From my SNAP statement: Today, the Diocese of Orange has announced the retirement of Orange County, California Bishop Tod D. Brown. We will learn the name of his successor tomorrow. The author and Tod Brown at the press conference announcing the Diocese’s $100 million settlement with 97 victims of child sex abuse Simply put: we…Continue reading A Rotten Legacy Ends – Bishop Tod Brown Retires
What we know is bad. What we don’t know is scary. Last week, family members of Matthew Carrigan gathered outside of Corpus Christi Parish in Aliso Viejo to warn parishioners about Fr. Tim Ramaekers. According to a lawsuit filed by Carrigan, Ramaekers allegedly molested Carrigan when he was a young student at St. Justin Martyr…Continue reading The Troubling Case of Timothy Ramaekers
On a lark, I looked up the Wikipedia entry for Orange County Bishop Tod Brown. I was inspired after I saw that Bishop Accountability had just completed a newer edition of Brown’s assignment history. Bishop Accountability included details of the sex abuse allegation against Brown, as well as the fact that Brown had refused to disclose…Continue reading Wikipedia or PR? You be the judge
After years of litigation and on the eve of what was going to be a blockbuster trial, the Diocese of Orange has settled its most recent case against notorious former priest and Mater Dei/Santa Margarita High School principal Michael Harris for $2 million. The victim is a decorated Air Force pilot. He risked a…Continue reading Breaking: Michael Harris case settles for $2 million
The Michael Harris trial is scheduled to begin on Monday, June 18 at 9am. Barring any last-minute settlements, you’ll see me at Dept. CX103, Orange County Supreme Court. It should be a barn burner. Get ready to see some diocese dirty laundry. Even Bishop Tod Brown concedes Harris is a monster. The victim is an active…Continue reading Michael Harris trial is a go …
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
If you are in the Sacramento area, I hope you can join us. I think that Sacramento Bishop Jaime Soto has said, “Report abuse to the Diocese,” so many times, that he thinks it’s the right thing to do. (P.S. Even the Pope says to call the cops first) For immediate release: June 6,…Continue reading Bishop Jaime Soto has some explaining to do about Uriel Ojeda
A sex abuse and cover-up lawsuit against former priest Msgr. Michael Harris, Mater Dei High School and the Diocese of Orange is slated to go to trial in Orange County Superior Court on June 18. Harris, the former principal of Mater Dei and Santa Margarita High Schools, has been smack in the center of the clergy sex…Continue reading Notorious former OC priest Michael Harris headed to court on more abuse charges
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
Serve on a Diocese lay review board, and you can go to jail. Or at least that’s what Kansas City-St. Joseph Bishop Robert Finn says. Bishop Finn and the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph are each being charged with one misdemeanor of failure to report suspected child abuse. The charges stem from the case of…Continue reading Another Lay Review Board Thrown Under The Bus …
Woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation (Luke 6:24–26) The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, one of the main organizations for whom I volunteer my advocacy efforts (and to whom I donate), has recently been under siege in Missouri. Catholic bishops there (under the direction of…Continue reading Putting the “Bully” in the religious Bully Pulpit
UPDATED JANUARY 27, 2012 – Today, the Orange County District Attorney’s office charged Richard Aldana with seven felony counts of lewd acts on a child. Good news, indeed. Original post: International human rights groups cry foul when rape victims are stoned, imprisoned or forced to marry their rapists. But in sunny California, the news…Continue reading **UPDATED** It is NEVER Okay To Defame A 14-Year-Old Crime Victim