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 no surprise that Bishop Wall is doing everything he can to avoid a September 18 deposition.
Read the whole thing here.
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 say that even Congress is asking questions.
Hmmm … that might explain why USA Swimming is spending untold amounts to fight the California’s Child Victims’ Act – SB 131. When your current programs are (possibly) terribly flawed, who knows how polluted your past is? So you gotta make sure those kids NEVER get the chance to talk.
Tell your Assembly Member NOW that you support SB131.
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 that low-information Catholics – those who aren’t following the issue and don’t understand the legislation – will just march lock-step with Archbishop Gomez.
I would include the link, but I don’t want to send them traffic. Once you fill out the form, the website automatically generates emails to your particular legislators.
Here is the text of the emails that the website generates (with my notes):
I am your constituent and I respectfully urge you to vote “No” on SB-131.
This legislation does not protect all victims of child sexual abuse. In fact, it offers no protection to the 92 percent of children who attend public schools or for children in foster care or in other public settings.
The only way to be able to protect students in public schools would be to eliminate sovereign immunity, an entirely different issue. In addition, SB 131 is a “first step” bill. We will never be able to fight abuse in the hugely powerful public arena until we build public awareness. To defeat the powers that be who control public entities, we need to prove that the problem is huge. SB131 is the only way to do that. And to imply that public school victims are “jealous” is infantile. Exposing ANY perpetrator is a huge step towards exposing ALL perpetrators.
This bill discriminates against Catholic schools and other private employers. It could lead to reductions in the educational and social services provided by the Church and other nonprofits.
What they don’t say is that a majority of the funding for the church’s social services come from contracts with local governments – using tax dollars. Besides, if there is enough sexual abuse to cause a reduction in spending for social services, shouldn’t the church stop offering social services and fix the problem FIRST?
Any legislation that seeks to deal with this grave problem should be applied to protect victims in all institutions in society — public and private— equally.
See my above argument.
Then the site allows you to add other “shortcomings.” Letter writers are, however, unable to change the subject line of the email.
Want to learn what the bill is REALLY about? Read this or this.
If the Archdiocese spent as much time and money releasing documents, punishing wrongdoers and helping victims as they do trying to fight this bill, we wouldn’t need SB131 in the first place.
We can only wonder what else they are hiding.
What can you do? Follow this link to write your legislators NOW and tell them you support SB131.
or Unfair Command Influence, Part 2: The Bully Pulpit, Exclusive Access and a Conviction
If you had any questions as to why California’s child sex abuse victims desperately need a civil window, today’s news should close the deal.
The Bully Pulpit
California Catholic News published a July 31 email from Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez, urging parishioners to write their representatives and tell them to vote “no” on SB 131. In fact, the Archbishop has even put together a website to make the letter-writing process easier.
Canon Law says that the Archbishop holds the keys to the salvation of his flock. So when he asks Catholics to write letters, he really isn’t asking … if you know what I mean.
It’s the Bully Pulpit at its most powerful.
One would think that Gomez, after all of the apologies he made in January, would be first in line to demand transparency and justice for victims and accountability for wrong-doers.
Aren’t atoning for the sins of priests, etc., and making amends the cornerstone of Archbishop Gomez’ faith in action? If you are going to be a moral authority, Archbishop, shouldn’t you take the moral route?
Unfair Access
Today’s OC Register Magazine published “A Day in the Life” profile of Orange Bishop Kevin Vann. It was the entry for 6 p.m. that struck me:
Coming to the mayor’s Anaheim Hills home for a home-cooked meal sets the tone for a different kind of bridge-building. Tonight Mayor Tait and his wife have prepared a prime rib dinner for the bishop and pastors from all Anaheim’s parishes.
The article says that the focus of the conversation was the anniversary of the Anaheim riots. But with that kind of access, I’d bet good money that there was some serious influence peddling going on. The article is not online, but here is a photo of the entry in question.
It’s too bad that Anaheim’s victims and advocates don’t get that kind of face-time with the mayor. I’m sure they would love a prime rib dinner and the opportunity to talk about sex abuse and cover up at St. Boniface, San Antonio, St. Anthony Claret, St. Justin Martyr, Servite High School, and Mater Dei High School. In fact, a letter on behalf of victims signed by the mayor of Anaheim would go a long way with lawmakers.
Too bad that victims are never allowed that kind of access. If it looks like the deck is stacked, that’s because it is.
Conviction
Redding priest Fr. Uriel Ojeda was sentenced to 8 years in prison for the sexual abuse of a Woodland (CA) child. At the hearing, he told the judge, “My actions were of a weak and sinful man.”
I wonder if the hundreds of Ojeda supporters have decided to release balloons in honor of the brave young victim. Doubtful, since many of them wore T-shirts supporting Ojeda at the sentencing.
The courage of a young woman and her family has stopped the violence from happening to others
Note: If you’re wondering where the California bishops were this weekend, they were hanging out in Napa, listening to presentations on how to protect themselves from civil liability in sex abuse cases … presented by the Busch Law Firm. Doesn’t sound too pastoral to me.
In 1955, a woman named Rosa Parks refused to give up her Montgomery, Alabama bus seat to a white man.
But on that day, she did not stand up and shout, “If ALL African Americans can’t have complete and equal rights and access, then NO ONE should get anything!”
Why? Because civil rights movements are intellectual, emotional and legislative wars, fought battle by battle. Rosa Parks could not win the war in one fell swoop. But she could win a battle.
Which brings us to California’s SB 131, the Child Victims’ Act. SB 131 opens a one-year civil window for victims to come forward in the civil courts to expose their abuser, get justice, and punish wrongdoers. The state had a similar bill in 2003, but because of last year’s California Supreme Court decision in the Quarry case, many victims were excluded, even if they had mountains of evidence. This bill fixes that.
According to today’s editorial in the San Jose Mercury News:
Why should [a civil window] ever end? Why should those responsible for abuse get a pass if enough time goes by?
Yet opponents of the bill, including the California Catholic Conference, US Swimming, and CAPSO call the bill a “mockery of legal protection.” They claim that the bill creates two classes of victims, those abused in public institutions and those abused in private schools. And they are terribly wrong.
If we don’t take a stand against abuse where we can RIGHT NOW, how can we fight for other victims next week, next month or next year? Public school victims don’t look at us with envy, they look at us for HOPE. They know that this civil window WILL expose perpetrators in public schools—men like Joseph Pina who worked in the LAUSD, even though district officials knew Pina had been accused of abuse while a priest in the Archdiocese.
Public school victims know that by exposing as many perpetrators and as much cover-up as we can, we can help build public outrage and help defeat sovereign immunity, the law that currently protects public entities from any civil lawsuit.
Portraying victims as petulant children with a “How about me?” mentality is shameful and insulting to the victims’ movement. When victims won rights in Delaware, Hawaii and Minnesota, victims in other states didn’t say, “That’s not fair!” Instead they cheered—because a win for one victim is a win for all victims. It’s one more victory in battle that helps us all win the war. Any time a child is protected, a survivor gets strength, healing and hope.
If SB 131 is killed, we will NEVER be able to expose abuse in public schools, because we won’t have the evidence, support and wins necessary to take on a much larger opponent. SB 131 is a strategic necessity in defeating sovereign immunity and exposing organizations that spend millions to protect abusers in public schools.
If you want to expose abuse in public schools, you MUST support California’s SB 131. If the bill dies, public school victims will never have a fighting chance.
Just like Rosa Parks, we have to start small. But our goals include victory and healing for all. One battle at a time.
