The Worthy Adversary

How about a little spin to go with your files?

Written by

Joelle Casteix

in

Moments after a judge ordered a final halt to decades of secrecy by top LA archdiocesan officials, Archbishop Jose Gomez’ lawyer made this outlandish claim: 

Michael Hennigan said that after what he called an inevitable “media blitz” over the file release, he hoped the focus would shift to the church’s current well-regarded program for preventing abuse.

“You’ve written almost nothing about what has happened in the last 10 years,” he told reporters outside court. “The church is at the front edge of how to deal with these issues.”

Like keeping files secret for 5 years and allowing predator protectors to keep their jobs? Like fighting victims in civil court? Like accepting priests with criminal convictions? Is that the front edge he’s talking about?

Comments

2 responses to “How about a little spin to go with your files?”

  1. sealawr

    Thnak you again for all your hard work.

    Reply
  2. James F Moran

    As a priest as well as being a victim of clergy sexual abuse the actions of Bishop Gomez are too little, and too late.

    When I experienced my flashback in the fall of 2001 I was totally unaware of what was brewing in Boston. While I am a Boston priest, I had served in the USN as a chaplain and had retired in 1997. I chose NOT to return to Boston — I did not know exactly why, but I knew I was not comfortable there. What kept me from returning was the slow realization that I had been raped.

    The theology training I had received in the seminary has me “intimately” associated with the hierarchy. Theologically I am an “extension of” the bishop (or apostle.) In essence I am one of them in that I represent all that they say and do. After my flashback I went into counseling. I struggled to remain in ministry but it was becoming harder and harder. Each day that I read about Mahony’s antics in the courtroom trying to evade the release of information or documents pushed me into a corner. I could no longer represent the bishops. I could no longer be a part of their conspiracy, their deception, their cruelty.

    In November 2005 I contacted the Archdiocese of Boston and requested “retirement.” I flew to Boston to meet with Bishop Lennon and within fifteen minutes was granted medical leave. I never did hear from O’Malley. I thought, surely, a priest struggling with remaining in active ministry would be worth a few minutes of his time – but that did not happen. I was scheduled to leave my assignment as chaplain at the Washington Hospital Center on 1 June 2006. On Tuesday of Holy Week I made the announcement at noon Mass in the chapel, and I explained “why” I would be leaving. Within hours I was reported to the Diocese of Washington and I was IMMEDIATELY relieved of my faculties.

    And so, thanks to the likes of Mahony, George, Todd, Brown and all the others, I languish outside of Ministry that I so enjoyed. As I said earlier, this “banishment” of Mahony is too little, too late.

    Reply

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