It’s too easy to forget that many memories are magic and that a entire lifetime of love can come from something as simple as a Santa Ana neighborhood. This morning, my dad and I went to the funeral of Larkin Bean. He’s the kid in the brown shirt smack in the middle of the front…Continue reading Larkin’s Gift
In July, I blogged about how institutions should not be in the child sex abuse investigation business. Little did I know that the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis would prove me right so quickly. Here’s a recap from what we learned yesterday from Minnesota Public Radio (emphasis mine): Archbishop John Nienstedt was in the middle…Continue reading St. Paul/Minn Archbishop loves to talk about child porn, hates to report it
California Governor Jerry Brown has until Sunday, October 13 to sign or veto SB 131, The California Child Victims’ Act. If he does nothing, the bill will be enacted as written. In the meantime, victims wait. Here is why the bill’s opponents are scared: Minnesota enacted a THREE-YEAR civil window earlier this year and the revelations…Continue reading Jerry Brown should look to MN to see import of Child Victims Act
Here is the latest on SB 131: Governor Brown has until October 13 (a previous blog post said October 10) to sign the bill, veto the bill, or do nothing. If he signs the bill or does nothing, SB 131 becomes law. As written, the law would go into effect on January 1, 2014. If…Continue reading So … what’s going on with SB 131?
My inbox fills up this time every year with emails from panicked parents who write and ask me if their school is a safe place for their kids. Sometimes, I can give parents a history of accused or arrested predators who have worked or volunteered at a particular campus, but that usually doesn’t tell the…Continue reading QUIZ: How safe is your child’s school?
Your Holiness: I was a nobody. A lost sheep – a victim of sex abuse in the Catholic church who was “thrown away” by the priests and bureaucrats in the Diocese of Orange, California. I was disposable. But unlike the parable, no shepherd came to look to me. Alone and isolated from my community, my…Continue reading An Open Letter to Pope Francis
It’s Thursday night and you are probably thinking, “I’m watching Thursday Night Football. There is nothing possible I can do to help convince California Governor Jerry Brown to sign SB 131, the California Child Victims’ Act.” Fortunately, you are WRONG! You can help RIGHT NOW. And we need you. Here is what you can do:…Continue reading SB 131 Needs Your Voice NOW!
**Update – Thursday, September 19** I just heard that Gallup Bishop James Wall and priest Fr. Alfred Tachias DID sit for depositions with victims’ attorneys yesterday. Hopefully, Wall broke with tradition and was open and forthright, turning over files, naming names and outing abusers. (A girl can dream, right?) The “explosive news” potential for Fr.…Continue reading **Gallup, New Mexico Update** Bishop James Wall sits for Deposition with victims’ attorneys** A Tuesday Round-up
Msgr. John Urell is back in the headlines again, this time featured in the latest document dump by religious orders in the Los Angeles Archdiocese. From Gustavo Arellano at the OC Weekly: At the end of the 121-page report is the memo, detailing a conversation that a Vicentian Fathers and Brothers investigator had with Urell…Continue reading John Urell and the ol’ “Forgiveness vs. Accountability” argument
Hawaii’s state deputy attorney general determined that a $1.5 million grant intended for Damien Memorial School is unconstitutional. According to the Honolulu Civil Beat: Deputy Attorney General Randall Nishiyama’s memo, dated Sept. 3, 2013, notifies Mercado Kim that the grant for Kalihi’s Damien Memorial School violates a provision in Hawaii’s constitution prohibiting the state from contributing public money to…Continue reading Damien grant unconstitutional, says Hawaii AG
SB 131 – the Child Victims’ Act – has become the “little bill that could.” Despite great odds and millions of dollars spent on lobbying to kill the bill (by Roman Catholic and USA Swimming officials), SB 131 passed the senate floor vote 21-8 and is heading to Governor Jerry Brown’s desk. There is talk…Continue reading SB 131 Passes Senate Floor – Now On To The Governor
Senate Bill 131 – The California Child Victims’ Act – just passed an Assembly floor vote, 42-14. The bill give victims of child sexual abuse a one-year window to come forward and use the civil court system to get justice and accountability. It is also a huge step forward for ALL victims of abuse—the more…Continue reading California Child Victims’ Act Passes Assembly Floor Vote
In response to the announcement today that the Gallup Diocese would be seeking bankruptcy protection, Patrick Wall (no relation to Gallup Bishop James Wall) put together this list of 24 Gallup clerics who are probably making Bishop James Wall and his lawyers very, very scared. Even without a ton of detail, the list is gag-inducing. It’s…Continue reading Gallup’s Double Dirty Dozen
Over the weekend, we learned that Damien Memorial School officials lied on a grant application that resulted in a $1.5 million award to the school from the State of Hawaii for “capital improvements.” Here is a quick recap: School officials conveniently “forgot” to mention that at the time the application was filed in January, the…Continue reading What did Damien’s board of directors know?
Citing mounting child sex abuse civil cases, the Diocese of Gallup announced over the weekend that it will be filing bankruptcy. And it’s not going to be pretty. Don’t know much about Gallup? Here’s a primer on the sex abuse and cover-up crisis in the Southwest diocese. The Diocese of Gallup “includes parishes in six…Continue reading A Gallup Primer
The Diocese of Gallup, which owns parishes and employs priests in both New Mexico and Arizona, has said that it will declare bankruptcy to avoid embarrassing civil child sex abuse and cover-up trials. Published in The Gallup Independent, Gallup, NM, Sept. 3, 2013 (the paper does not publish stories online): Diocese of Gallup to file bankruptcy…Continue reading Diocese of Gallup to declare bankruptcy
Here’s a simple question: If you have a phone and know about evidence of child sex crimes, you call police, right? Doesn’t sound hard does it? Well, unless you’re one of Missouri’s two most influential Catholic bishops … Example one: “Just Say No to Reporting” Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn In 2010, a Catholic school principal…Continue reading Jesus would fire them
What do you do when your umbrella organization files for bankruptcy (to avoid costly sex abuse civil trials); ten of your former teachers are exposed as perpetrators; and at least 15 former students come forward to say they were sexually abused by your teachers and brothers? Swindle the state of Hawaii out of $1.5 million,…Continue reading Damien Memorial Fudges Grant Application, Swindles $1.5 Million from State
Because when you spend big $$ to fight child safety legislation in another state, you begin to look a little guilty … USA Swimming has been forced to commission an independent review of its SafeSport program, after critics charged that coaches were not screened, abuse was rampant, and whistleblowers were punished for reporting. Latest reports…Continue reading Congress asking q’s about dirty pool at USA Swimming
SB 131 – The California Child Victims’ Act – is scheduled for a floor vote in the Assembly soon. And the Archdiocese of LA is pulling out all of the stops. The Archdiocese, in its attempt to defeat the bill, has created a website that allows ordinary folks to send mass emails to legislators. They hope…Continue reading As SB131 heads to Assembly floor, LA Archdiocese spins and presses