Category: Clergy Abuse Crisis

One admitted to molesting 13 and is part LA priest “document dump,” 

Another served year in jail, abused at least 6 kids

Victims to community: Protect your children and grandchildren

Mahony must stay home from papal election, group begs

What:  Victims of sex abuse and their supporters will have an outreach leafleting outside of the retirement community where two convicted predator priests have recently lived. They will urge residents to:

• Talk to their grandchildren, neighbors, and family members about child-molesting priests Michael Wempe and Denis Lyons,
• Read the sex abuse and cover-up files that were recently a part of the LA Archdiocese “document dump,” and
• Report any suspected abuse to law enforcement.

Where: Outside of the main gates of Leisure World, 1901 Golden Rain Road (at Seal Beach Blvd) in Seal Beach Map

When: Thursday, February 21 at 11 am

Who: Three-to-four victims of child sex abuse and their supporters who are members of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, including one Spanish-speaking victim.

Why: Victims of sexual abuse will pass out educational leaflets at the Seal Beach Leisure World retirement community where two convicted predator priests have recently lived. They fear that children visiting family members at the community may be at risk.

Both men, Michael Wempe and Denis Lyons, have been convicted of sexually abusing kids and have been accused of — or admitted to — abusing many others.

Wempe, whose file was a part of last month’s LA Archdiocese document dump, was one of many priests abusing in Los Angeles and protected by Cardinal Roger Mahony. Wempe was convicted in 2006 of sexually abusing a boy, although the former priest admitted to molesting at least 13 other boys during his career in the Los Angeles Archdiocese. According to LA Archdiocese records, Wempe referred to one 12-year-old boy as his “sex partner.”

Wempe’s last known address was in Leisure World.

(Cardinal Mahony, who protected Wempe, will be deposed in another child sex abuse case on Saturday. He is also planning to attend the Conclave to elect the next pope, despite his hands-on role in the cover-up of child sex crimes.)

Convicted Orange County priest Denis Lyons was sentenced to a year in prison in 2012 for abusing a boy at a Costa Mesa Catholic church and school. Lyons was arrested in 2008 while he was playing cards in a community room near his Leisure World home.

Members of SNAP believe that Wempe and Lyons may have posed and still pose a significant threat to children visiting and staying with relatives in the gated community. They also fear that there is a risk that children may have been victimized by these men at Leisure World.

The group also hopes that residents will talk to their families and neighbors about the two men and the risk they may have posed. They are urging residents to report any suspected abuse – no matter the perpetrator – to law enforcement.

Today’s announcement that Pope Benedict XVI will resign later this month has become a swirling vortex of media conjecture and speculation. Is it because of growing scandals in the United States and Ireland? Is it because the Pope is directly tied to the cover-up of child sexual abuse in the US and elsewhere?

I doubt it.

Yes, there are growing scandals – scandals that show that the cover-up of child sexual abuse goes all the way to the highest levels of the Vatican. Cardinal (in good standing) Roger Mahony, who covered up for dozens of priest predators in Los Angeles, has yet to receive any public rebuke from Rome. It is doubtful that he ever will. Even the slap on the wrist he received from LA Archbishop Jose Gomez has been minimized. Mahony will be able to vote for the new Pope and—in prime “Prince of the Church” fashion—will parade around Rome with this fellow cardinals next month.

But I believe that Benedict’s “resignation for health reasons” is probably the truth. Rumors have been swirling for years that the Pontiff has Alzheimers, and video from recent public appearances show a man in the ravages of declining health. And more videos like that will keep coming.

In the age of YouTube and smartphones, it has become virtually impossible for the Vatican to keep any kind of secret about the Pope’s health. Anytime Pope Benedict steps out in public, adoring fans, tourists and skeptics will record his every move and share it on social media.

Call it the “end of grace.” No longer will the Pope be protected by state and international media, who have shared a “gentleman’s agreement” with the Vatican, ensuring that only flattering and regal images of the Pope are publicly released.

A 19-year-old with a smartphone can do a lot of damage, and the Vatican is working quickly to ensure that never happens.

As far as the sex abuse scandals? My guess is that the cover-up of tens of thousands of cases of child sex abuse worldwide is the furthest thing from the collective Curia’s mind.

Statement by Joelle Casteix of Newport Beach, SNAP Volunteer Western Regional Director 

To put it simply: this is what victims have fought for all along.

The only way to stop the cycle of child sex abuse and cover-up is to punish child predators and anyone who covers up for them. Empty apologies by bishops and promises of prayers do nothing to keep children safe or help victims heal. Vigorous police investigations and criminal prosecutions do.

LA’s victims of child sexual abuse by clergy have fought for more than eight years to get these files publicly released. They did that for two reasons: to alert the public about past crimes and help law enforcement prosecute criminals who are within the statute of limitations. It is our hope that this investigation by the LAPD puts wrongdoers behind bars. It is also our hope that any police investigation exposes other predators still under the protection of the Archdiocese and secret files that have yet to be turned over.

(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. SNAP was founded in 1988 and has more than 12,000 members. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)