No one—I repeat: NO ONE— wants to get in front of television cameras and say that they were sexually abused. But when someone does, and does it in an eloquent, emotional and powerful way, that person changes the world. Case in point: Jessica Bohman Jessica Prater Bohman, age 6 five According to Bohman, her family members,…Continue reading A Recipe for Child Protection: Add One Part Hero
NEWS EVENT: New sex abuse and cover-up lawsuit filed against Bakersfield church Youth minister admitted to molesting girls Yet church officials refused to report crimes to police To keep victim quiet, they told family “get church counseling” Group says “Come forward, report abuse, get help & call police” What: Holding signs and…Continue reading New Allegations of Abuse Against Bakersfield Foursquare Church
Talking to your teen about sexual abuse? Don’t worry. Just take a deep breath and keep reading. If your kids are younger, start here. Usually, teen victims will reach out to their peers—friends who have no training, few skills and lack the maturity to properly report the abuse to the cops and get the…Continue reading Talking to teens about abuse? Check your panic at the door
Interested in figuring out the Vatican Bank Scandal? Jason Berry’s Render Unto Rome is available for the Kindle. If you prefer, here is the Old School hardback. Don’t forget: the Pope’s butler has been criminally charged in the Vatican court for leaking documents. Who knows what he knows?
“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
The first lawsuit under Hawaii’s landmark civil window was filed yesterday in Hawaii Circuit Court. The lawsuit (posted here) charges that Fr. Gerald Funcheon sexually abused a 13-year-old boy at Damien Memorial School in 1983/1984 during an overnight retreat on the eastern shore of Oahu. Considering Funcheon’s history (you can read some of the documents here), we…Continue reading **UPDATED**FIRST HAWAII LAWSUIT FILED** Gerald Funcheon: A missing priest appears ….
Things are looking uglier and uglier for the Irish Christian Brothers at Damien Memorial High School in Honolulu. To date, we have found five known perpetrators who worked at the school, had direct access to students, and abused. There are the three we discovered in January: Fr. Gerald Funcheon, Br. Robert Brouillette, and Br. Thomas Ford, And…Continue reading I don’t think this is what Fr. Damien had in mind …
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 …
The jury came in with a unanimous verdict for Michael Kelly’s victim. If a jury can determine that in less than two hours, why did the Diocese of Stockton allow him to keep working with kids? For years?
Bishop Robert Finn will be the highest ranking official tried in the criminal courts for covering up/failure to report child sex abuse.
Why, oh why, does the Catholic Church continue to bestow honors and awards on tragically flawed wrong-doers? Disgraced Former Philadelphia Cardinal Justin Rigali Trial watchers in Philadelphia have been treated to a firsthand view of vile and disgusting human behavior. What makes it worse is that the evildoers are priests and the victims are children. The…Continue reading Honoring the tragically flawed is tragically flawed
Sometimes, I get to be a part of something beautiful. You should come see us (when we are actually wearing make-up and concert dress).
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 …
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
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
If you care about clergy sex abuse victims, you should read this. If you think that the Catholic Church is doing everything right in the scandal, you must read this. And then you must read it again. Thousands of pages of child sex abuse and cover-up documents are now public in the Wilmington Delaware Diocese…Continue reading Consider this your homework