Yesterday, attorneys for victims of child sexual abuse in Minnesota and Missouri released a recent sworn deposition of St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson. In the deposition, which can be read here and viewed in excerpts below, Carlson states 193 times that he “does not remember” various incidents regarding the sexual abuse of children. But…Continue reading Carlson plays the memory card … and loses
Last week, Pope Francis sacked his entire Vatican “watchdog” board, replacing them with an international “who’s who” list of financial reform and investigation gurus. One of the names on the list surprised me: Juan Zarate. Zarate shot to prominence as the member of George Bush’s Treasury Department. He was a tenacious investigator who went after…Continue reading Vetting and the board of the Vatican Bank
I have written on this subject before. But today’s story out of Sacramento is more tragic and upsetting. The mother of an eight-year-old sodomy victim has filed a lawsuit against the mobile home park where the crime happened in 2013. She charges that the management of Sacramento’s Park Royal Estates Mobile Home Park knew that a 15-year-old boy…Continue reading When a child is abused … by another child
It’s been an interesting week: Ricardo “Richard” Aldana is goin’ to the pokey Former JSerra High School teacher Richard Aldana was convicted on three felony counts of lewd acts upon a child. The victim was a 14-year-old student. Aldana faces up to eight years in jail. JSerra is an independent (not owned by the Diocese…Continue reading Friday Round-up: Aldana, Adrian, Arizona, and the AG
One of the most important things I teach parents about empowering children against abuse is: “no secrets.” Yesterday I was reminded about how important it is to REINFORCE this lesson as children get older. Although the following story does not involve abuse, it shows how easy it is for a child to keep a secret with a “trusted…Continue reading No secrets: It’s easy for kids to keep promises … for the wrong people