The California Bishops Conference thought “it” was all over in 2007 …

The Golden State, chiefly forgotten since the 2007 $660 million settlement against the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, has been overshadowed lately by a devastating grand jury report in Philadelphia, large civil child sex abuse settlements in Delaware and the Pacific Northwest, and the international scandal sweeping Europe and Australia.  The thousands of pages of clergy sex abuse and cover-up documents that victims were promised as a part of the 2007 LA Archdiocese settlement have been languishing in legal limbo.

But slowly and quietly, the scandal in California is heating up again.  In the past few months alone, California courts have witnessed criminal convictions, on-going and upcoming civil sex abuse trials, and yes, the continued cover-up.

California is a clergy sex abuse powder keg ready to explode.

Unmonitored Predators Roaming Free

Last month, an Associated Press investigation, which started with a few of the legal documents available from the Los Angeles Archdiocese 2007 litigation, found:

…nearly 50 former priests and religious brothers from the LA archdiocese who live and work in 37 towns and cities across California, unsupervised by law enforcement or the church.

Another 15 are scattered in cities and towns from Montana to New York, while 80 more cannot be located despite an exhaustive search by attorneys representing those who have sued them for abuse.

But that is just the beginning.

Criminal Convictions – One South, One North

In the first two weeks of May 2011, two California priests were criminally convicted on charges of child sex abuse.  In San Bernardino (in Southern California’s Inland Empire), Fr. Alejandro (Alex) Castillo pled guilty to lewd conduct with a boy under 14.  The crimes took place in 2008.  The priest, who denied the allegations until the plea deal was announced, collected more than $20,000 from his friends and supporters to pay his bail in October 2010.  The “Coalition to Exonerate Fr. Alex” has been quiet since the plea agreement was reached. Sentencing is scheduled for June 2011.

Castillo had a long career in Los Angeles, Sacramento and San Bernardino.  Because he avoided a trial, Castillo’s past and any cover-up will remain secret unless other victims come forward or a civil suit is filed.

On May 5, 2011 in Northern California’s Monterey County, Fr. Antonio Cortes was sentenced to a year in jail for molesting a boy in 2009.  According to press reports, the Diocese of Monterey is paying the priest $2500/month in living expenses.

Northern California: Wine, Agriculture, and a Whole Lotta Cover-up

The Diocese of Monterey has other problems.  Fr. Edward Fitz-Henry, a priest originally from Ireland, has been accused of sexual abuse by two children, 20 years apart.   Police are investigating the second report.  The discrepancies begin with the accounts of what diocese officials knew about Fitz-Henry, when they knew it, and whether or not they did anything about it.  According to the church’s own reports, Fitz-Henry was sent to treatment for sex abusers after the first allegations surfaced, but the bishop allowed him to remain in ministry.  All the while, Monterey’s Bishop Garcia told parishioners that no priest credibly accused of abuse is allowed to work in the diocese. A civil suit has been filed.

In the Diocese of Stockton, Fr. Leo Suarez was removed from ministry in 2010 when he admitted in 2009 he had sexually abused a girl in 1991.  The diocese claims that they have no idea where Suarez is now and that he will not be allowed to work as a priest.

But just like Monterey, Stockton’s troubles are only starting.  A judge has ruled that there is enough evidence for a civil sex abuse trial to proceed against popular priest Fr. Michael Kelly and the Diocese.  Although there is enough evidence for a civil child sex abuse trial, Bishop Stephen Blaire thinks that there is not enough evidence to put the priest on leave.  Kelly is still the pastor of St. Joachim’s Parish in Lockeford.

A few miles away in Fresno, Fr. Eric Swearingen is still working as a priest, even after a jury found 9-3 that he had sexually abused a boy.   The victim said that he would settle for $1 if the diocese would simply remove Swearingen from the priesthood.  The trial ended in a mistrial, because jurors could not decide if the Diocese of Fresno was liable for Swearingen’s behavior. Bishop John Steinbock decided that the jury had it wrong and let the priest keep his job.   Steinbock passed away in 2010.

Head down south, and it doesn’t get any better.

Sun, Sand and Abuse in Southern California

In the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Martin O’Loghlen, a priest who admitted in the mid-1990s to sexually abusing a teenage girl and to being a sex addict, was only removed as a priest at Holy Name Parish and school in San Dimas when the New York Times called and asked questions.  The Times also found out that O’Loghlen served on the Sex Abuse Advisory Board for the Archdiocese while he was being sued for child sex abuse (a case that eventually settled) and after he had admitted the crimes.

The Archdiocese claimed ignorance and clerical errors, and “fired” the vicar for clergy. Unfortunately, their claims of ignorance don’t hold water: the Archdiocese had participated in the sex abuse lawsuit, the victim had been trying for years to get O’Loghlen removed, officials had full knowledge and documentation of the abuse and they even listed O’Loughen as an accused priest in their “Report to the People of God.”

In Orange County, civil child sex abuse trials are scheduled in July 2011 against Fr. Alexander Manville and admitted serial predator Fr. Gus Krumm, two Franciscan priests.  Krumm worked at Saints Simon and Jude Parish in the Diocese of Orange for 10 years, even though he had been implicated in a report about sexual abuse at St. Anthony Seminary in 1993. Orange Diocese officials kept Krumm in ministry for years after learning of a subsequent sex abuse settlement with one of Krumm’s victims.  Krumm later admitted the abuse.

The Franciscans fought all the way to the California Supreme Court to keep documents about their abusive clerics secret.  They lost.  Documents outlining the misdeeds of men such as Krumm, Manville and seven others, as well as the cover-up that ensued, should be available to the public later this year.

Former Orange County super-priest Michael Harris has two sex abuse trials scheduled for October 2011 and February 2012.  Harris, who was the long-standing principal at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana and the founding principal of Santa Margarita High School in South Orange County has been accused of abuse by more than ten kids.  Settlements against him have cost the Diocese of Orange and Archdiocese of Los Angeles somewhere around the neighborhood $10 million.

Civil sex abuse trials are also pending in Los Angeles against the Archdiocese and incarcerated priest predator Michael Baker (the priest who self-disclosed to Cardinal Mahony in 1986, and then went on to abuse until 2001).   Three sex abuse and cover-up cases against Baker and the Archdiocese and are scheduled to go to trial in June 2012, according to the victims’ attorneys.

A civil sex abuse and cover-up trial is also scheduled in July 2011 against the Archdiocese and Fr. Fernando Lopez Lopez, who began abusing kids in Los Angeles soon after his arrival from Italy in 2001.  He was arrested in 2004, convicted, and later deported.

Numerous cases are pending against Nicolas Aguilar-Rivera, a visiting Mexican priest who has been accused by at least 13 kids in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.  He fled the country after a warrant was issued for his arrest.  These cases are relevant internationally because the victims allege that Aguilar-Rivera was protected by a Mexican Cardinal and hidden in LA.

Did you get all of that?

Honorable Mentions

I did neglect some of the honorable mentions, like the two California priests – one deported and convicted in England (James Robinson) and one fighting deportation (Patrick McCabe).  Or Orange County Priest Luis Ramirez, who recently finished serving his sentence for a 2008 plea bargain for which Anaheim police and prosecutors wanted the priest a registered sex offender for life.

And let’s not forget the big one: we are still waiting for the Los Angeles Archdiocese 2007 secret personnel files … But that’s a story for another day.