We must demand more from Archbishop Chaput – more transparency, more support for legislative change, and more accountability. While many Philadelphia Catholic pundits are cheering the recent appointment of Denver Archbishop Chaput to replace Cardinal Rigali, victims remain rightfully wary. We’ve seen first hand how easy it is for church officials replace a priest, vicar general,…Continue reading A Rigali in Chaput’s Clothing
Sorry I haven’t been blogging much lately. The story of Fr. Fernando Lopez-Lopez (the priest who was convicted of child sex abuse BEFORE coming to Los Angeles in 2001) has been eating up my writing time. We found out that the Archdiocese of Los Angeles does not and has no intention of ever doing background…Continue reading Dan Rather Reports and Fr. Lopez-Lopez
This just in from the producers at Dan Rather Reports: Could this Archdiocese of Los Angeles have prevented teens from being subjected to abuse by this predator priest? Tuesday, June 28 at 8:00 p.m. ET DALLAS (June 27, 2011) –Tomorrow night, “Dan Rather Reports” uncovers the dark and disturbing past of a priest who joined…Continue reading “DAN RATHER REPORTS” UNCOVERS NEW EVIDENCE THAT A PRIEST JOINED L.A. ARCHDIOCESE DESPITE HIS TROUBLING PAST
A great piece of the horrible career of Fr. Clement Hageman. From KNAU, Flagstaff – Listen here
Read my latest post on Technorati here. Being a parent can be downright scary. With a 24-hour news cycle and the media’s love of the scare tactic (“To Catch a Predator,” anyone?), we are constantly bombarded with messages of fear and helplessness when it comes to the safety of our kids. When I present to…Continue reading Four Ways To Protect Your Preschooler
JMM5C5GQXCCV
Last week in Kansas City-St. Joseph, the diocese lay review board was called to meet by the bishop to “discuss” recent events involving the sexual abuse of children. Too bad the board got wind of things a few years too late. For those of you who don’t know, Fr. Sean Ratigan was arrested in late…Continue reading The Puppet Show: The Utter Failure of Diocese Lay Review Boards
I have built up a pretty thick skin towards institutional misogyny. Growing up Catholic, I was carefully conditioned to accept my lot: I could never be an altar boy; girls were seductive; boys were smarter; positions of power were always held by men; Eve’s sin is my burden; my rolled uniform skirt is the reason…Continue reading Why Do We Hate Our Girls?
or: The amazingly well-written, life-changing, relevant, engaging, exciting and immensely readable book proposal that the New York publishing machine determined that no one wanted to read. There was a study published recently showing that rejection (romantic or otherwise) causes physical pain. I wholeheartedly agree. Why? Last week, after a five-month sales push by my big-time…Continue reading The Orphan
Here’s a parenting question: Do you know what we can do right now to empower our kids, help prevent sexual abuse, hinder bullies, put criminals behind bars and foster corporate and organizational transparency? The Answer: We have to stop punishing our tattletales. A Little Background I spend most of my afternoons watching the neighborhood kids…Continue reading A Parenting Revelation: It’s Time To Stop Punishing Tattletales
I don’t really like talking politics. But today, it’s all about politics. Roll Call reported last week that Nancy Pelosi and John Boehner had agreed upon a new House Chaplain: a Jesuit priest from the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus (Oregon Jesuits), Fr. Patrick Conroy. Victims were outraged. Why? In March, the Oregon…Continue reading The Plague on Both Your Houses, Boehner and Pelosi
The California Bishops Conference thought “it” was all over in 2007 … The Golden State, chiefly forgotten since the 2007 $660 million settlement against the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, has been overshadowed lately by a devastating grand jury report in Philadelphia, large civil child sex abuse settlements in Delaware and the Pacific Northwest, and the…Continue reading The California Clergy Sex Abuse Powder Keg
The American people don’t wax poetic about the career of Richard Nixon and ignore Watergate. And we can’t do the same thing here.
I am an almost-middle-aged, fishy-smelling minnow in a vast ocean of Channel-No. 5-scented, mega-talented sharks.
And really, that’s why I’m doing this. With anger, we get nowhere. But if we have smiles on our faces, we can change the world (or at least stop crying for a while).
A year of my life was dominated by a perfectionist’s life-and-death struggle with poop, poop prediction, and eventual poop containment. The result? Insanity.
Or: Lay review boards: Cover them in crap and keep them in the dark. Welcome to mushroom farming, Catholic style: the “lay review board.” What is a lay review board? Well, in the United States, reviews boards were installed in every diocese – as well as a national review board – by the US Conference of…Continue reading Worldwide Mushroom Farming
And it’s not just because I am quoted here by Adam Dodd.
I think of myself as a fiction writer and an opera singer FIRST, then an advocate. (Obviously, I’m not that good at the first two, but I think big); I love my soap opera (All My Children, FYI); I have raised complaining to an art form; Waiting tables was an awesome job; I am one…Continue reading A few things you may not know about me:
At the urging of several people, I finally decided to join Narcissism Nation and start a blog. And for the first time in my life, I am at a loss for words. I doubt my writer’s block will last for long – my mother didn’t call me “The Mouth” for nothing. The rules: I refuse…Continue reading Okay, okay …