Once again, innocent children pay the price because Bishop Stephen Blaire refused to do a simple background check on one of his priests. What is even more tragic about this case is that the arrested priest abused in a parish that–not so long ago–was savaged by the crimes of Oliver O’Grady.
Unfortunately, the case of visiting priest Rev. Julio Guarin-Sosa is not unique. California’s bishops have a habit of accepting foreign priests with little to no investigation of their backgrounds. In Los Angeles, Cardinal Roger Mahony accepted two foreign priests–Fernando Lopez Lopez and Nicolas Aguilar-Rivera–with nothing more than a letter of recommendation from their bishops. Had Mahony done any investigation, he would have learned that Lopez Lopez had been convicted of “violent sexual abuse on a minor” in Italy. A few years earlier, Mahony was told that Aguilar Rivera had “homosexual problems” with youths, but accepted him anyway.
How many more of Stockton’s children will be sacrificed because of the lack of due diligence and care on the part of diocese officials? How many more children will be put at risk before Bishop Blaire adheres to his own promises of child protection and transparency?
No one can predict abuse. But it’s easy to prevent. Apparently, Bishop Blaire doesn’t seem to think that child safety is worth the extra effort.
Current priest, Diocese of Honolulu accused of child sex crimes
Two ex-Damien students expose him in abuse lawsuit
Bishop Silva has known about allegations since last August
Despite ‘zero tolerance,” bishop refuses to remove predator
Bishop Silva must oust priest, warn parishioners, group says
Predator is “ticking time bomb” for abuse, they claim
What:
Holding signs and/or photos of themselves when they were abused, child sex abuse victims and their supporters will announce that a long-time Catholic priest and the Diocese of Honolulu have been named in a sex abuse and cover-up lawsuit. The lawsuit says that Fr. George DeCosta:
Sexually abused two boys while at Damien Memorial School, and
Continues to live and act as a priest on the Big Island.
They will also ask Honolulu Bishop Clarence Silva to:
Explain why DeCosta still lives and acts as a priest,
Tell why he has covered up accusations against DeCosta,
Obey directives from US Cardinals demanding “zero tolerance,”
Immediately remove DeCosta’s priestly faculties, and
Personally visit every parish, school and facility where he worked and reach out to others he may have hurt.
Where: Outside of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace, 1184 Bishop Street in Honolulu
When:Wednesday, March 6 at 11:30 am
Who: Members and supporters of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, the nation’s largest support group for men and women sexually abused as children in religious and institutional organizations, including a California woman who is the group’s Western Regional Director
Why: Last week, two Oahu men filed a child sex abuse and cover-up lawsuit against a Big Island priest and the Diocese of Honolulu.
Allegations against Fr. George DeCosta first became known in August, when the two victims filed legal claims in the Irish Christian Brothers bankruptcy. The Irish Christian Brothers is the religious organization that owns Damien Memorial School. They declared bankruptcy in 2011 when more than 250 victims of child sex abuse came forward and demanded justice. Ten predators have been exposed at Damien thus far.
Fr. DeCosta is the pastor of the Hale Lokahi community in Hilo. Until recently, he worked with Music Ministry Alive, a MN-based group that trains young people to be liturgical music leaders. He is also the founder of the Big Island Learning and Arts Community (BILAC).
According to the lawsuits, both victims were young students at Damien in the late 1960s, when DeCosta worked as a religion teacher and director of the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) at the school. One of the victims charges that DeCosta sexually molested him at an Oahu CYO camp.
At the time of the alleged abuse, DeCosta was also assigned to St. Theresa’s parish in Honolulu, a parish with a school.
In 1973, DeCosta was transferred to St. Mary Gate of Heaven—now Malia Puka’O Kalani—Parish in Hilo. He stayed there until 2002, when Honolulu Bishop Francis DiLorenzo mysteriously forced him to retire at age 65. That was the year that the clergy sex abuse and cover up crisis attracted national headlines. Bishops pledged then to be “open” about child sex cases and oust predators from ministry.
SNAP believes that there may be more victims in Hilo and Honolulu and that church officials must do more to reach out to survivors. They want Honolulu Bishop Clarence Silva to adhere to his promises of safety and transparency and forbid DeCosta from acting as a priest. They also want him to explain why nothing was done to remove Fr. DeCosta when allegations first arose.
The victims asked SNAP to speak out on their behalf, to make sure that what happened to them does not happen to other children.
I have spoken with five of Jay Ram’s victims. This lawsuit was a long day coming, but hopefully, witnesses will come forward and Jay Ram will be held accountable.
Jay Ram and three boys he adopted
Hakalau farmer named in child sex abuse lawsuit
He adopted and fostered boys in HI and CA, then
Victim charges man isolated boys, abused them
There could be dozens of victims, group says
New law allows victims to come forward, no matter when they were abused
What: At a press conference, victims of sex abuse will announce and discuss a new sex abuse lawsuit against a former Hakalau farmer. The lawsuit alleges that Jay Ram:
Sexually abused the victim and other boys for five years,
Isolated the boys from family, friends and peers, and
Used the boys as forced child labor to develop the land
Victims will also:
Urge anyone with information about Ram or his whereabouts to report, and
Beg other victims to come forward and get help
Where: Outside of Hilo’s Third Circuit Courthouse, Hale Kaulike, 777 Kilauea Avenue in Hilo
When: Monday, March 4 at 1 pm
Who: Members of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, the nation’s largest support group for men and women who were sexually abused in religious and institutional settings, including a California woman who is the group’s Western Regional Director
Why: On Friday, a Honolulu man filed a sex abuse lawsuit against a former Hakalau farmer who, he says, adopted him and then sexually abused him for more than five years. He also says the man used him and other boys as “forced child labor” to develop his land and kept them as virtual prisoners on his farm.
Jay Ram, who is also known as Gary Winnick, is also accused of sexually abusing other boys that he fostered and adopted in California and Hawaii.
Because the boys were taken out of his custody to be questioned, Ram went on to sue the State of Hawaii, Department of Human Services for removing the boys from his custody, the case eventually settled.
According to the lawsuit, Ram adopted the victim in California in 1983, when the boy, known as John Roe 8, was 10 years old. The victim had been in foster care for five years. In 1987, Ram moved the victim and other boys to a farm in Hakalau, where, the lawsuit alleges, “Jay Ram isolated the boy and his other adopted children, prohibiting them from visiting friends’ houses, having girlfriends and playing sports.” From 1984 to 1989, the suit also charges, Ram sexually abused the victim and other boys who lived with them.
SNAP believes there may be more victims suffering in silence.
“Jay Ram adopted vulnerable boys and used them for his sexual pleasure,” said Joelle Casteix, SNAP Western Regional Director. “Since the boys were so isolated, they had nowhere to go for help and were prisoners in a cycle of abuse they could not escape.”
The group also believes there may be witnesses, including researchers from UH who spent a great deal of time on the farm.
If there was ever an example of why sex abuse and cover-up has thrived in the Catholic Church, it’s Mahony. But the more he struggles, the deeper he sinks into the quicksand of his own arrogance and sinfulness.
The scary part? Look at every bishop and cardinal in the US. They all follow the same script. We were just lucky enough to get some of Mahony’s documents. But what are we missing in other diocese across the Unites States and abroad? What other bishops and cardinals are carefully hovering over the quicksand pit, thankful that victims never got access to their secret sex abuse archives?
Since Mahony and his fellow bishops are so busy reading the Bible, maybe they should start at Proverbs 16:18:
Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.
But that verse is terribly inconvenient, isn’t it?
Because if you can’t take a five-time credibly accused priest predator off of your website, how do we know you can follow child safety guidelines?
Msgr. Leland Boyer (in Roman collar): RECongress founding organizer and five-time accused perp. From the RECongress website RECongress.org
This weekend in Anaheim, more than 40,000 people are descending on the Convention Center for the Los Angeles Archdiocese RECongress, billed as “the largest annual gathering of its kind in the world.” The three-day conference, which started in the 1920s as a one-day gathering, has exploded into a three-day Catholic tent revival with entertainment, speakers, masses, events and teen dances. You can read the history for yourself here.
The problem? A founding organizer—who is prominently honored all over the website—is a predator. Leland Boyer is not just any priest perpetrator, he’s one of the priests whose file was a part of the LA Archdiocese “Document Dump” earlier this month.
Leland Boyer, from the RECongress website RECongress.org
And what a file it is.
Documents recount who how three victims came forward to church officials between 1990 and 2002 to say that Boyer molested them. Although Boyer denied the allegations, Cardinal Mahony and church officials deemed the kids “credible” and put the cleric on restricted ministry in 1995, explicitly keeping him away from the “phone boys” in the rectory. They went so far as to make sure that Boyer visited therapists who “were Catholic and not prone to litigation.” Parishioners were not notified of any of the allegations until 2002. After Boyer died, two more victims came forward.
But you certainly wouldn’t know that if you read the RECongress website. Boyer is honored as visionary leader who helped grow the conference annually. Maybe he worked so hard because he had run out of “phone boys” at the rectory. It’s disgusting.
