From today’s Los Angeles Times: “We have already selected the documents that are going to be released, gone through a process of redacting innocent names and we need a court order” signing off on the release of the documents, (LA Archdiocese Attorney J. Michael) Hennigan said. (emphasis mine) Innocent names? If they truly cared about the…Continue reading LA Clergy Documents: Tell me, what does “innocent” mean, Mr. Hennigan?
This weekend marks the five-year anniversary of the 2007 Los Angeles Archdiocese’s $660 million settlement with more than 500 victims of child sexual abuse by priests, religious, employees and volunteers. While the financial settlement has allowed many Los Angeles victims to get therapy, healing and a sense of justice, the real reason many of these victims…Continue reading A Bittersweet Anniversary
I mean, c’mon. Fr. Davila pled GUILTY. He wouldn’t pass the diocese background check, yet he’s in a parish: Bishops Robert Brom and Cirillo Flores say that they have addressed all of the pastoral concerns. Really? How about the concerns of the victim? ************************************ For immediate release: Tuesday, June 12 For more information: David Clohessy…Continue reading Call me crazy, but priests who admit to sexually assaulting ANYONE need to find a new job …
Victims? We don’t care about no stinkin’ victims! San Diego, California: Fr. Jose Alexis Davila was arrested in January 2012 and pled guilty in April for battery and “unlawful touching of an intimate part of a victim’s body.” He is serving three years’ probation. Parishioners tried to accost the victim’s mother at prayer group in an…Continue reading Cue Angry Mob
Documents recently exposed in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee showed that NY Cardinal Timothy Dolan paid predator priests $20,000 to quietly leave the priesthood. Yeah, really. The response from Dolan? Cue the crickets. But that doesn’t mean that Dolan’s apologists have also clammed up. In fact, they have been very loud in defending Dolan, saying,…Continue reading Dissecting Dolan’s Apologists
“A bishop. A priest. A woman. A boy.” My friend Steve Julian‘s play Altarcations will debut in June at the 2012 Hollywood Fringe Festival. I met Steve (whom some of you may recognize as the morning host of KPCC‘s Morning Edition) after I “outed” one of his former high school teachers as an admitted perpetrator…Continue reading Altarcations debuts at the Hollywood Fringe Festival
Oliver O’Grady is like a cockroach: He will never, never, ever go away. A new Oliver O’Grady victim has come forward and filed a lawsuit against the notorious predator and the Diocese of Stockton. SNAP will have a press conference tomorrow to release details. On the heels of the Michael Kelly verdict, this is very,…Continue reading More Trouble for Stockton: Oliver O’Grady Re-emerges
Earlier this year in Kansas City, SNAP’s David Clohessy was ordered to give a six-hour deposition in a child sex abuse lawsuit. Neither SNAP nor David himself were a party or even knew the victim. Critics piled on Clohessy, calling him evasive and a con-artist. In the end, the deposition has nothing to do with…Continue reading Disconnect, Pt 2: Subpoenas are for the little people
From today’s Stockton Record: From left, Bishop Stephen Blaire, consultant Michael Heenan and Monsignor Richard J. Ryan walk down a hallway inside the San Joaquin County Courthouse on Tuesday morning, when jurors in Michael Kelly’s trial were sent home for the day. (emphasis mine) Consultant? As a PR person myself, I don’t fault Heenan for…Continue reading Do I detect a disconnect?
…that he skipped the country, just to make sure that the cops never find him. I hope his supporters (like the ones who tried to tamper with the jury) finally realized that he just flipped them the bird.
I am a huge fan of the US justice system. After more than 200 years, our impartial courts have “gotten it right” a vast majority of the time. It’s not perfect, but it’s the best in the world. Here’s a great example: Last week, a jury unanimously found that Fr. Michael Kelly was liable for abusing…Continue reading Most of the time – but not every time – our courts get it right …
Sometimes, the most profound statements at a press conference come from the reporters, not us. Today, my friend and colleague Ken Smolka and I were in front of Cantwell Sacred Heart of Mary High School in Montebello, California. We were there because the Irish Chrisitian Brothers, the religious order that ran Cantwell High School,…Continue reading Clarity at Cantwell High School