families and where is the church is can say, look, the Civil Statute of Limitations have passed. Why didn`t they defrock this guy? Do you think 200 deaf kids are lying?
DONOHUE: Well, no, no, I`m not saying that. I`m simply saying that you want to go where the action is, go to Wisconsin. You can`t put it on Ratzinger`s desk.
PIRRO: Of course you can.
DONOHUE: Because he never got it until 1996, he never got it until 1996.
PIRRO: All right, so why didn`t he defrock him in `96?
DONOHUE: Because they started the trial. They did exactly what they were supposed to do.
PIRRO: But they halted the trial.
DONOHUE: What?
PIRRO: Bill, they halted the trial --
DONOHUE: Halted the trial when the guy is ready to drop dead in a couple of days.
PIRRO: He was ready to drop dead but he didn`t drop dead. They should have defrocked him instead they said he can`t say mass outside of archdiocese.
You know what Jeff, let me ask you something. How do you get a- hold of these documents? How do you prove when Bill -- and you know what? And I respect you, Bill, I mean, you work for the church, I get it.
But what do we do for the victims in these cases? How do we prove that this got to Ratzinger, now the Pope?
ANDERSON: Well, we prove it through the testimony of the survivors but in this case and in these cases, we use the church documents that they have kept secret for centuries and decades.
And in this case, the Archbishop wrote directly to Ratzinger, asking for his intervention because he had jurisdiction over the removal of the priest. They started an investigation. They went to Rome --
PIRRO: And you know what? Jeff, you`re right.
ANDERSON: And the documents go directly to the Pope and they go directly to Ratzinger and the tale is in the documents. The documents don`t lie because those are the words of Ratzinger, his secretary Bertone and --
(CROSSTALK)
PIRRO: Ok, I got to wrap it up. We`re coming back. Ok. Stay right there.
More on the Catholic Church scandal when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PIRRO: We`re back with my panel talking about the Catholic Church scandal that`s made it all the way to the Vatican`s doorstep.
I`m going back to you, Bill. In addition to this case from Wisconsin, when Bishop Ratzinger or Cardinal Ratzinger was in Munich, he moved a pedophile priest by the name Hullermann from Essen to Munich. All right.
He was in charge and presided over meeting where everyone knew he was pedophile. He was an admitted pedophile, the documents are clear. And he was moved to another parish and molested more kids. Was then convicted by the civil authorities and -- get this -- the guy, the priest Hullermann was suspended of his pastoral duties ten days ago.
Shame on the Church and I`m Catholic. I don`t want to read this stuff.
DONOHUE: The guy was in Essen and then they asked him, can we go to Munich for the therapy? Quite frankly, I think the Church bought the liberal line on this nonsense in giving therapy because a psychiatry can fix people. I would have thrown him out.
(CROSSTALK)
PIRRO: Thank you very much.
DONOHUE: But that`s the hard line.
PIRRO: So you believe that it goes to Ratzinger, that he knew about it because he presided over the meeting. He then allowed to removal to another --
DONOHUE: They said, will you allow him to have therapy in Munich and he said yes. That was the end of it in terms of his role in this.
PIRRO: Hogwash. He moved him to a parish in Munich.
DONOHUE: Even the "New York Times" is saying that there is no evidence that that happened.
PIRRO: That`s not true. Gruber`s (ph) the one who`s taking the heat for it.
(CROSSTALK)
DONOHUE: So you know that Ratzinger did it and "The New York Times" is wrong?
(CROSSTALK)
PIRRO: All right. Jeff let me ask you this. What do we do in terms of the law? Do we make these bishops accountable for facilitation of pedophilia when they move these priests around that they know are pedophiles?
ANDERSON: What we have to do is hold the bishops and the Vatican accountable for their role in the cover up of these crimes. The question isn`t always when they knew, the question is, what did they do when they knew that a kid was abused and what they did in that case. What they`ve done across the country as we uncovered for 25 years, is when they learn they protect the priests and their own reputation instead of the kids.
PIRRO: Yes.
ANDERSON: And that`s really what it`s about. They choose to protect their reputation and avoid scandal instead of worrying about these kids.
PIRRO: And you know, Jeff, what the shame of this is? The shame of this is there are practicing Catholics out there. It`s Holy Week, I`m one of them, but I am outraged at the thought that the Pope may have known about this.
And finally Kevin, I`m going to give you the last word. Why is this coming forward now? Why are we talking about it at Holy Week? What is it that`s bringing us here and just say it in 15 seconds because I want to go to Bill.
CULLEN: Well Judge, you know, seven years ago we dealt with the abuse of priests. Right now it seems like this is really addressing the enablers where it really was not addressed seven years ago.
PIRRO: Good point, we`re moving up the ladder. You`re absolutely right Kevin.
And Bill, how do we restore faith in the Catholic Church?
DONOHUE: Well, I think we`re doing it already. There were six accusations made between 2008 and 2009. I`ll put that up again for anybody. We`re going back 50 years. I want to see the 50-year records on the partisans and Jews and the public school industry.
But you know what? I`m setting the record straight. Tomorrow in "The New York Times", I have an op-ed page which I have written myself. And then I want to hear what the reaction will be.
PIRRO: Ok. All right. What a shock. We`ve got Bill here expressing himself with an op-ed piece.
Thanks, guys. We`ll be back right after this short break
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Link to Documents at New York Times that Implicate Vatican and Pope
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Released by Jeff Anderson to the New York Times The Document Trail on Murphy from March 27, 2010.
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Released by Jeff Anderson to the New York Times The Document Trail on Murphy from March 27, 2010.
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Monday, March 29, 2010
We will post videos, new ones daily, between now and Mon April 5, date of next new post
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Peter Isely interview with MSNBC, and man, he is so passionate about wanting to return to his church, 180 degrees from how this survivor feels. So here is SNAP direct from The Vatican:
The real problem above is that news media today never dig deeper than a corporate spokesman to get a story. In this case, they go to the four people from SNAP. Do they represent the tens of thousands of American victims? No, but they are almost the only voices the media ever go to for this story. They end up with sound bytes, not real reporting.
Below: VOTE in Poll on The Cafferty Report on CNN:
THIS ONE, I LIKE with Saturday Night Live sketch at the end
Produced last week by a kid for his English class assignment:
A Little Educational Background:
Finally a comedy routine:
At least the Pope is finally not blaming Us:
?
Peter Isely interview with MSNBC, and man, he is so passionate about wanting to return to his church, 180 degrees from how this survivor feels. So here is SNAP direct from The Vatican:
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
The real problem above is that news media today never dig deeper than a corporate spokesman to get a story. In this case, they go to the four people from SNAP. Do they represent the tens of thousands of American victims? No, but they are almost the only voices the media ever go to for this story. They end up with sound bytes, not real reporting.
Below: VOTE in Poll on The Cafferty Report on CNN:
THIS ONE, I LIKE with Saturday Night Live sketch at the end
Produced last week by a kid for his English class assignment:
A Little Educational Background:
Finally a comedy routine:
At least the Pope is finally not blaming Us:
?
City of Angels is Looking the Other Way out of Respect for Holy Week
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Out of respect for Holy Week, what for some is a period of prayer and reverance, City of Angels is going to look the other way and write about other topics at AlterNet SoapBox for a week.
Out of respect for people who do better with ceremony than I do, I am not going to post about the pedophile priests again until Monday April 5th.
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Just out of respect for all those persons who really want to spend some time set aside for prayer.
EXCEPT
I was drifting off to sleep last night as KCal9 news came on and the Blonde Bombshell who was anchoring referred to the Pope writing off the Evidence Jeff Anderson discovered that is probly going to bring him down for all his crimes as "gossip."
"GOSSIP?!"
My voice hollered out from deep inside my throat bypassing my brain as I was half asleep, the gurgling multi-decibel holler bellowed out, shook the building, the Sea Witch herself crying out waking up the neighborhood.
GOSSIP????????
Read more Monday April 5th.
.
WAIT
ONE MORE
Just as I was going to hit Save after editing at 7:38 AM just now, this conversation took place on the Stephanie Miller Show on KTALK AM radio in L.A.
CALLER: You know something I think maybe something good will come out of all these Catholic bishops covering up for the pedophile priests. Because now the forward looking women in the church, especially nuns, will become more and more prominant and The Vatican will not be able to deny them.
STEPH: Well, celibacy is not normal. If you want to ever not have sex, just get a radio show.
CALLER: Well in the beginning priests did have wives. The trouble is that most Catholics do not know their history, they do not know the history of the Catholic Church.
***********
So, we'll see if I can keep myself from writing something nasty about these perpetrator priests for a week. I will probly write a bunch of stories and save them as drafts, and hit Publish on all of them at Midnight Sunday April 4th.
Me, I don't take well to ceremony. Easter is bunnies and baskets to me, not even that anymore, now that I don't have little kids around ...
As angry as I am about the bishops, I do respect individuals and their passion for spirit, even those who still feel they have to stay in the Catholic Church to pursue it, and for them this is a week of reverance and prayer. Most of the parishioners and other Christians did not take part in the great coverup of child sex crimes...
Non-Catholic Christians as well, want to have at least a few days to focus on Jesus, and I respect that.
Me, I am Zen Christian, which means I try to have a constant contact with a higher power, but I don't believe in holy days, or special words of prayer pronounced a certain way, or any ceremony, as I've found the Truth is in every moment. I read the Bible a lot because it is humans trying to communicate the spirit from thousands of years ago. But for me, the Word in the Bible is best read without thinking about what the exact words mean, but just by absorbing the spirit.
.
See ya, guys.
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PS: PS: Besides the Pope and his robed partners are doing a good enough job of making themselves look like idiots right now, I don't have to post a blog to point it out this week...
PSS: We WILL however post an ever changing array of Videos up above this post, as the week goes on... at http://cityofangels8.blogspot.com
.
Enjoy
.
Out of respect for Holy Week, what for some is a period of prayer and reverance, City of Angels is going to look the other way and write about other topics at AlterNet SoapBox for a week.
Out of respect for people who do better with ceremony than I do, I am not going to post about the pedophile priests again until Monday April 5th.
.
Just out of respect for all those persons who really want to spend some time set aside for prayer.
EXCEPT
I was drifting off to sleep last night as KCal9 news came on and the Blonde Bombshell who was anchoring referred to the Pope writing off the Evidence Jeff Anderson discovered that is probly going to bring him down for all his crimes as "gossip."
"GOSSIP?!"
My voice hollered out from deep inside my throat bypassing my brain as I was half asleep, the gurgling multi-decibel holler bellowed out, shook the building, the Sea Witch herself crying out waking up the neighborhood.
GOSSIP????????
Read more Monday April 5th.
.
WAIT
ONE MORE
Just as I was going to hit Save after editing at 7:38 AM just now, this conversation took place on the Stephanie Miller Show on KTALK AM radio in L.A.
CALLER: You know something I think maybe something good will come out of all these Catholic bishops covering up for the pedophile priests. Because now the forward looking women in the church, especially nuns, will become more and more prominant and The Vatican will not be able to deny them.
STEPH: Well, celibacy is not normal. If you want to ever not have sex, just get a radio show.
CALLER: Well in the beginning priests did have wives. The trouble is that most Catholics do not know their history, they do not know the history of the Catholic Church.
***********
So, we'll see if I can keep myself from writing something nasty about these perpetrator priests for a week. I will probly write a bunch of stories and save them as drafts, and hit Publish on all of them at Midnight Sunday April 4th.
Me, I don't take well to ceremony. Easter is bunnies and baskets to me, not even that anymore, now that I don't have little kids around ...
As angry as I am about the bishops, I do respect individuals and their passion for spirit, even those who still feel they have to stay in the Catholic Church to pursue it, and for them this is a week of reverance and prayer. Most of the parishioners and other Christians did not take part in the great coverup of child sex crimes...
Non-Catholic Christians as well, want to have at least a few days to focus on Jesus, and I respect that.
Me, I am Zen Christian, which means I try to have a constant contact with a higher power, but I don't believe in holy days, or special words of prayer pronounced a certain way, or any ceremony, as I've found the Truth is in every moment. I read the Bible a lot because it is humans trying to communicate the spirit from thousands of years ago. But for me, the Word in the Bible is best read without thinking about what the exact words mean, but just by absorbing the spirit.
.
See ya, guys.
.
PS: PS: Besides the Pope and his robed partners are doing a good enough job of making themselves look like idiots right now, I don't have to post a blog to point it out this week...
PSS: We WILL however post an ever changing array of Videos up above this post, as the week goes on... at http://cityofangels8.blogspot.com
.
Enjoy
.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Donald Wuerl Watch, Pennsylvania to DC
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Check out this website, put together by a private investigator Pennsylvania on Donald Wuerl, current Archbishop of Washington D.C.:
Donald Wuerl Dot Com
Check out this website, put together by a private investigator Pennsylvania on Donald Wuerl, current Archbishop of Washington D.C.:
Donald Wuerl Dot Com
Vinnie Wrote:
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"This is our dream come true. Many years ago, we used to talk about the bricks falling and then bigger bricks falling. We sometimes compared ourselves to termites gnawing away at the foundations of a corrupt church. Now the biggest stones of the edifice are falling."
Iggy Wrote:
"The Pope is full of it. He should go to the Social Security office and have his name changed to the Poop!!!"
"This is our dream come true. Many years ago, we used to talk about the bricks falling and then bigger bricks falling. We sometimes compared ourselves to termites gnawing away at the foundations of a corrupt church. Now the biggest stones of the edifice are falling."
Iggy Wrote:
"The Pope is full of it. He should go to the Social Security office and have his name changed to the Poop!!!"
Vatican Sweep! First posted at AlterNet Today
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(For next few hours, this story is on Page 1 of AlterNet in SoapBox or click headline to read:)
Vatican Sweep: With Grocery Carts Survivors Run 5 Minutes through St. Peter’s, Pillaging for Pedophile Priest Justice
Posted by cityofangelslady at 7:25 am
March 27, 2010 COMMENT NOW! Vatican Sweep! With Grocery Carts Survivors Run 5 Minutes through St. Peter’s, Pillaging for Pedophile Priest Justice
Edit This
Some even have grocery carts of their own after years of being homeless. Right now the only justice there is for adult victims of pedophile priests, and there are tens of thousands of us in the USA, is to file a civil lawsuit. If the state where the molestation happened has liberal enough laws, you will get a financial settlement, often you get nothing. I’ve watched this as a journalist covering Catholic priest pedophile crimes for three and a half years now and I came up with this great suggestion for a solution:
Handle Justice Like A Supermarket Sweep
It fits so well with the Commercialization of Everything that is happening in the 21st Century, and with the dominance of reality TV in our culture. We could broadcast Vatican Victim Sweep! as a new reality TV show and one ceiling like the one pictured above could support 50 survivors and their families alone.
Vatican Victim Sweep, Great Reality TV!
Let adult victims of pedophile priests take grocery carts and be turned loose in the Vatican, a few victims at a time, for each week’s show. Each of the 70 to 150 thousand or so persons in the U.S. who are living with the residual effects of being on the receiving end of a Catholic priest’s “pretend sex while celibate” would have a chance to run through the Vatican with a grocery cart and take anything they want.
Including documents hidden in Vatican secret vaults that describe these crimes!
The thousands of boys sodomized while learning to serve on the altar at Mass, the girls masturbated in the Confessional when they were too young to even know what was happening and who then were promiscuous for the rest of their lives and never understood why (now we know why there used to be so many dirty jokes about Catholic school girls), the priest who is attracted to young boys who are beginning studies for the priesthood like he did as a boy, the incarcerated sexual predator who raped dozens of children, using the same MO Father Bob used on him when he was a kid.
ALL OF US, not with attorneys, but with Grocery Carts, get to have five minutes, just five minutes is all we need, to run through the Vatican and take whatever gold and jewels and art we can stuff into our grocery carts.
Then after all the victims from the U.S. are finished, the reality TV show can stay in production, as there will still be plenty more loot. These guys have been hording wealth for centuries, and what humans beings deserve more to be the first to take their choice of gold and silver from the Vatican as it closes (soon hopefully) than the adult victims of pedohpile priests? After us, all the other people whose lives were destroyed in other ways by the Church can help themselves to the rest of the wealth.
The reality TV show could stay in production for decades.
They would never run out of victims or wealth for them to pillage.
Since no one really has jurisdiction to prosecute the Pope, letting the victims do a Vatican Sweep with grocery carts might be the only way in these peculiar cases to balance Justice.
In the L.A. Clergy Cases as they ground through Superior Court in 2007, often the judge and lawyers would admit that these crimes have no real precedent, there is no other crime to compare with the crimes of pervert Catholic priests using their unique roll as being “above human” to prey on children. So it will take innovation, new ideas, creativity, perhaps reality TV inspired new venues (!) to find a way to get true justice for the adult crime victims of these extremely unique and awful crimes.
The priests helped themselves to children as if the bishops told them Catechism class is theirs for the taking.
Yes. These priests were serial pedophile rapists.
Not just men who lost control for a few minutes and touched a child inappropriately. I have been researching and writing about Pedophile Catholic Priest Sex Crimes since I started City of Angels Blog three and a half years ago.
Back then, I thought Chicago was the worst archdiocese, then New Orleans, then Boston, no it’s got to be New Mexico where the Servants had a treatment center and the perverts went out on free passes, but wait, then the cases from the 2003 California window came up and we all thought Roger Mahony and the L.A. Archdiocese were the worst, especially since Mahony used to be Bishop of Fresno, and during the February 2009 trial, Santillan Brothers versus Bishop of Fresno, people emailed me convinced that Fresno is the festering source of all the pedophilia in the Church.
Truth is these crimes took place in high numbers in every archdiocese in the United States, and now we are finding pedophile priests were likely allowed to help themselves to parish and school children all over the world as well. Obviously there is something inherently wrong here with the institution itself.
Pedophilia is Systemic in a Church that has to keep its mandatorily celibate employees satisfied. Children were disposable to them, so they used children to satisfy the priests. That’s the Dark Ages mentality the Catholic Church brought to modern America, and the result is tens of thousands of permanently damaged adult children, and many never even live to be adults, as the suicide rate among the crime victims is SO HIGH.
You don’t produce six thousand (6000!) pedophiles, cover up their crimes for decades, and still have a functioning corporation thriving all over the world, unless you are the Roman Catholic Church. No other entity in the world would have been allowed to turn its perverted problem employees loose on a parish population of children where all the priests had to do was not tell too many people what they were doing and they could pillage and rape freely.
You doubt I’m telling the truth?
Look into the carnivals they used to have at Mary Star of the Sea Church in San Pedro, California.
Talk to the boys and girls, now adults, who used to be picked out of the crowd of kids at the Saturday carnivals Mary Star of the Sea parish used to have for San Pedro area children, Catholic and non-Catholic.
A group of pedophile priests, including George Neville Rucker, Henry Vetter, and Michael Baker
Would pick their choice from the kids at the carnival
Take them off to an empty building on the church property, and rape the children, including penetration, including sodomy, over and over again. Some San Pedro kids could count on getting raped every Saturday, after their parents dropped them off with these oh-so trusted men of God.
The San Pedro crimes are just 5 from the 510 cases that settled in L.A. July 2007 and remained mostly secret as a result. The L.A. Archdiocese paid out $660 million to 510 people and thousands of documents describing the crimes are now in L.A. Superior Court Archives, available for anyone to read, contact me if you want help finding them. They don’t make it easy. There is one computer terminal for everyone in line, you are allowed to look ten minutes, then you have to get in the back of the line and wait again, AND it takes almost your entire ten minutes to find the doc you want.
Or you can buy printed copies. Any docs filed after January 2008 you have to buy, you can’t really see the new docs at all in L.A. Superior Court unless you buy copies, at fifty cents a page, and the documents are hundreds of pages long.
That’s freedom of information in the USA today, it costs fifty cents a page and will end up running into thousands of dollars, for a journalist or anyone else to read the whole truth about these crimes. Meanwhile Catholic schools and churches around the country are going out of business, but the dons at the Vatican are clutching onto their gold ceilings telling local bishops to figure out a way to solve the financial problems resulting from the pedophile priest scandal themselves.
WE HAVE ALL BEEN DUPED and CONNED
Both by and to the bishops all the way up to the Vatican.
People should be asking:
What was the motivation to keep these crimes secret and let kids continue to be raped. Now that we all know the crimes happened, why was the Church so lax? Why did they let the priests continue to rape rather than be investigated? The motive for the lack of investigation needs to be investigated next.
Meanwhile I’m in training for my day to do the Vatican Sweep, and I still have my grocery cart from when we were homeless. I’m ready when they are.
(maybe next lifetime…)
I’ve watched several friends get small to large settlements from the Catholic Church, and they hardly ever seem joyful after years of litigation and niggling with teams of Catholic Church Attorneys who do things like accusing them of lying and being only in it for the money during depositions. So civil settlements to the fraction of victims who can fight the Church in Court isn’t really the final answer.
What we need is a Vatican Sweep, a genuine Law Enforcement Vatican Sweep.
Pope Benedict XVI says the Church has resolved this crisis, but all they’ve done for years is damage control.
Well some of us are just too damn damaged to be controlled.
Read about perp priests Vetter, Rucker, and Baker at BishopAccountability Dot Org in the database of Six Thousand Credibly Accused Pedophile Priests in the USA, under V, R, and B
Posted by Kay Ebeling, Producer, The City of Angels is Everywhere
What we might find as we pillage:
Jeff Anderson Describes Vatican Secret Vaults in Al Jazeera Interview
“Where does the Vatican’s own system of justice stand within international law? “They have their own canon law which requires secrecy and requires any scandal to be hidden in secret vaults. They also have laws which say crimes against minors and crimes committed within confessional must be secret. It is in gross violation of international law in any country because their own laws don’t give regard to the harm to children. “All their protocols are designed to protect themselves and their reputations.”
Read entire interview here:
‘Scandal hidden in secret vaults’
Aljazeera.net -Kathleen McCaul
Posted by Kay Ebeling
.
(For next few hours, this story is on Page 1 of AlterNet in SoapBox or click headline to read:)
Vatican Sweep: With Grocery Carts Survivors Run 5 Minutes through St. Peter’s, Pillaging for Pedophile Priest Justice
Posted by cityofangelslady at 7:25 am
March 27, 2010 COMMENT NOW! Vatican Sweep! With Grocery Carts Survivors Run 5 Minutes through St. Peter’s, Pillaging for Pedophile Priest Justice
Edit This
Some even have grocery carts of their own after years of being homeless. Right now the only justice there is for adult victims of pedophile priests, and there are tens of thousands of us in the USA, is to file a civil lawsuit. If the state where the molestation happened has liberal enough laws, you will get a financial settlement, often you get nothing. I’ve watched this as a journalist covering Catholic priest pedophile crimes for three and a half years now and I came up with this great suggestion for a solution:
Handle Justice Like A Supermarket Sweep
It fits so well with the Commercialization of Everything that is happening in the 21st Century, and with the dominance of reality TV in our culture. We could broadcast Vatican Victim Sweep! as a new reality TV show and one ceiling like the one pictured above could support 50 survivors and their families alone.
Vatican Victim Sweep, Great Reality TV!
Let adult victims of pedophile priests take grocery carts and be turned loose in the Vatican, a few victims at a time, for each week’s show. Each of the 70 to 150 thousand or so persons in the U.S. who are living with the residual effects of being on the receiving end of a Catholic priest’s “pretend sex while celibate” would have a chance to run through the Vatican with a grocery cart and take anything they want.
Including documents hidden in Vatican secret vaults that describe these crimes!
The thousands of boys sodomized while learning to serve on the altar at Mass, the girls masturbated in the Confessional when they were too young to even know what was happening and who then were promiscuous for the rest of their lives and never understood why (now we know why there used to be so many dirty jokes about Catholic school girls), the priest who is attracted to young boys who are beginning studies for the priesthood like he did as a boy, the incarcerated sexual predator who raped dozens of children, using the same MO Father Bob used on him when he was a kid.
ALL OF US, not with attorneys, but with Grocery Carts, get to have five minutes, just five minutes is all we need, to run through the Vatican and take whatever gold and jewels and art we can stuff into our grocery carts.
Then after all the victims from the U.S. are finished, the reality TV show can stay in production, as there will still be plenty more loot. These guys have been hording wealth for centuries, and what humans beings deserve more to be the first to take their choice of gold and silver from the Vatican as it closes (soon hopefully) than the adult victims of pedohpile priests? After us, all the other people whose lives were destroyed in other ways by the Church can help themselves to the rest of the wealth.
The reality TV show could stay in production for decades.
They would never run out of victims or wealth for them to pillage.
Since no one really has jurisdiction to prosecute the Pope, letting the victims do a Vatican Sweep with grocery carts might be the only way in these peculiar cases to balance Justice.
In the L.A. Clergy Cases as they ground through Superior Court in 2007, often the judge and lawyers would admit that these crimes have no real precedent, there is no other crime to compare with the crimes of pervert Catholic priests using their unique roll as being “above human” to prey on children. So it will take innovation, new ideas, creativity, perhaps reality TV inspired new venues (!) to find a way to get true justice for the adult crime victims of these extremely unique and awful crimes.
The priests helped themselves to children as if the bishops told them Catechism class is theirs for the taking.
Yes. These priests were serial pedophile rapists.
Not just men who lost control for a few minutes and touched a child inappropriately. I have been researching and writing about Pedophile Catholic Priest Sex Crimes since I started City of Angels Blog three and a half years ago.
Back then, I thought Chicago was the worst archdiocese, then New Orleans, then Boston, no it’s got to be New Mexico where the Servants had a treatment center and the perverts went out on free passes, but wait, then the cases from the 2003 California window came up and we all thought Roger Mahony and the L.A. Archdiocese were the worst, especially since Mahony used to be Bishop of Fresno, and during the February 2009 trial, Santillan Brothers versus Bishop of Fresno, people emailed me convinced that Fresno is the festering source of all the pedophilia in the Church.
Truth is these crimes took place in high numbers in every archdiocese in the United States, and now we are finding pedophile priests were likely allowed to help themselves to parish and school children all over the world as well. Obviously there is something inherently wrong here with the institution itself.
Pedophilia is Systemic in a Church that has to keep its mandatorily celibate employees satisfied. Children were disposable to them, so they used children to satisfy the priests. That’s the Dark Ages mentality the Catholic Church brought to modern America, and the result is tens of thousands of permanently damaged adult children, and many never even live to be adults, as the suicide rate among the crime victims is SO HIGH.
You don’t produce six thousand (6000!) pedophiles, cover up their crimes for decades, and still have a functioning corporation thriving all over the world, unless you are the Roman Catholic Church. No other entity in the world would have been allowed to turn its perverted problem employees loose on a parish population of children where all the priests had to do was not tell too many people what they were doing and they could pillage and rape freely.
You doubt I’m telling the truth?
Look into the carnivals they used to have at Mary Star of the Sea Church in San Pedro, California.
Talk to the boys and girls, now adults, who used to be picked out of the crowd of kids at the Saturday carnivals Mary Star of the Sea parish used to have for San Pedro area children, Catholic and non-Catholic.
A group of pedophile priests, including George Neville Rucker, Henry Vetter, and Michael Baker
Would pick their choice from the kids at the carnival
Take them off to an empty building on the church property, and rape the children, including penetration, including sodomy, over and over again. Some San Pedro kids could count on getting raped every Saturday, after their parents dropped them off with these oh-so trusted men of God.
The San Pedro crimes are just 5 from the 510 cases that settled in L.A. July 2007 and remained mostly secret as a result. The L.A. Archdiocese paid out $660 million to 510 people and thousands of documents describing the crimes are now in L.A. Superior Court Archives, available for anyone to read, contact me if you want help finding them. They don’t make it easy. There is one computer terminal for everyone in line, you are allowed to look ten minutes, then you have to get in the back of the line and wait again, AND it takes almost your entire ten minutes to find the doc you want.
Or you can buy printed copies. Any docs filed after January 2008 you have to buy, you can’t really see the new docs at all in L.A. Superior Court unless you buy copies, at fifty cents a page, and the documents are hundreds of pages long.
That’s freedom of information in the USA today, it costs fifty cents a page and will end up running into thousands of dollars, for a journalist or anyone else to read the whole truth about these crimes. Meanwhile Catholic schools and churches around the country are going out of business, but the dons at the Vatican are clutching onto their gold ceilings telling local bishops to figure out a way to solve the financial problems resulting from the pedophile priest scandal themselves.
WE HAVE ALL BEEN DUPED and CONNED
Both by and to the bishops all the way up to the Vatican.
People should be asking:
What was the motivation to keep these crimes secret and let kids continue to be raped. Now that we all know the crimes happened, why was the Church so lax? Why did they let the priests continue to rape rather than be investigated? The motive for the lack of investigation needs to be investigated next.
Meanwhile I’m in training for my day to do the Vatican Sweep, and I still have my grocery cart from when we were homeless. I’m ready when they are.
(maybe next lifetime…)
I’ve watched several friends get small to large settlements from the Catholic Church, and they hardly ever seem joyful after years of litigation and niggling with teams of Catholic Church Attorneys who do things like accusing them of lying and being only in it for the money during depositions. So civil settlements to the fraction of victims who can fight the Church in Court isn’t really the final answer.
What we need is a Vatican Sweep, a genuine Law Enforcement Vatican Sweep.
Pope Benedict XVI says the Church has resolved this crisis, but all they’ve done for years is damage control.
Well some of us are just too damn damaged to be controlled.
Read about perp priests Vetter, Rucker, and Baker at BishopAccountability Dot Org in the database of Six Thousand Credibly Accused Pedophile Priests in the USA, under V, R, and B
Posted by Kay Ebeling, Producer, The City of Angels is Everywhere
What we might find as we pillage:
Jeff Anderson Describes Vatican Secret Vaults in Al Jazeera Interview
“Where does the Vatican’s own system of justice stand within international law? “They have their own canon law which requires secrecy and requires any scandal to be hidden in secret vaults. They also have laws which say crimes against minors and crimes committed within confessional must be secret. It is in gross violation of international law in any country because their own laws don’t give regard to the harm to children. “All their protocols are designed to protect themselves and their reputations.”
Read entire interview here:
‘Scandal hidden in secret vaults’
Aljazeera.net -Kathleen McCaul
Posted by Kay Ebeling
.
Friday, March 26, 2010
There is More to Life, TGIF, Give it a Rest, Etc.
.
(Feels good to write about something besides pervert priests: This story is at City of Angels on Alternet SoapBox on Page One for a few hours, or click headline to read: )
I Lived in a Car in L.A. with a Teenage Daughter and Survived to Write About It, Part 2
“Lizzie, I don’t like this spot anymore.”
“I don’t either,” she shivered, “there’s an old man who’s been walking by and looking at us every hour on the hour.”
I started the car and pulled out. Here, I’d thought the Hollywood Rec Center and park at Cahuenga and Santa Monica Boulevard would be a safe place for us to park, since we’d be sleeping in our car that night. I don’t know, maybe some part of me was still stuck in the last century thinking public parks and rec centers are safe places.
I started the car and pulled out. Here, I’d thought the Hollywood Rec Center and park at Cahuenga and Santa Monica Boulevard would be a safe place for us to park, since we’d be sleeping in our car that night. I don’t know, maybe some part of me was still stuck in the last century thinking public parks and rec centers are safe places.
We pull out and Lizzie cries out, “Go mom, there’s two guys, go! They’re just a few feet away from the car. Go!” My tires screech. A block away I realize we’re being followed and I become Steve McQueen in Bullitt on the flat side streets of Hollywood. We go left on Lexington, right on Cole, then floor it up to Fountain, criss-cross a few blocks until we are at Selma near Highland. The car was still right behind us. So now I became Bruce Willis in The Fifth Element. Halfway into an intersection in front of First Baptist Church of Hollywood, I squealed into a U turn, the dudes in their car so close behind us there was no way that car could -Turn too and follow us. We drove away, watching them sink into the dark going the other direction.
Phew.
Hollywood Highland Mall Has Great Rest Rooms for Homeless Middle Class People, Clean, Open Until 3 AM
Now we were close to Hollywood Highland Mall which for homeless middle class moms like me, provided a last chance at a public restroom before everything else closed, a clean one. The Ladies Room at Hollywood Highland Mall is open until about three AM. My daughter and I became nightly regulars.
The trick was to park as close to Hollywood and Highland as possible, ride the mammoth escalator past the shop that sells hundred dollar jars of cold cream, then acting like I belong there, walk along the mall second floor to the hall that leads to the Kodak ...
To continue reading go to today's post at City of Angels on AlterNet
(Feels good to write about something besides pervert priests: This story is at City of Angels on Alternet SoapBox on Page One for a few hours, or click headline to read: )
I Lived in a Car in L.A. with a Teenage Daughter and Survived to Write About It, Part 2
“Lizzie, I don’t like this spot anymore.”
“I don’t either,” she shivered, “there’s an old man who’s been walking by and looking at us every hour on the hour.”
I started the car and pulled out. Here, I’d thought the Hollywood Rec Center and park at Cahuenga and Santa Monica Boulevard would be a safe place for us to park, since we’d be sleeping in our car that night. I don’t know, maybe some part of me was still stuck in the last century thinking public parks and rec centers are safe places.
I started the car and pulled out. Here, I’d thought the Hollywood Rec Center and park at Cahuenga and Santa Monica Boulevard would be a safe place for us to park, since we’d be sleeping in our car that night. I don’t know, maybe some part of me was still stuck in the last century thinking public parks and rec centers are safe places.
We pull out and Lizzie cries out, “Go mom, there’s two guys, go! They’re just a few feet away from the car. Go!” My tires screech. A block away I realize we’re being followed and I become Steve McQueen in Bullitt on the flat side streets of Hollywood. We go left on Lexington, right on Cole, then floor it up to Fountain, criss-cross a few blocks until we are at Selma near Highland. The car was still right behind us. So now I became Bruce Willis in The Fifth Element. Halfway into an intersection in front of First Baptist Church of Hollywood, I squealed into a U turn, the dudes in their car so close behind us there was no way that car could -Turn too and follow us. We drove away, watching them sink into the dark going the other direction.
Phew.
Hollywood Highland Mall Has Great Rest Rooms for Homeless Middle Class People, Clean, Open Until 3 AM
Now we were close to Hollywood Highland Mall which for homeless middle class moms like me, provided a last chance at a public restroom before everything else closed, a clean one. The Ladies Room at Hollywood Highland Mall is open until about three AM. My daughter and I became nightly regulars.
The trick was to park as close to Hollywood and Highland as possible, ride the mammoth escalator past the shop that sells hundred dollar jars of cold cream, then acting like I belong there, walk along the mall second floor to the hall that leads to the Kodak ...
To continue reading go to today's post at City of Angels on AlterNet
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Jeff Anderson Describes Vatican Secret Vaults in Al Jazeera Interview
.
"Where does the Vatican's own system of justice stand within international law?
"They have their own canon law which requires secrecy and requires any scandal to be hidden in secret vaults. They also have laws which say crimes against minors and crimes committed within confessional must be secret.
"It is in gross violation of international law in any country because their own laws don't give regard to the harm to children.
"All their protocols are designed to protect themselves and their reputations."
'Scandal hidden in secret vaults'
Aljazeera.net -
Kathleen McCaul
Jeff Anderson is one of two lawyers representing five men in the US who have brought lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Milwaukee for failing to take action over cases of alleged child abuse in the church. The case involves a number ...
"Where does the Vatican's own system of justice stand within international law?
"They have their own canon law which requires secrecy and requires any scandal to be hidden in secret vaults. They also have laws which say crimes against minors and crimes committed within confessional must be secret.
"It is in gross violation of international law in any country because their own laws don't give regard to the harm to children.
"All their protocols are designed to protect themselves and their reputations."
'Scandal hidden in secret vaults'
Aljazeera.net -
Kathleen McCaul
Jeff Anderson is one of two lawyers representing five men in the US who have brought lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Milwaukee for failing to take action over cases of alleged child abuse in the church. The case involves a number ...
Vatican Arrest: Blaine, Dorris, Isely, Pilmaier, taken away in police car during protest
'
UPDATE: Washington Post:
Rome police detain 4 US church abuse victims
The Associated Press Thursday, March 25, 2010; 11:08 AM
ROME -- Four American victims of clergy sexual abuse say they were detained and questioned by Italian police in Rome after showing photos of the pope during a news conference outside St. Peter's Square.
Barbara Blaine, one of the victims, said Thursday after emerging from a police station near the Vatican that officers told them a judge will decide if they will be charged. She says they were detained because they didn't have a permit for the outdoor news conference.
Blaine said police seemed most concerned because they displayed photos of Pope Benedict XVI and his top aide, Italian Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. She says police also confiscated posters with slogans like "Stop the secrecy."
According to church documents, the Vatican ordered a stop to a church trial of a priest who abused 200 deaf children in Wisconsin.
From Times Online a few minutes ago:
US campaigners for sex abuse victims held after Vatican protest
Richard Owen, Rome
Four American campaigners for the victims of clerical sex abuse were this morning detained by police after holding an "unauthorised" demonstration on the edge of St Peter's Square to protest against decades of Church "silence".
Barbara Blaine, Peter Isely, John Pilmaier and Barbara Dorris from the Chicago-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) were talking to reporters about sex abuse cases, including revelations by the New York Times about the alleged role of Pope Benedict XVI in covering up the case of the late Father Lawrence Murphy in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, when they were approached by police and asked for their passports.
They were then taken away in a police car. Barbara Blaine, the leader of SNAP, was heard several times asking the police what they had done wrong. Before being detained the group held up banners reading "Stop the secrecy now" and "Expose the truth", and accused Pope Benedict of having imposed secrecy on clerical sex abuse cases when he was head of the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith before being elected Pope five years ago.
****
Now they are talking about the CDF, they did not mention it in previous press statements...
.
Will Jeff Anderson have to make bail in lire?
.
Rome police detain 4 US church abuse victims - KansasCity.com
Barbara Blaine, one of the victims, said Thursday after emerging from a police station near the Vatican that officers told them a judge will decide ...
Catholic Sex Abuse Protesters Held
The Richmark Sentinel
Italian police today arrested four US citizens for protesting the Catholic Church's handling of abuse claims outside St Peter's ...
UPDATE: Washington Post:
Rome police detain 4 US church abuse victims
The Associated Press Thursday, March 25, 2010; 11:08 AM
ROME -- Four American victims of clergy sexual abuse say they were detained and questioned by Italian police in Rome after showing photos of the pope during a news conference outside St. Peter's Square.
Barbara Blaine, one of the victims, said Thursday after emerging from a police station near the Vatican that officers told them a judge will decide if they will be charged. She says they were detained because they didn't have a permit for the outdoor news conference.
Blaine said police seemed most concerned because they displayed photos of Pope Benedict XVI and his top aide, Italian Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. She says police also confiscated posters with slogans like "Stop the secrecy."
According to church documents, the Vatican ordered a stop to a church trial of a priest who abused 200 deaf children in Wisconsin.
From Times Online a few minutes ago:
US campaigners for sex abuse victims held after Vatican protest
Richard Owen, Rome
Four American campaigners for the victims of clerical sex abuse were this morning detained by police after holding an "unauthorised" demonstration on the edge of St Peter's Square to protest against decades of Church "silence".
Barbara Blaine, Peter Isely, John Pilmaier and Barbara Dorris from the Chicago-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) were talking to reporters about sex abuse cases, including revelations by the New York Times about the alleged role of Pope Benedict XVI in covering up the case of the late Father Lawrence Murphy in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, when they were approached by police and asked for their passports.
They were then taken away in a police car. Barbara Blaine, the leader of SNAP, was heard several times asking the police what they had done wrong. Before being detained the group held up banners reading "Stop the secrecy now" and "Expose the truth", and accused Pope Benedict of having imposed secrecy on clerical sex abuse cases when he was head of the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith before being elected Pope five years ago.
****
Now they are talking about the CDF, they did not mention it in previous press statements...
.
Will Jeff Anderson have to make bail in lire?
.
Rome police detain 4 US church abuse victims - KansasCity.com
Barbara Blaine, one of the victims, said Thursday after emerging from a police station near the Vatican that officers told them a judge will decide ...
Catholic Sex Abuse Protesters Held
The Richmark Sentinel
Italian police today arrested four US citizens for protesting the Catholic Church's handling of abuse claims outside St Peter's ...
Crimes of Pedophiles at Santa Barbara Seminary like Thousands Reviewed by Pope as Cardinal, Part 2, Re Perpetrator: Dave Johnson, Franciscan,
.
Story Originally Posted in SoapBox at AlterNet
Plaintiff JPS was raised Roman Catholic in Bakersfield. He attended a parish, Our Lady of Guadalupe, operated by the Franciscans in the neighboring town of Delano. Because his family spent summers in Carpentaria, he also attended St. Joseph parish in Carpentaria and, occasionally, Defendant Old Mission in Santa Barbara. JP served as an altar boy at St. Joseph during the Summers of 1973-76. As a result of this upbringing, he held Roman Catholic priests in very high regard. He recalls feeling priests were living saints, and believed they spoke with the voice of God.
Handle
By the Summer of 1978, JP was determined if not obsessed, with the idea of becoming a priest. Pursuant to this, he visited minor seminarians in California, ultimately choosing one, St. Anthony’s, run by priests and brothers from the same religious order that operated his home parish in Delano, the Franciscans.
Starting in Fall of 1978, JP embarked on what at the time he believed would be the beginning of his journey to priesthood. He was accordingly thrilled when school started and he moved to St. Anthony’s. Unfortunately, he was quickly enveloped by the culture of abuse at St. Anthony’s.
The Assaults by Dave Johnson
Despite his openly inappropriate behavior towards students, defendants allowed Dave Johnson to live in the student dormitory, and to go from bed to bed preying on students after lights out or just before. Johnson’s grooming of victims was open and extensive. JP recalls watching Johnson slowly make his way to JP’s bed, at first just sitting on students’ beds and chatting, sometimes progressing to wrestling on the bed with Johnson, placing students in headlocks. JP also remembers seeing Johnson giving massages to other kids, sometimes inducing the kids to take their shirts off. each night light would go out at 10:00 PM. But Johnson would continue his “rounds” until around 11 or 11:30.
After grooming and abusing an unknown number of students, Johnson finally reached JP’s bed sometime late in September or early October 1978. Despite Johnson’s obviously inappropriate behavior, JP was thrilled with the attention Johnson showered on him in bed. Because of his upbringing in a parish operated by the Franciscans, JP held all Franciscans in such high regard he was unable to recognize their inappropriate conduct, even when directed against him. In JP’s eyes, such men were simply incapable of behaving inappropriately.
Meanwhile, Johnson’s physical contact towards JP grew progressively more inappropriate over the next few weeks and eventually crossed the line into sexual abuse. During his grooming Johnson would comment that JP appeared really stressed as justification for rubbing JP’s neck or back while playing with JP’s hair. As Johnson’s behavior grew worse, he would clamp down on JP as if he were resting on the boy. In reality, Johnson was restricting JP’s movements, rendering him susceptible to Johnson’s abuse. While doing this, Johnson would wear shorts, or sometimes thin jogging shorts, that easily opened through the cuffs and exposed Johnson’s genitals.
After a number of nights of grooming, Johnson sexually assaulted JP. On the night of the first assault, at some point after lights out, JP was laying on his stomach under the bed covers. As he had on previous nights, Johnson climbed on top of the young boy while still outside the sheets. Johnson was on his side with his leg draped over JP’s thighs, again rendering the boy immobile and trapped. Johnson then began massaging JP’s back and moving his knee to the boy’s upper thighs and buttocks while simultaneously making small talk as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening. As Johnson moved, JP could feel Johnson’s genitals on his upper thigh, and that Johnson was becoming erect.
Johnson then began engaging in frotteurism by grinding and pressing his hips and erection into the boy’s thigh. JP was in shock, unable to believe a man whom he believed spoke God’s word could be engaging n such behavior. Overwhelmed by what was happening, his complete faith in Catholic priests, and his horror at being trapped by the much larger Johnson, JP disassociated himself from the abuse and immediately repressed all memory of what was happening. He now recalls hearing himself engaging numbly in Johnson’s small talk, as if nothing was happening. After about ten to fifteen minutes, Johnson stopped without explanation and moved on to the next student’s bed. Thus, JP’s first sexual experience was a horrifying sexual assault at the hands of a trusted religious authority figure.
Approximately two weeks later, Johnson repeated his assault and JP again repressed all memory of the abuse. This time Johnson was actually under the covers. John Paul defensively hunkered down and did not engage in conversation with Johnson in hopes of getting the assault over with and Johnson off of him. He also recalls speaking out to another student in hopes of scaring Johnson into leaving.
However, these efforts failed. Johnson continued his assault, and JP shut down and disassociated himself from what was happening, again repressing his memory of the abuse.
Unfortunately this was not the last assault by Johnson. JP now recalls that during a third and final assault, Johnson had crawled under the bed sheets. And whereas previously Johnson had engaged in conversation apparently intended to groom JP, this time Johnson made little such effort, instead going directly to gratifying himself by sexually assaulting the freshman.
During this assault Johnson’s hip thrusts were more forceful and JP could feel the flesh of Johnson’s penis which was clearly outside Johnson’s shorts as Johnson was under the covers.
The traumatized boy remained on his stomach the entire time until out of desperation he tried to turn his body and dislodge Johnson. When this failed, he again shut down, dissociated himself from what was taking place, and repressed his memory of the assault.
After about twenty minutes Johnson finally ended the assault and left.
From this point on, JP felt compelled to avoid Johnson but did not understand why he felt so strongly. When Johnson would select him for an activity, JP would refuse to go or participate. Johnson then began to shun JP. Unfortunately, a new perpetrator eventually set his sights on the boy.
PART 3 NEXT
Story Originally Posted in SoapBox at AlterNet
Plaintiff JPS was raised Roman Catholic in Bakersfield. He attended a parish, Our Lady of Guadalupe, operated by the Franciscans in the neighboring town of Delano. Because his family spent summers in Carpentaria, he also attended St. Joseph parish in Carpentaria and, occasionally, Defendant Old Mission in Santa Barbara. JP served as an altar boy at St. Joseph during the Summers of 1973-76. As a result of this upbringing, he held Roman Catholic priests in very high regard. He recalls feeling priests were living saints, and believed they spoke with the voice of God.
Handle
By the Summer of 1978, JP was determined if not obsessed, with the idea of becoming a priest. Pursuant to this, he visited minor seminarians in California, ultimately choosing one, St. Anthony’s, run by priests and brothers from the same religious order that operated his home parish in Delano, the Franciscans.
Starting in Fall of 1978, JP embarked on what at the time he believed would be the beginning of his journey to priesthood. He was accordingly thrilled when school started and he moved to St. Anthony’s. Unfortunately, he was quickly enveloped by the culture of abuse at St. Anthony’s.
The Assaults by Dave Johnson
Despite his openly inappropriate behavior towards students, defendants allowed Dave Johnson to live in the student dormitory, and to go from bed to bed preying on students after lights out or just before. Johnson’s grooming of victims was open and extensive. JP recalls watching Johnson slowly make his way to JP’s bed, at first just sitting on students’ beds and chatting, sometimes progressing to wrestling on the bed with Johnson, placing students in headlocks. JP also remembers seeing Johnson giving massages to other kids, sometimes inducing the kids to take their shirts off. each night light would go out at 10:00 PM. But Johnson would continue his “rounds” until around 11 or 11:30.
After grooming and abusing an unknown number of students, Johnson finally reached JP’s bed sometime late in September or early October 1978. Despite Johnson’s obviously inappropriate behavior, JP was thrilled with the attention Johnson showered on him in bed. Because of his upbringing in a parish operated by the Franciscans, JP held all Franciscans in such high regard he was unable to recognize their inappropriate conduct, even when directed against him. In JP’s eyes, such men were simply incapable of behaving inappropriately.
Meanwhile, Johnson’s physical contact towards JP grew progressively more inappropriate over the next few weeks and eventually crossed the line into sexual abuse. During his grooming Johnson would comment that JP appeared really stressed as justification for rubbing JP’s neck or back while playing with JP’s hair. As Johnson’s behavior grew worse, he would clamp down on JP as if he were resting on the boy. In reality, Johnson was restricting JP’s movements, rendering him susceptible to Johnson’s abuse. While doing this, Johnson would wear shorts, or sometimes thin jogging shorts, that easily opened through the cuffs and exposed Johnson’s genitals.
After a number of nights of grooming, Johnson sexually assaulted JP. On the night of the first assault, at some point after lights out, JP was laying on his stomach under the bed covers. As he had on previous nights, Johnson climbed on top of the young boy while still outside the sheets. Johnson was on his side with his leg draped over JP’s thighs, again rendering the boy immobile and trapped. Johnson then began massaging JP’s back and moving his knee to the boy’s upper thighs and buttocks while simultaneously making small talk as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening. As Johnson moved, JP could feel Johnson’s genitals on his upper thigh, and that Johnson was becoming erect.
Johnson then began engaging in frotteurism by grinding and pressing his hips and erection into the boy’s thigh. JP was in shock, unable to believe a man whom he believed spoke God’s word could be engaging n such behavior. Overwhelmed by what was happening, his complete faith in Catholic priests, and his horror at being trapped by the much larger Johnson, JP disassociated himself from the abuse and immediately repressed all memory of what was happening. He now recalls hearing himself engaging numbly in Johnson’s small talk, as if nothing was happening. After about ten to fifteen minutes, Johnson stopped without explanation and moved on to the next student’s bed. Thus, JP’s first sexual experience was a horrifying sexual assault at the hands of a trusted religious authority figure.
Approximately two weeks later, Johnson repeated his assault and JP again repressed all memory of the abuse. This time Johnson was actually under the covers. John Paul defensively hunkered down and did not engage in conversation with Johnson in hopes of getting the assault over with and Johnson off of him. He also recalls speaking out to another student in hopes of scaring Johnson into leaving.
However, these efforts failed. Johnson continued his assault, and JP shut down and disassociated himself from what was happening, again repressing his memory of the abuse.
Unfortunately this was not the last assault by Johnson. JP now recalls that during a third and final assault, Johnson had crawled under the bed sheets. And whereas previously Johnson had engaged in conversation apparently intended to groom JP, this time Johnson made little such effort, instead going directly to gratifying himself by sexually assaulting the freshman.
During this assault Johnson’s hip thrusts were more forceful and JP could feel the flesh of Johnson’s penis which was clearly outside Johnson’s shorts as Johnson was under the covers.
The traumatized boy remained on his stomach the entire time until out of desperation he tried to turn his body and dislodge Johnson. When this failed, he again shut down, dissociated himself from what was taking place, and repressed his memory of the assault.
After about twenty minutes Johnson finally ended the assault and left.
From this point on, JP felt compelled to avoid Johnson but did not understand why he felt so strongly. When Johnson would select him for an activity, JP would refuse to go or participate. Johnson then began to shun JP. Unfortunately, a new perpetrator eventually set his sights on the boy.
PART 3 NEXT
I Feel Like Dancing, Yeah
.
City of Angels is on AlterNet this morning:with a story very much like this (with a different headline...).
Vatican Declined to Defrock U.S. Priest Who Abused Boys
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Top Vatican officials, including the future Pope Benedict XVI, did not defrock an American priest who molested as many as 200 deaf boys, even after warnings from several bishops...
***
Okay the above story is in the New York Times... wait a few and then they are followed up by, yep:
Pope 'failed to discipline US priest' who abused deaf children
The Guardian - 13 minutes ago
The pope faces questions about his handling of the case of Father Lawrence Murphy while in charge of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. ...
Vatican says it was unaware of alleged American priest abuse
CNN (blog) - 47 minutes ago
The Vatican said it was unaware of an American priest believed to have molested up to 200 boys until 20 years after civil authorities investigated - then ...
'NYT': Vatican Knew Wis. Priest Might Have Molested 200 Deaf Boys; Did Not ...
NPR (blog) - Mark Memmott - 1 hour ago
"Top Vatican officials -- including the future Pope Benedict XVI -- did not defrock a priest who molested as many as 200 deaf boys, ...
Pope 'failed to act' over abuse
Aljazeera.net - 1 hour ago
Senior Vatican officials, including Pope Benedict XVI, have been accused of not doing enough to stop sexual abuse by Catholic priests in the US, ...
Abuse Scandal's Ripples Spread Across Europe
New York Times - Katrin Bennhold, Nicholas Kulish - 3 hours ago
MUNICH — The fallout from the sexual abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church settled across Europe ...
MORE
Pope Benedict Implicated In Failure To Discipline Child Predator ...Lez Get Real - Bridgette P. LaVictoire - 8 hours ago
In what may end up being the final shoe to drop in the global child sex abuse scandal to hit the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Benedict has been implicated in ...
Abuse Scandal's Ripples Spread Across Europe - New York Times
Pope Benedict XVI Implicated In Cover-Up Of Wisconsin Sex Abuse ... - Barcelona Reporter
Now the Pope himself is implicated in cover-up of sex abuse of 200 ... - Daily Mail
all 663 news articles »
OOH I Like this one:
Pope accused of covering up sexual abuse
SWITZERLAND
The Star (South Africa)
[the 2001 document]
[in Latin]
March 25, 2010 Edition 2
GENEVA: Hans Kueng, the dissident Catholic theologian from Switzerland, has accused Pope Benedict XVI of playing a role since 2001 in keeping sex-abuse claims against priests out of the public eye.
City of Angels is on AlterNet this morning:with a story very much like this (with a different headline...).
Vatican Declined to Defrock U.S. Priest Who Abused Boys
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Top Vatican officials, including the future Pope Benedict XVI, did not defrock an American priest who molested as many as 200 deaf boys, even after warnings from several bishops...
***
Okay the above story is in the New York Times... wait a few and then they are followed up by, yep:
Pope 'failed to discipline US priest' who abused deaf children
The Guardian - 13 minutes ago
The pope faces questions about his handling of the case of Father Lawrence Murphy while in charge of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. ...
Vatican says it was unaware of alleged American priest abuse
CNN (blog) - 47 minutes ago
The Vatican said it was unaware of an American priest believed to have molested up to 200 boys until 20 years after civil authorities investigated - then ...
'NYT': Vatican Knew Wis. Priest Might Have Molested 200 Deaf Boys; Did Not ...
NPR (blog) - Mark Memmott - 1 hour ago
"Top Vatican officials -- including the future Pope Benedict XVI -- did not defrock a priest who molested as many as 200 deaf boys, ...
Pope 'failed to act' over abuse
Aljazeera.net - 1 hour ago
Senior Vatican officials, including Pope Benedict XVI, have been accused of not doing enough to stop sexual abuse by Catholic priests in the US, ...
Abuse Scandal's Ripples Spread Across Europe
New York Times - Katrin Bennhold, Nicholas Kulish - 3 hours ago
MUNICH — The fallout from the sexual abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church settled across Europe ...
MORE
Pope Benedict Implicated In Failure To Discipline Child Predator ...Lez Get Real - Bridgette P. LaVictoire - 8 hours ago
In what may end up being the final shoe to drop in the global child sex abuse scandal to hit the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Benedict has been implicated in ...
Abuse Scandal's Ripples Spread Across Europe - New York Times
Pope Benedict XVI Implicated In Cover-Up Of Wisconsin Sex Abuse ... - Barcelona Reporter
Now the Pope himself is implicated in cover-up of sex abuse of 200 ... - Daily Mail
all 663 news articles »
OOH I Like this one:
Pope accused of covering up sexual abuse
SWITZERLAND
The Star (South Africa)
[the 2001 document]
[in Latin]
March 25, 2010 Edition 2
GENEVA: Hans Kueng, the dissident Catholic theologian from Switzerland, has accused Pope Benedict XVI of playing a role since 2001 in keeping sex-abuse claims against priests out of the public eye.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
The Spoof: Pope to Pedophile Priests: Eat More Fish
.
(It's a good sign when pedophile priests are in the humor universe, even though the jokes can be tasteless, I mean, look at what happened to us. Taste is long gone out the window. Comedy, to me, is the best way to deal with this particular trauma, like these quotes from The Spoof today:)
Vatican - It appears that Pope Benedict XVI has had an epiphany with regards to the sex scandal that has continued to plague the Catholic Church-lack of fish in a priest's diet can lead to inappropriate sexual behavior toward young men.
The Pope has asked the Vatican physicians to look into the possibility that since priests are no longer officially required to abstain from consuming meat on Fridays, the levels of mercury in their systems from lack of fish has dropped significantly. It is a well-known fact that mercury levels in one's body contributes to high blood pressure and in most cases can only be treated with blood pressure medications that tend to suppress the male sex drive.
With fewer priests consuming fish these days, the mercury levels in these individuals have dropped, alleviating the need for blood pressure medications that typically have the side effect of causing a reduced desire for sex. In addition, the over-consumption of meat leads to more protein in the body. Protein is essential for a healthy sexual drive in...
Read the rest here:
Pope to Pedophile Priests: Eat More Fish
(It's a good sign when pedophile priests are in the humor universe, even though the jokes can be tasteless, I mean, look at what happened to us. Taste is long gone out the window. Comedy, to me, is the best way to deal with this particular trauma, like these quotes from The Spoof today:)
Vatican - It appears that Pope Benedict XVI has had an epiphany with regards to the sex scandal that has continued to plague the Catholic Church-lack of fish in a priest's diet can lead to inappropriate sexual behavior toward young men.
The Pope has asked the Vatican physicians to look into the possibility that since priests are no longer officially required to abstain from consuming meat on Fridays, the levels of mercury in their systems from lack of fish has dropped significantly. It is a well-known fact that mercury levels in one's body contributes to high blood pressure and in most cases can only be treated with blood pressure medications that tend to suppress the male sex drive.
With fewer priests consuming fish these days, the mercury levels in these individuals have dropped, alleviating the need for blood pressure medications that typically have the side effect of causing a reduced desire for sex. In addition, the over-consumption of meat leads to more protein in the body. Protein is essential for a healthy sexual drive in...
Read the rest here:
Pope to Pedophile Priests: Eat More Fish
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Number of new pedophile priest cases is down because last ten years have brought up decades old cases
.
Of course there are not as many lawsuits and charges of pedophile priests in 2009 as previous years, because beginning in the late 1990s with Minnesota (I think), states opened windows that allowed people to file lawsuits from forty years or longer in the past. So the past decade we've seen cases that cover a sixty-year period.
There are less new cases today, not because there are less pedophiles, but because the Catholic Church has only begun its house cleaning.
The fact that there still ARE new cases shows the Church has not done the job at all yet of changing the Church and getting rid of sexual predator priests.
Report: Catholic clergy abuse claims drop in US
The Associated Press - Eric Gorski
While the Roman Catholic church in Europe reels from a widening sex abuse crisis, the scandal that has plagued the US church for nearly a decade is tapering ...
Payouts for Catholic priest sex abuse down—US study
Inquirer.net - Karin Zeitvogel
WASHINGTON—The number of children sexually abused by US Roman Catholics and church payouts for clergy sex cases fell sharply last year, ...
.
duh.
.
Of course there are not as many lawsuits and charges of pedophile priests in 2009 as previous years, because beginning in the late 1990s with Minnesota (I think), states opened windows that allowed people to file lawsuits from forty years or longer in the past. So the past decade we've seen cases that cover a sixty-year period.
There are less new cases today, not because there are less pedophiles, but because the Catholic Church has only begun its house cleaning.
The fact that there still ARE new cases shows the Church has not done the job at all yet of changing the Church and getting rid of sexual predator priests.
Report: Catholic clergy abuse claims drop in US
The Associated Press - Eric Gorski
While the Roman Catholic church in Europe reels from a widening sex abuse crisis, the scandal that has plagued the US church for nearly a decade is tapering ...
Payouts for Catholic priest sex abuse down—US study
Inquirer.net - Karin Zeitvogel
WASHINGTON—The number of children sexually abused by US Roman Catholics and church payouts for clergy sex cases fell sharply last year, ...
.
duh.
.
Background for every Santa Barbara Story:
.
Because these stories seem unbelievable, I asked Tim Hale, the Santa Barbara attorney who authored the briefs, how he came up with the details in these cases.
Hale said: "Everything alleged in the amended complaints is supported by admissible evidence assembled from investigation and discovery conducted during the last eleven years of litigation involving the Franciscans." Hale works for Nye Peabody Stirling & Hale law firm in Santa Barbara.
The previous episodes of Santa Barbara Story 2009:
Part One: SB was Dumping Ground
Part Two: A New Sex Crime Ploy by Franciscans
Part Three: Money Available for Therapy for Victims
Part Four: Franciscan Grabbed Freshman by the Genitals
Part Five: Pedophilia is a Privacy Right for Franciscans
Part 6 is here Priests Take Boys on Drunken Camping Trip
Part 7 is here First Year in Seminary, Assaulted by two Franciscans
And after that I've lost track...
Because these stories seem unbelievable, I asked Tim Hale, the Santa Barbara attorney who authored the briefs, how he came up with the details in these cases.
Hale said: "Everything alleged in the amended complaints is supported by admissible evidence assembled from investigation and discovery conducted during the last eleven years of litigation involving the Franciscans." Hale works for Nye Peabody Stirling & Hale law firm in Santa Barbara.
The previous episodes of Santa Barbara Story 2009:
Part One: SB was Dumping Ground
Part Two: A New Sex Crime Ploy by Franciscans
Part Three: Money Available for Therapy for Victims
Part Four: Franciscan Grabbed Freshman by the Genitals
Part Five: Pedophilia is a Privacy Right for Franciscans
Part 6 is here Priests Take Boys on Drunken Camping Trip
Part 7 is here First Year in Seminary, Assaulted by two Franciscans
And after that I've lost track...
Crimes of 2 Pedophile Priests in New Santa Barbara Lawsuit Like Thousands Reviewed by Pope When He was Cardinal
.
(Story also appears in shorter version at AlterNet in SoapBox)
From Santa Barbara, another lawsuit, describing sex crimes of a pedophile priest, like the thousands of crimes that were reported to Cardinal Ratzinger, today Pope Benedict, when he ran the office in charge of investigating crimes by priests before becoming Pope.
The lawsuit quoted in depth below was filed December 2009 against the Franciscans, who produced 44 Predator Pedophile Priests in about three decades of proselytizing in this one Southern California town.
Crime victims continue to come forward with claims from St. Anthony’s Seminary in Santa Barbara, even though the 2003 one-year window to file decades old claims in California is long closed. Attorneys for plaintiffs and for the Church’s various archdiocese corporations sole are today awaiting a decision by the state Supreme Court as to whether more cases can be filed, a decision that could change the statute of limitations on child sex crimes in this state, so look for a story here in the near future about the Quarry decision.
Today, City of Angels has a document from Case #1338630 filed December 1, 2009, in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Santa Barbara, Anacapa Division.
For the sake of public record, we are copying parts of the “First Amended Complaint for Damages and injunctive Relief” for 1338630 here for everyone to read.
Keep in mind that the Pope had judicial review of all these crimes, when he ran the CDF before becoming Pope. As Cardinal Ratzinger, he likely read reports of thousands of crimes by pedophile priests like the ones described below. That's why it’s so astounding to see him look into the news media’s face and claim surprise and dismay and the other milk toast words he uses when confronted with these charges in Europe in 2010. The Vatican and the Pope were very much involved in the coverup of these crimes.
The plaintiff complaint quoted below is the kind of case that came across the desk of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger for decades, when he was in charge of the CDF Office (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, formerly the Inquisition). He had judicial review of all criminal activity by priests all over the world for 23 years before becoming Pope.
Hundreds of cases of child sex crime activity crossed the desk of Cardinal Ratzinger, most of it then translated into Latin and placed in very secret files somewhere in the Vatican, as it has been explained to me, but no one really knows what the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy do behind the Swiss guards and the Vatican walls, do they?
Complaint filed for relief from:
Public Nuisance
Negligence
Negligent Supervision/Failure to Warn
Negligent Hiring/Retention
Fraud
Fiduciary/Confidential Relationship Fraud and Conspiracy
Breach of Fiduciary Duty
Negligent Failure to Warn, Train, or educate plaintiffs
Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress
Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress
Violation of business and professional code 17200
Fraud and Deceit
Premises Violation
DEFENDANTS:
Defendant Doe 1: Franciscan Friars of California, Inc.
Defendant Doe 2: Old Mission Santa Barbara
Perpetrators are Franciscan Fathers Dave Johnson and Philip Wolfe
The Origin of the Explosion
of Franciscan Sex Crimes
in Santa Barbara in the 1960s
6. Franciscan perpetrators have been sexually assaulting children in Santa Barbara since at least 1936.
During this time at least forty-four (44) pedophilic and/or ephebophilic Roman Catholic priests or religious brothers have been assigned to work at and were living at and/or visiting various locations around Santa Barbara County, including but not limited to St.
Raphael’s Church in Goleta, San Roque, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in Montecito, and the adjoining properties of St. Anthony’s and the Mission. Twenty-seven (27) of those priests or religious brothers were or are Franciscans.
Although Franciscan priests and Religious brothers abused Santa Barbara children much earlier in the 20th Century, there was an explosion of Franciscan sex crimes against at least sixty-two (62) local children beginning in the early 1960s. That explosion was triggered by events involving the Franciscans in the Diocese of San Diego in the early 1950s.
Prior to Santa Barbara the Franciscans used parishes in communities that at the time were on the outskirts of the Diocese, such as Banning and Beaumont, as havens to send their problem priests and Religious Brothers. Eventually the Diocese ended the Franciscans’ conduct. According to a letter written by the Bishop of San Diego on April 26, 1950:
"During the thirteen years since this Diocese was erected, to my own personal knowledge, the Saint Barbara Province of the Franciscan Fathers has used this Diocese as a dumping ground for their moral, mental and physical problems. It became necessary for me some time ago to demand the withdrawal of one misfit after another." See Exhibit "A"
The Bishop was so frustrated with the Franciscans that he commenced the process of applying to the necessary religious bodies in Rome to evict the Franciscans from the parishes in the Diocese of San Diego. It would appear the Bishop eventually succeeded, and sometime in the 1950s the Franciscans made Santa Barbara their new dumping ground for Franciscan perpetrators. Beginning in the late 1950s the Franciscans began sending the first of at least twenty-six (26) Franciscan perpetrators to Santa Barbara following their expulsion from the Diocese. Those perpetrators are identified below in the decades they first appeared and continued to reside in or visit Santa Barbara based on information known to date:
1 - Fr. Owen Da Silva (1930s)
2 - Brother Berard Connolly (1940s, 1980s - 1990s)
3 - Fr. Martin McKeon (1950s - 1960s)
4 - Fr. Edward Henriques (1960s)
5 - Fr. Mario Cimmarrusti (1960s - 1970s)
6 - Fr. Mel Bucher (1960s)
7 - Fr. Forrest McDonald (1960s - 1970s)
8 - Br. Kevin Dunne (1960s - 1970s)
9 - Br. Sam Cabot (1960s-1980s)
10 - Fr. Edmund Austin (1970s)
11 - Fr. Gus Krumm (1970s - 1980s)
12 - Fr. Paul Conn (1970s - 1980s)
13 - Fr. Dave Johnson (1970s - 1980s)
14 - Fr. Joseph Prochnow (1970s - 1980s)
15 - Br. Matteo Guerrero (1970s, 1990s - 2000s)
16 - Fr. Robert Van Handel (1970s -1990s)
17 - Fr. David Carriere (1970s - 2000s)
18 - Fr. Steve Kain (1980s)
19 - Fr. Philip Wolfe (1980s)
20 - Pre-novitiate candidate Ed Byrom (1980s)
21 - Pre-novitiate candidate Tom Thing (1980s)
22 - Fr. Chris Berbena (1980s)
23 - Fr. Remy Rudin (1980s - 1990s)
24 - Br. Gerald Chumik (2000s)
25 - Pedro Vasquez (2000s)
26 - Fr. Claude Riffel (1941-44, 1975-76)
270 - Fr. Fr. Alexander Manville (1960-73).
By the 1960s if not sooner these corrupt seeds planted by the Franciscans began bearing poisonous fruit as Franciscan perpetrators abused Santa Barbara children at a horrifying rate. At least eighty-five (85) children have been sexually abused in Santa Barbara by Roman Catholic priests or religious brothers since 1936.
The consequences of the Franciscans’ continuing corporate practices with regards to Franciscan perpetrators have been disastrous both for local children, and for a society that continues to bear the financial burden of the psychological fallout for abuse survivors. Abuse survivors often engage in addictive, self-destructive, and, unfortunately, sometimes criminal behavior as they deal with the psychological scars caused by childhood sexual abuse.
These behaviors in turn result in things such as divorce proceedings on court calendars, substance abuse, arrests, and incarcerations, all of which are paid for by the common taxpayer rather than by the truly culpable but tax-exempt organizations that protected the perpetrators. The evidence of the Franciscans’ culpability in this regard is overwhelming.
THE FRANCISCANS’ CONTINUING REFUSAL TO PUBLICLY IDENTIFY ALL OF THEIR CURRENT OR FORMER PEDOPHILIC MEMBERS HAS CREATED A DEADLY ENVIRONMENT FOR TODAY’S CHILDREN
7. Time and again the Franciscans have had the opportunity to end the cycle of abuse by reporting perpetrators to law enforcement, and by warning the general public when a Franciscan has been accused of sexually assaulting a child. Tragically, the Franciscans’ ongoing efforts to protect their pedophilic members, and to protect the corporation’s financial interests, establish a continuing pattern of conduct causing new harm to today’s children, new trauma to adult survivors of Franciscan childhood sexual abuse, and causing the continuing financial burden to a society paying for the resulting psychological fallout.
8. Since at least 1964 the Franciscans have known their perpetrators were sexually assaulting Santa Barbara children, and of the fact any child exposed to their agents was at a heightened risk of being sexually assaulted. Since at least 1964 the Franciscans have been concealing these crimes, and shielding their criminal members from discovery. Sadly, even with the global settlement of the 2003-2006 litigation, the Franciscans have not changed their ways. The following are examples only of some of the most recent known Franciscan conduct placing today’s children at risk. These examples illustrate the Franciscans’ conduct remains a present day threat to children wherever the Franciscans conduct their business:
In July of 2003, the Franciscans assigned an admitted perpetrator – Father Gus Krumm – to a Sacramento parish next door to a school without any warning to the community. One Franciscan priest readily admitted he was aware of Father Krumm’s prior abuses but did not think it was appropriate to share such information with parishioners.
Despite the fact the Franciscans claimed Father Krumm was forbidden contact with young children, he did in fact have direct contact with young children while at this assignment.
In January 2004 it was revealed that the Franciscans had assigned perpetrator Brother Kevin Dunne to a Franciscan-run parish in Phoenix, St. Mary’s Basilica.
The Franciscans warned neither the parishioners nor the community of the risk Dunne posed, and the Phoenix community had no means of identifying Dunne as a perpetrator as – thanks to the Franciscans never having reported Dunne’s crimes to law enforcement – he had never been prosecuted and is not a registered sex offender. Thus, the fact Dunne had raped at least one St. Anthony’s student, and the fact the Franciscans had settled a claim made by that student, was known only to the Franciscans. The parish manager stated the Franciscans had never advised him of Dunne’s criminal conduct, and that "they probably should have."
In July 2004 the Franciscans admitted – albeit only after a reporter from the Dallas Morning News made the facts public – that yet another predator had been calling the Old Mission Santa Barbara home for over two years. Specifically, in the early to mid-1970's Franciscan Brother Gerald Chumik assaulted at least one victim in Canada. Canadian authorities attempted to prosecute Brother Chumik in the 1990s, but Chumik fled to the United States.
The Franciscans successfully and secretly harbored Brother Chumik, a fugitive from justice, behind the walls of the Mission for over two years. The Franciscans provided no warning to the public, much less to neighboring schools, of the threat Brother Chumik posed until the Dallas Morning News published the truth about Chumik.
In July 2005, the Franciscan Vicar Provincial, Brother Tom West, admitted Mission resident, Franciscan Pedro Vasquez, had been accused of sexually assaulting a person West described as a "young man." The Franciscans had allowed Vasquez to live at the Mission for three years without any warning to the community, and admitted to this fact in July of 2005 only when they knew its publication was inevitable.
In 2005, the former rector of St. Anthony’s, Father Xavier Harris, testified that while he was assigned at St. Williams in Los Altos in 2001, a well-known Franciscan perpetrator, Father Steve Kain, assisted there as well. Father Harris did not warn any of the parishioners of Father Kain’s propensities, nor, to his knowledge, did any other Franciscans warn any parishioners about Father Kain. With no shortage of victims who were unaware of the risk he posed, Father Kain abused again. Father Harris testified that Father Kain was then forced to stop assisting at St. Williams due to the abuse allegations, and was transferred to St. Boniface in San Francisco.
Once again, Father Harris testified he had no knowledge of any warnings to parishioners at St. Boniface regarding Father Kain’s propensities.
In late 2006 a victim spoke with Father Virgil Cordano at the Mission and informed Cordano he had been raped in 1976 by a Franciscan religious brother, Brother Mateo Guererro. Cordano did not act surprised at this information, admitted there had been other complaints against Mateo, and admitted that Mateo had been transferred as a result.
To date, the Franciscans have taken no steps to make this information public, no steps to determine whether there are any other victims of Mateo who have not come forward, no steps to notify the communities in which Mateo has been assigned over the course of his career as a Franciscan, and no steps to warn the current community where Mateo is assigned.
From approximately 1994 to at least 2008 the Franciscans assigned another admitted perpetrator – Fr. Mel Bucher – to Old Mission San Luis Rey. Fr. Bucher sexually assaulted at least one adolescent boy in Oregon in the early 1970s. Despite this admission, the Franciscans allowed Fr. Bucher to manage the Mission San Luis Rey retreat center. The retreat center conducts retreats for, among others, high school-aged children, including overnight retreats for students from, among other locations, Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana.
At least one current Franciscan and former Mater Dei faculty member has stated he would not discuss the allegations of abuse by Fr. Bucher with Mater Dei faculty or administrators because he does not "see any purpose being served in that." The Franciscans have never warned the families of these students of Fr. Bucher’s history of abuse.
In February 2009, Father Claude Riffel was accused of sexually assaulting a boy at another Franciscan seminary, St. Francis Minor Seminary in Troutdale, Oregon, in the early 1960s. Riffel was dean of discipline for the school when he would call the teenager out of class on the pretext of assigning work and then abuse him. To date, the Franciscans have taken no steps to make this information public, and no steps to determine whether there are any other victims of Riffel who have not come forward.
The Franciscans also have taken no steps to notify the communities in which Riffel has been assigned during his career as a Franciscan, including but not limited to the Santa Barbara community where from approximately 1941-44, and again from 1975-76, Riffel was assigned to St. Anthony’s and worked with boys the same age as those he is accused of abusing at the seminary in Oregon.
In June 2009 Franciscan Father Alexander Manville was accused of the sexual abuse of an approximately eight-year-old boy in 1992-93. To date, the Franciscans have taken no steps to make this information public, and no steps to determine whether there are any other victims of Manville who have not come forward.
The Franciscans also have taken no steps to notify the communities in which Manville has been assigned over the course of his career as a Franciscan, including but not limited to the Santa Barbara community where for approximately thirteen years, from 1960-73, Manville served on the faculty at Bishop Diego High School.
Such action and inaction by the Franciscans has and will continue to produce disastrous results, as evidenced by the case of Fr. Louis Ladenburger. Ladenburger left the priesthood and the Franciscan order in 1996. However, early in his career as a Franciscan Ladenburger was treated for what former St. Anthony’s rector and Franciscan Provincial Minister, Mel Jurisich, has described only as "inappropriate professional behavior and relationships."
Such vague terms are standard procedure for the Franciscans when describing acts of childhood sexual abuse by their priests and religious brothers. After sending Ladenburger for treatment for his criminal conduct twice in the 1980s, the Franciscans allowed him to continue to work as a priest, including working at high schools. After another psychological review in 1993 the Franciscans were sufficiently concerned to restrict Ladenburger’s ministry.
However, at no time did the Franciscans report Ladenburger’s criminal acts to law enforcement. At no time did the Franciscans warn any families or communities where Ladenburger had worked or was working as a priest. As a result, when he left the priesthood nearly twenty-years after the Franciscans first learned of and began to conceal the risk he posed to children, Ladenburger had never been convicted of a sex crime, was not a registered sex offender, and only the Franciscans were aware of his pedophilic propensities.
An unknown number of children have been sexually assaulted by Ladenburger as a result.
In May of 2007 Ladenburger was arrested for sexually assaulting several children in Idaho.
When first contacted shortly after Ladenburger’s arrest the Franciscans denied having any record of past abuses by Ladenburger. After this initial denial, Fr. Jurisich finally admitted to Ladenburger’s sordid history, and the Franciscans’ knowledge since the 1980s of the risk he posed to children. Ladenburger has since pleaded guilty to lewd conduct with two boarding school students, and on March 24, 2008, was sentenced to five years in prison. The sentencing judge, the Honorable John Luster, found Ladenburger’s conduct so severe that he rejected a joint request by the prosecution and the defense of a suspended sentence. Ladenburger has admitted he is a sex addict. These latest victims are further evidence of the continuing threat to all children posed by the Franciscans’ refusal to warn the public of their current and former members who have been accused of sexual abuse.
Four months after the Franciscans first denied then admitted they knew about the threat posed by Ladenburger, they were at it again. One would hope that after decades of Franciscan sexual abuse and cover-ups, at some point – perhaps, for instance, now that the number of confirmed Santa Barbara victims of Franciscan childhood sexual abuse has risen to sixty-three – the Franciscan hierarchy would finally reconsider the corporation’s horribly flawed strategy of lying about and refusing to identify Franciscan priests and brothers accused of sexual abuse.
One would hope that after seeing today’s children continuing to be victimized as a result of this failed corporate strategy they would finally recognize that for the sake of both past and future victims, it was time to tell the truth.
PART TWO COMING NEXT
Lawsuit quoted above filed by Tim Hale, attorney, of Santa Barbara
.
(Story also appears in shorter version at AlterNet in SoapBox)
From Santa Barbara, another lawsuit, describing sex crimes of a pedophile priest, like the thousands of crimes that were reported to Cardinal Ratzinger, today Pope Benedict, when he ran the office in charge of investigating crimes by priests before becoming Pope.
The lawsuit quoted in depth below was filed December 2009 against the Franciscans, who produced 44 Predator Pedophile Priests in about three decades of proselytizing in this one Southern California town.
Crime victims continue to come forward with claims from St. Anthony’s Seminary in Santa Barbara, even though the 2003 one-year window to file decades old claims in California is long closed. Attorneys for plaintiffs and for the Church’s various archdiocese corporations sole are today awaiting a decision by the state Supreme Court as to whether more cases can be filed, a decision that could change the statute of limitations on child sex crimes in this state, so look for a story here in the near future about the Quarry decision.
Today, City of Angels has a document from Case #1338630 filed December 1, 2009, in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Santa Barbara, Anacapa Division.
For the sake of public record, we are copying parts of the “First Amended Complaint for Damages and injunctive Relief” for 1338630 here for everyone to read.
Keep in mind that the Pope had judicial review of all these crimes, when he ran the CDF before becoming Pope. As Cardinal Ratzinger, he likely read reports of thousands of crimes by pedophile priests like the ones described below. That's why it’s so astounding to see him look into the news media’s face and claim surprise and dismay and the other milk toast words he uses when confronted with these charges in Europe in 2010. The Vatican and the Pope were very much involved in the coverup of these crimes.
The plaintiff complaint quoted below is the kind of case that came across the desk of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger for decades, when he was in charge of the CDF Office (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, formerly the Inquisition). He had judicial review of all criminal activity by priests all over the world for 23 years before becoming Pope.
Hundreds of cases of child sex crime activity crossed the desk of Cardinal Ratzinger, most of it then translated into Latin and placed in very secret files somewhere in the Vatican, as it has been explained to me, but no one really knows what the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy do behind the Swiss guards and the Vatican walls, do they?
Complaint filed for relief from:
Public Nuisance
Negligence
Negligent Supervision/Failure to Warn
Negligent Hiring/Retention
Fraud
Fiduciary/Confidential Relationship Fraud and Conspiracy
Breach of Fiduciary Duty
Negligent Failure to Warn, Train, or educate plaintiffs
Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress
Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress
Violation of business and professional code 17200
Fraud and Deceit
Premises Violation
DEFENDANTS:
Defendant Doe 1: Franciscan Friars of California, Inc.
Defendant Doe 2: Old Mission Santa Barbara
Perpetrators are Franciscan Fathers Dave Johnson and Philip Wolfe
The Origin of the Explosion
of Franciscan Sex Crimes
in Santa Barbara in the 1960s
6. Franciscan perpetrators have been sexually assaulting children in Santa Barbara since at least 1936.
During this time at least forty-four (44) pedophilic and/or ephebophilic Roman Catholic priests or religious brothers have been assigned to work at and were living at and/or visiting various locations around Santa Barbara County, including but not limited to St.
Raphael’s Church in Goleta, San Roque, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in Montecito, and the adjoining properties of St. Anthony’s and the Mission. Twenty-seven (27) of those priests or religious brothers were or are Franciscans.
Although Franciscan priests and Religious brothers abused Santa Barbara children much earlier in the 20th Century, there was an explosion of Franciscan sex crimes against at least sixty-two (62) local children beginning in the early 1960s. That explosion was triggered by events involving the Franciscans in the Diocese of San Diego in the early 1950s.
Prior to Santa Barbara the Franciscans used parishes in communities that at the time were on the outskirts of the Diocese, such as Banning and Beaumont, as havens to send their problem priests and Religious Brothers. Eventually the Diocese ended the Franciscans’ conduct. According to a letter written by the Bishop of San Diego on April 26, 1950:
"During the thirteen years since this Diocese was erected, to my own personal knowledge, the Saint Barbara Province of the Franciscan Fathers has used this Diocese as a dumping ground for their moral, mental and physical problems. It became necessary for me some time ago to demand the withdrawal of one misfit after another." See Exhibit "A"
The Bishop was so frustrated with the Franciscans that he commenced the process of applying to the necessary religious bodies in Rome to evict the Franciscans from the parishes in the Diocese of San Diego. It would appear the Bishop eventually succeeded, and sometime in the 1950s the Franciscans made Santa Barbara their new dumping ground for Franciscan perpetrators. Beginning in the late 1950s the Franciscans began sending the first of at least twenty-six (26) Franciscan perpetrators to Santa Barbara following their expulsion from the Diocese. Those perpetrators are identified below in the decades they first appeared and continued to reside in or visit Santa Barbara based on information known to date:
1 - Fr. Owen Da Silva (1930s)
2 - Brother Berard Connolly (1940s, 1980s - 1990s)
3 - Fr. Martin McKeon (1950s - 1960s)
4 - Fr. Edward Henriques (1960s)
5 - Fr. Mario Cimmarrusti (1960s - 1970s)
6 - Fr. Mel Bucher (1960s)
7 - Fr. Forrest McDonald (1960s - 1970s)
8 - Br. Kevin Dunne (1960s - 1970s)
9 - Br. Sam Cabot (1960s-1980s)
10 - Fr. Edmund Austin (1970s)
11 - Fr. Gus Krumm (1970s - 1980s)
12 - Fr. Paul Conn (1970s - 1980s)
13 - Fr. Dave Johnson (1970s - 1980s)
14 - Fr. Joseph Prochnow (1970s - 1980s)
15 - Br. Matteo Guerrero (1970s, 1990s - 2000s)
16 - Fr. Robert Van Handel (1970s -1990s)
17 - Fr. David Carriere (1970s - 2000s)
18 - Fr. Steve Kain (1980s)
19 - Fr. Philip Wolfe (1980s)
20 - Pre-novitiate candidate Ed Byrom (1980s)
21 - Pre-novitiate candidate Tom Thing (1980s)
22 - Fr. Chris Berbena (1980s)
23 - Fr. Remy Rudin (1980s - 1990s)
24 - Br. Gerald Chumik (2000s)
25 - Pedro Vasquez (2000s)
26 - Fr. Claude Riffel (1941-44, 1975-76)
270 - Fr. Fr. Alexander Manville (1960-73).
By the 1960s if not sooner these corrupt seeds planted by the Franciscans began bearing poisonous fruit as Franciscan perpetrators abused Santa Barbara children at a horrifying rate. At least eighty-five (85) children have been sexually abused in Santa Barbara by Roman Catholic priests or religious brothers since 1936.
Sixty-two (62) of those children were abused by Franciscan priests or religious brothers since 1960. The confirmed number of victims and Franciscan perpetrators grows each year.
The consequences of the Franciscans’ continuing corporate practices with regards to Franciscan perpetrators have been disastrous both for local children, and for a society that continues to bear the financial burden of the psychological fallout for abuse survivors. Abuse survivors often engage in addictive, self-destructive, and, unfortunately, sometimes criminal behavior as they deal with the psychological scars caused by childhood sexual abuse.
These behaviors in turn result in things such as divorce proceedings on court calendars, substance abuse, arrests, and incarcerations, all of which are paid for by the common taxpayer rather than by the truly culpable but tax-exempt organizations that protected the perpetrators. The evidence of the Franciscans’ culpability in this regard is overwhelming.
THE FRANCISCANS’ CONTINUING REFUSAL TO PUBLICLY IDENTIFY ALL OF THEIR CURRENT OR FORMER PEDOPHILIC MEMBERS HAS CREATED A DEADLY ENVIRONMENT FOR TODAY’S CHILDREN
7. Time and again the Franciscans have had the opportunity to end the cycle of abuse by reporting perpetrators to law enforcement, and by warning the general public when a Franciscan has been accused of sexually assaulting a child. Tragically, the Franciscans’ ongoing efforts to protect their pedophilic members, and to protect the corporation’s financial interests, establish a continuing pattern of conduct causing new harm to today’s children, new trauma to adult survivors of Franciscan childhood sexual abuse, and causing the continuing financial burden to a society paying for the resulting psychological fallout.
8. Since at least 1964 the Franciscans have known their perpetrators were sexually assaulting Santa Barbara children, and of the fact any child exposed to their agents was at a heightened risk of being sexually assaulted. Since at least 1964 the Franciscans have been concealing these crimes, and shielding their criminal members from discovery. Sadly, even with the global settlement of the 2003-2006 litigation, the Franciscans have not changed their ways. The following are examples only of some of the most recent known Franciscan conduct placing today’s children at risk. These examples illustrate the Franciscans’ conduct remains a present day threat to children wherever the Franciscans conduct their business:
In July of 2003, the Franciscans assigned an admitted perpetrator – Father Gus Krumm – to a Sacramento parish next door to a school without any warning to the community. One Franciscan priest readily admitted he was aware of Father Krumm’s prior abuses but did not think it was appropriate to share such information with parishioners.
Despite the fact the Franciscans claimed Father Krumm was forbidden contact with young children, he did in fact have direct contact with young children while at this assignment.
In January 2004 it was revealed that the Franciscans had assigned perpetrator Brother Kevin Dunne to a Franciscan-run parish in Phoenix, St. Mary’s Basilica.
The Franciscans warned neither the parishioners nor the community of the risk Dunne posed, and the Phoenix community had no means of identifying Dunne as a perpetrator as – thanks to the Franciscans never having reported Dunne’s crimes to law enforcement – he had never been prosecuted and is not a registered sex offender. Thus, the fact Dunne had raped at least one St. Anthony’s student, and the fact the Franciscans had settled a claim made by that student, was known only to the Franciscans. The parish manager stated the Franciscans had never advised him of Dunne’s criminal conduct, and that "they probably should have."
In July 2004 the Franciscans admitted – albeit only after a reporter from the Dallas Morning News made the facts public – that yet another predator had been calling the Old Mission Santa Barbara home for over two years. Specifically, in the early to mid-1970's Franciscan Brother Gerald Chumik assaulted at least one victim in Canada. Canadian authorities attempted to prosecute Brother Chumik in the 1990s, but Chumik fled to the United States.
The Franciscans successfully and secretly harbored Brother Chumik, a fugitive from justice, behind the walls of the Mission for over two years. The Franciscans provided no warning to the public, much less to neighboring schools, of the threat Brother Chumik posed until the Dallas Morning News published the truth about Chumik.
In July 2005, the Franciscan Vicar Provincial, Brother Tom West, admitted Mission resident, Franciscan Pedro Vasquez, had been accused of sexually assaulting a person West described as a "young man." The Franciscans had allowed Vasquez to live at the Mission for three years without any warning to the community, and admitted to this fact in July of 2005 only when they knew its publication was inevitable.
In 2005, the former rector of St. Anthony’s, Father Xavier Harris, testified that while he was assigned at St. Williams in Los Altos in 2001, a well-known Franciscan perpetrator, Father Steve Kain, assisted there as well. Father Harris did not warn any of the parishioners of Father Kain’s propensities, nor, to his knowledge, did any other Franciscans warn any parishioners about Father Kain. With no shortage of victims who were unaware of the risk he posed, Father Kain abused again. Father Harris testified that Father Kain was then forced to stop assisting at St. Williams due to the abuse allegations, and was transferred to St. Boniface in San Francisco.
Once again, Father Harris testified he had no knowledge of any warnings to parishioners at St. Boniface regarding Father Kain’s propensities.
In late 2006 a victim spoke with Father Virgil Cordano at the Mission and informed Cordano he had been raped in 1976 by a Franciscan religious brother, Brother Mateo Guererro. Cordano did not act surprised at this information, admitted there had been other complaints against Mateo, and admitted that Mateo had been transferred as a result.
To date, the Franciscans have taken no steps to make this information public, no steps to determine whether there are any other victims of Mateo who have not come forward, no steps to notify the communities in which Mateo has been assigned over the course of his career as a Franciscan, and no steps to warn the current community where Mateo is assigned.
From approximately 1994 to at least 2008 the Franciscans assigned another admitted perpetrator – Fr. Mel Bucher – to Old Mission San Luis Rey. Fr. Bucher sexually assaulted at least one adolescent boy in Oregon in the early 1970s. Despite this admission, the Franciscans allowed Fr. Bucher to manage the Mission San Luis Rey retreat center. The retreat center conducts retreats for, among others, high school-aged children, including overnight retreats for students from, among other locations, Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana.
At least one current Franciscan and former Mater Dei faculty member has stated he would not discuss the allegations of abuse by Fr. Bucher with Mater Dei faculty or administrators because he does not "see any purpose being served in that." The Franciscans have never warned the families of these students of Fr. Bucher’s history of abuse.
In February 2009, Father Claude Riffel was accused of sexually assaulting a boy at another Franciscan seminary, St. Francis Minor Seminary in Troutdale, Oregon, in the early 1960s. Riffel was dean of discipline for the school when he would call the teenager out of class on the pretext of assigning work and then abuse him. To date, the Franciscans have taken no steps to make this information public, and no steps to determine whether there are any other victims of Riffel who have not come forward.
The Franciscans also have taken no steps to notify the communities in which Riffel has been assigned during his career as a Franciscan, including but not limited to the Santa Barbara community where from approximately 1941-44, and again from 1975-76, Riffel was assigned to St. Anthony’s and worked with boys the same age as those he is accused of abusing at the seminary in Oregon.
In June 2009 Franciscan Father Alexander Manville was accused of the sexual abuse of an approximately eight-year-old boy in 1992-93. To date, the Franciscans have taken no steps to make this information public, and no steps to determine whether there are any other victims of Manville who have not come forward.
The Franciscans also have taken no steps to notify the communities in which Manville has been assigned over the course of his career as a Franciscan, including but not limited to the Santa Barbara community where for approximately thirteen years, from 1960-73, Manville served on the faculty at Bishop Diego High School.
Such action and inaction by the Franciscans has and will continue to produce disastrous results, as evidenced by the case of Fr. Louis Ladenburger. Ladenburger left the priesthood and the Franciscan order in 1996. However, early in his career as a Franciscan Ladenburger was treated for what former St. Anthony’s rector and Franciscan Provincial Minister, Mel Jurisich, has described only as "inappropriate professional behavior and relationships."
Such vague terms are standard procedure for the Franciscans when describing acts of childhood sexual abuse by their priests and religious brothers. After sending Ladenburger for treatment for his criminal conduct twice in the 1980s, the Franciscans allowed him to continue to work as a priest, including working at high schools. After another psychological review in 1993 the Franciscans were sufficiently concerned to restrict Ladenburger’s ministry.
However, at no time did the Franciscans report Ladenburger’s criminal acts to law enforcement. At no time did the Franciscans warn any families or communities where Ladenburger had worked or was working as a priest. As a result, when he left the priesthood nearly twenty-years after the Franciscans first learned of and began to conceal the risk he posed to children, Ladenburger had never been convicted of a sex crime, was not a registered sex offender, and only the Franciscans were aware of his pedophilic propensities.
An unknown number of children have been sexually assaulted by Ladenburger as a result.
In May of 2007 Ladenburger was arrested for sexually assaulting several children in Idaho.
When first contacted shortly after Ladenburger’s arrest the Franciscans denied having any record of past abuses by Ladenburger. After this initial denial, Fr. Jurisich finally admitted to Ladenburger’s sordid history, and the Franciscans’ knowledge since the 1980s of the risk he posed to children. Ladenburger has since pleaded guilty to lewd conduct with two boarding school students, and on March 24, 2008, was sentenced to five years in prison. The sentencing judge, the Honorable John Luster, found Ladenburger’s conduct so severe that he rejected a joint request by the prosecution and the defense of a suspended sentence. Ladenburger has admitted he is a sex addict. These latest victims are further evidence of the continuing threat to all children posed by the Franciscans’ refusal to warn the public of their current and former members who have been accused of sexual abuse.
Four months after the Franciscans first denied then admitted they knew about the threat posed by Ladenburger, they were at it again. One would hope that after decades of Franciscan sexual abuse and cover-ups, at some point – perhaps, for instance, now that the number of confirmed Santa Barbara victims of Franciscan childhood sexual abuse has risen to sixty-three – the Franciscan hierarchy would finally reconsider the corporation’s horribly flawed strategy of lying about and refusing to identify Franciscan priests and brothers accused of sexual abuse.
One would hope that after seeing today’s children continuing to be victimized as a result of this failed corporate strategy they would finally recognize that for the sake of both past and future victims, it was time to tell the truth.
PART TWO COMING NEXT
Lawsuit quoted above filed by Tim Hale, attorney, of Santa Barbara
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Supposed to be at work but... there is no work, so...
.
Commenting on stories around the globe:
Focus is on Catholics as there have been 6000 priests found so far in U.S. parishes who were pedophiles. Aiding and abetting them was official policy of the Vatican. No one is focusing on a religion, it's an institution that because of inherent secrecy and Dark Age practices, an epidemic of pedophilia went on for decades. There are Tens of Thousands of adult victims in the U.S. now as a result. I write as one of the victims at City of Angels Blog http://cityofangels8.blogspot.com and what happened in the CathChurch cannot be compared to any other situation, no matter how much the Vatican points the finger elsewhere.
Posted today at Off the Grid at Vanity Fair:
It's Catholicism Itself, Stupid
***
I wonder what this was? When you click on it, the story has been removed. Then you can't get to PNC at all. will try again later. This was in a Google news alert for Archdiocese a little after 12 noon yesterday, March 22:
SNAP Representative A No-Show; And No Explanation
Pacific News Center
She said her intent was to draw attention to and foster an open dialogue about the issue of child sex abuse by members of the Archdiocese of Agana...
Will see if the link is repaired later today...
***
Whatever that was above, here is signs of GREAT WORK by Joelle Casteix, who pretty much operates on her own within SNAP, she's one of those people who are able to do that, and applause to her, this was on Abuse Tracker the 23rd AM:
SNAP names priest for alleged sexual abuse
GUAMKUAM
[with video]
by Mindy Aguon
Guam - The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests is hoping to provide a support group for individuals on Guam who have been victims of sexual abuse at the hands of members of clergy. In preparation for the support meetings that will be held over the next two days, the organization uncovered some disturbing information about clergy who have spent time on Guam in the hopes that victims of sexual abuse at the hands of priests or other church members will have the courage to come forward.
Commenting on stories around the globe:
Focus is on Catholics as there have been 6000 priests found so far in U.S. parishes who were pedophiles. Aiding and abetting them was official policy of the Vatican. No one is focusing on a religion, it's an institution that because of inherent secrecy and Dark Age practices, an epidemic of pedophilia went on for decades. There are Tens of Thousands of adult victims in the U.S. now as a result. I write as one of the victims at City of Angels Blog http://cityofangels8.blogspot.com and what happened in the CathChurch cannot be compared to any other situation, no matter how much the Vatican points the finger elsewhere.
Posted today at Off the Grid at Vanity Fair:
It's Catholicism Itself, Stupid
***
I wonder what this was? When you click on it, the story has been removed. Then you can't get to PNC at all. will try again later. This was in a Google news alert for Archdiocese a little after 12 noon yesterday, March 22:
SNAP Representative A No-Show; And No Explanation
Pacific News Center
She said her intent was to draw attention to and foster an open dialogue about the issue of child sex abuse by members of the Archdiocese of Agana...
Will see if the link is repaired later today...
***
Whatever that was above, here is signs of GREAT WORK by Joelle Casteix, who pretty much operates on her own within SNAP, she's one of those people who are able to do that, and applause to her, this was on Abuse Tracker the 23rd AM:
SNAP names priest for alleged sexual abuse
GUAMKUAM
[with video]
by Mindy Aguon
Guam - The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests is hoping to provide a support group for individuals on Guam who have been victims of sexual abuse at the hands of members of clergy. In preparation for the support meetings that will be held over the next two days, the organization uncovered some disturbing information about clergy who have spent time on Guam in the hopes that victims of sexual abuse at the hands of priests or other church members will have the courage to come forward.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
If there was no Internet, and corporations ran news media the way they do today, none of the truth about Catholic Church handling of pedophile priests would have gotten into the mainstream. It's the Internet that drives this story, with the internet the patterns across the country and now across the world are plainly visible, thanks to the internet, PR spin to keep the story down is not working.
.
.
In the post below there are missing words and links that I originally put in disappeared.
I tried to fix it, but when I go in to make an edit, I save, and the old errors come back. So I am not going into that file again, sorry, folks, there are typos and sentences that just STOP mid-phrase in the post below.
Something really weird happened this AM and almost destroyed the entire post (below). I had to rewrite a lot of it, and in some areas, the wrong words just keep coming back, so I'm just going to leave it alone, and tell everyone what happened, as I am not lying about anything and feel a real need to tell everything that happens to me as a result here as well...
ke
I tried to fix it, but when I go in to make an edit, I save, and the old errors come back. So I am not going into that file again, sorry, folks, there are typos and sentences that just STOP mid-phrase in the post below.
Something really weird happened this AM and almost destroyed the entire post (below). I had to rewrite a lot of it, and in some areas, the wrong words just keep coming back, so I'm just going to leave it alone, and tell everyone what happened, as I am not lying about anything and feel a real need to tell everything that happens to me as a result here as well...
ke
Story that Pope Ordered Secrecy on Priest Crimes for 20 Years Finally Getting into Mainstream Media
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In spite of a concerted international effort to spin the news in other directions by the Vatican, the story of Ratzinger-Benedict's full involvement in Church Handling of Priest Pedophilia Crimes is getting into the news.
In one item cited here, the SF radio reporter credits "SNAP, founded in 2002" for getting out the information, even though SNAP left the CDF information off press statements they handed out at thirty-plus events they held across the country last weekend about the Pope.
As these reports are coming out, the executives who run SNAP are in transit to Europe to do what they do there ...
Yesterday more outlets reported Ratzinger's 2001 letter to Bishops and his mismanagement of Priest Pedophilia crimes when as Cardinal Ratzinger he ran the CDF for 23 years. Thanks to Joey Piscitelli and Melanie Sakoda, activists in San Francisco, the story got on local radio and then on AlterNet, in a blog from New Mexico, then onto a story in the Guardian UK entitled "Pope Obstructed Sex Abuse Inquiry."
In Colorado the headline reads: "Pope, under fire for asking Bishops to keep sex cases secret" and it is dated March 13th. I guess they figure things out early in Colorado Springs, home of the main U.S. Air Force military command.
First, from a transcript of the KCBS radio report from San Francisco yesterday:
*******************
The pope, meanwhile, continues to be under fire for a 2001 Vatican letter they sent to all Bishops advising them that all cases of sexual abuse of minors must be forwarded to his then-office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
****
The cases were to be subject to Pontificale secret ....Source: Gazette.com
.... Pope Benedict XVI faced claims last night he had 'obstructed justice' after it emerged he issued an order Ensuring the church's investigations into child sex abuse claims be carried out in secret. The order was made in a confidential letter, Obtained by The Observer, which was sent to every Catholic bishop in May 2001.
It asserted the church's right to hold its inquiries behind closed doors and keep the evidence confidential for up to 10 years after the victims reached Adulthood. The letter was signed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who was elected as John Paul II's successor last week.
Lawyers acting for abuse victims claim it was designed To prevent the allegations from becoming public knowledge or being investigated by the police. They Accuse Ratzinger of committing a 'clear obstruction of justice. "
The letter, 'concerning very grave sins', was sent from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican office that once presided over the Inquisition and was over F by Ratzinger.
Spells it out to Bishops the Church's position on a number of matters ranging from celebrating the eucharist with a non-Catholic Thurs sexual abuse by a Cleric 'with a minor below the age of 18 years'. Ratzinger's letter states that the church can claim jurisdiction in cases where abuse has been 'perpetrated with a minor by a Cleric' ...
ANOTHER SOURCE: ..guardian.co.uk
**************
Then to make things more out of Vatican PR control, the story about the letters and the KCBS San Francisco Report showed up on AlterNet on Soapbox, not by me, but by a different blogger who is a "School Counselor and a Mental Health Counselor in Gallup, New Mexico."
His blog is what I saw this morning and Had to Link Up and hope everyone else who reads this then links up too. (If you can get the radical HTML to work.)
There has been a concerted effort to keep this information out of the news about the 2001 letter and Ratz's running of the CDF for 20 years before becoming pope.
And they would have succeeded.
If corporations ran the media the way they do now and there was no internet, these dweebs would have gotten away with hiding most of the information about the Pope's involvement.
Thanks to the Internet, and individuals who can not keep silent, the truth will still get out.
It was a New Mexico blogger this time, not Jay Nelson, not me, but someone with no agenda, just a human being getting out news that needs to be reported.
****
SOMETIHNG HAPPENED TO THE HTML on this story, I am trying to fix it, but it keeps breaking again. It keeps inserting words I did not write and then messing with the links. I'm still working on it ...
...
It's driving me crazy still an hour later. It keeps changing words and when I make a correction, the mistake I corrected a half hour ago comes back.
WHat the FU--???
.
Never give up
.
Link to Original Blog on AlterNet that sparked this post:
http://blogs.alternet.org/grantlawrence/2010/03/20/a-pontifical-secret-ratzingers-2001-letter-ordered-bishops-to-be-quiet-on-sex-abuse/
Above is one of many links I recovered from the HTML attack, or whatever that was this AM here. Sorry if some of the links got lost in the reconstruction of the post...
It's Sunday I'm outta here
.
Whoops one more, as this got removed during the HTML attack, I am putting it back in. I wrote last week at City of Angels 2 about the Vatican attempts to stifle news about the CDF and the 2001 letter here:
Friday, March 19, 2010
2 Journalists on their own try to get out whole story of Pope collusion and coverup of pedophile priest crimes
So it was just me and Jay Nelson, trying to get our small unfinanced voices into the news, last weekend, releasing the part of the story where the Pope was involved in collusion and coverup of pedophile priest crimes since at least the turn of the century.SNAP ignored the CDF in its 30-plus press events last weekend.
In spite of a concerted international effort to spin the news in other directions by the Vatican, the story of Ratzinger-Benedict's full involvement in Church Handling of Priest Pedophilia Crimes is getting into the news.
In one item cited here, the SF radio reporter credits "SNAP, founded in 2002" for getting out the information, even though SNAP left the CDF information off press statements they handed out at thirty-plus events they held across the country last weekend about the Pope.
As these reports are coming out, the executives who run SNAP are in transit to Europe to do what they do there ...
Yesterday more outlets reported Ratzinger's 2001 letter to Bishops and his mismanagement of Priest Pedophilia crimes when as Cardinal Ratzinger he ran the CDF for 23 years. Thanks to Joey Piscitelli and Melanie Sakoda, activists in San Francisco, the story got on local radio and then on AlterNet, in a blog from New Mexico, then onto a story in the Guardian UK entitled "Pope Obstructed Sex Abuse Inquiry."
In Colorado the headline reads: "Pope, under fire for asking Bishops to keep sex cases secret" and it is dated March 13th. I guess they figure things out early in Colorado Springs, home of the main U.S. Air Force military command.
First, from a transcript of the KCBS radio report from San Francisco yesterday:
*******************
The pope, meanwhile, continues to be under fire for a 2001 Vatican letter they sent to all Bishops advising them that all cases of sexual abuse of minors must be forwarded to his then-office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
****
The cases were to be subject to Pontificale secret ....Source: Gazette.com
.... Pope Benedict XVI faced claims last night he had 'obstructed justice' after it emerged he issued an order Ensuring the church's investigations into child sex abuse claims be carried out in secret. The order was made in a confidential letter, Obtained by The Observer, which was sent to every Catholic bishop in May 2001.
It asserted the church's right to hold its inquiries behind closed doors and keep the evidence confidential for up to 10 years after the victims reached Adulthood. The letter was signed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who was elected as John Paul II's successor last week.
Lawyers acting for abuse victims claim it was designed To prevent the allegations from becoming public knowledge or being investigated by the police. They Accuse Ratzinger of committing a 'clear obstruction of justice. "
The letter, 'concerning very grave sins', was sent from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican office that once presided over the Inquisition and was over F by Ratzinger.
Spells it out to Bishops the Church's position on a number of matters ranging from celebrating the eucharist with a non-Catholic Thurs sexual abuse by a Cleric 'with a minor below the age of 18 years'. Ratzinger's letter states that the church can claim jurisdiction in cases where abuse has been 'perpetrated with a minor by a Cleric' ...
ANOTHER SOURCE: ..guardian.co.uk
**************
Then to make things more out of Vatican PR control, the story about the letters and the KCBS San Francisco Report showed up on AlterNet on Soapbox, not by me, but by a different blogger who is a "School Counselor and a Mental Health Counselor in Gallup, New Mexico."
His blog is what I saw this morning and Had to Link Up and hope everyone else who reads this then links up too. (If you can get the radical HTML to work.)
There has been a concerted effort to keep this information out of the news about the 2001 letter and Ratz's running of the CDF for 20 years before becoming pope.
And they would have succeeded.
If corporations ran the media the way they do now and there was no internet, these dweebs would have gotten away with hiding most of the information about the Pope's involvement.
Thanks to the Internet, and individuals who can not keep silent, the truth will still get out.
It was a New Mexico blogger this time, not Jay Nelson, not me, but someone with no agenda, just a human being getting out news that needs to be reported.
****
SOMETIHNG HAPPENED TO THE HTML on this story, I am trying to fix it, but it keeps breaking again. It keeps inserting words I did not write and then messing with the links. I'm still working on it ...
...
It's driving me crazy still an hour later. It keeps changing words and when I make a correction, the mistake I corrected a half hour ago comes back.
WHat the FU--???
.
Never give up
.
Link to Original Blog on AlterNet that sparked this post:
http://blogs.alternet.org/grantlawrence/2010/03/20/a-pontifical-secret-ratzingers-2001-letter-ordered-bishops-to-be-quiet-on-sex-abuse/
Above is one of many links I recovered from the HTML attack, or whatever that was this AM here. Sorry if some of the links got lost in the reconstruction of the post...
It's Sunday I'm outta here
.
Whoops one more, as this got removed during the HTML attack, I am putting it back in. I wrote last week at City of Angels 2 about the Vatican attempts to stifle news about the CDF and the 2001 letter here:
Friday, March 19, 2010
2 Journalists on their own try to get out whole story of Pope collusion and coverup of pedophile priest crimes
So it was just me and Jay Nelson, trying to get our small unfinanced voices into the news, last weekend, releasing the part of the story where the Pope was involved in collusion and coverup of pedophile priest crimes since at least the turn of the century.SNAP ignored the CDF in its 30-plus press events last weekend.