The Worthy Adversary

Author: Joelle Casteix

  • What about the wives?

    Yesterday’s big settlement announcement raised a question for me: What about the wives?

    One of the perpetrators who was a part of the settlement, Michael Nocita, has now been sued by four different women for sexual abuse. He was removed from ministry and laicized. The Archdiocese has paid out big money to his victims.

    It’s also been reported that he is married.

    Michael Nocita: Four victims, one wife
    Michael Nocita: Four victims, one wife

    Anton Smario, a former brother who admitted that he was often nude in front of young girls in the Native Alaskan villages where he taught religion classes, remained married after he was exposed in lawsuits and admitted his actions.

    Thomas Hodgman—the man who admitted to abusing me and at least two other girls—is married with children. He also still hangs out on busses with girls (albeit not minor girls. This time).

    I can’t help but wonder: What do the wives think? Do they not take their husband’s crimes seriously because the victims were girls?

    “Straw men” would say that these women may believe that they are married “for better or for worse.” I tend to think that even the Pope would bless the divorce of any woman who discovered she was married to a child molester.

    But there are other things to think about: if these women have children, how can they—in good conscience—allow those children to have friends over to the house? How can they be sure that their husbands are not still abusing?

    It makes the prevention imperative even more important.

     

  • Victims Settle With LA Archdiocese for $13 Million

    This just arrived in my inbox

     

    Nicolas Aguilar Rivera
    Nicolas Aguilar Rivera

    Media Advisory

    February 18, 2014

     

    Sexual Abuse Survivors Settle with Los Angeles Archdiocese

    Archdiocese used therapy scam to defraud victims of civil rights

    Cardinal, Bishop thwarted police, helped criminal priest escape US

     

    What:  At a news conference Wednesday sexual abuse survivors and their attorneys, Anthony DeMarco and Jeff Anderson will:

    • Announce a landmark, $13m settlement on behalf of 17 survivors who were sexually abused by five different perpetrators in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, including Fr. Nicolas Aguilar Rivera.
    • Discuss how the Archdiocese paid for survivor’s therapy but did not inform survivors of their legal rights to sue, as required by law. 
    • Demonstrate and discuss how an international conspiracy between Cardinal Roger Mahony and a Mexican bishop allowed a child-raping priest to be dumped in LA’s Spanish-speaking neighborhoods and how Cardinal Mahony and Bishop Thomas Curry defrauded survivors by misleading the police in the case of Fr. Nicolas Aguilar Rivera.
    • Play excerpts from Cardinal Mahony’s video deposition taken in 2013 where he claims he and his deputies “did nothing wrong” in handling cases of child sexual abuse. Copies of the sworn testimony excerpts will be available for press.

    WHEN:  Wednesday February 19, 2014 at 11:00 AM PST

    WHERE:  Westin Bonaventure Hotel – Palos Verde Room

    404 S. Figueroa Street

    Los Angeles, CA 90071

    WHO:  Attorneys Jeff Anderson and Anthony DeMarco along with several sexual abuse survivors, including survivors abused by the five perpetrators named in this settlement.

    • Documents and additional information will be posted to our website www.abusedinsocal.com under “Case Resources.”
    • Spanish speaking interpreters will be available.

  • Prevent abuse: Go with your gut

    A big question I get from parents is: How can I keep my child safe?

    While I have a book on the subject coming out soon, there is one thing we can all do right now to make our kids safer:

    Go with your gut.

    If you are in a situation and things seem odd, they probably are. If you have to be talked into taking yourself or your child places that make you feel “hinky” or uncomfortable, go with that gut feeling that tells you to stay away. Never rationalize yourself or your child into danger.

    As the commercials say: Most of your immune system lives in your gut. When it tries to tell you something, listen.

    Maybe it’s trying to protect you from more than germs.

  • The victims’ movement doesn’t discriminate

    Bishops are very quick divert attention from their role in the cover-up of sex abuse by pointing fingers at public schools, where there is another, very real child sex abuse crisis.

    But why haven’t the bishops helped to publicly fund or support any legislation that helps victims in public schools? Why haven’t they spoken out against the unions, who have put millions of dollars into defeating legislation that would protect children in public schools?

    And why do they try and divide the victims’ movement by pitting survivors against each other?

    It’s simple: they don’t care about stopping abuse. It’s just lip service. They only care about silencing victims—all victims, no matter the abuser. The bishops will do everything to keep the lid on sex abuse in public schools, because once you start peeling the layers of the onion …

     

     

     

     

  • VOTF National Assembly – April 5, 2014

    Speakers will include John L. Allen, Jr., Associate Editor for Catholic news at The Boston Globe and founder of the Vatican beat for National Catholic Reporter, and Fr. Thomas Reese, NCR’s Senior Analyst and author of The Vatican: The Politics and Organization of the Catholic Church.

    I did an MSNBC interview with Reese last month and he is a great advocate for truth.

    The event will be at Connecticut Convention Center, Hartford, Connecticut. For more information and to register, click here.