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
This past Sunday, I had a bit of an epiphany. I was getting ready to receive an award for my work on behalf of SNAP for creating awareness for support groups. The organization honoring us—SHARE! The Self Help and Recovery Exchange—is an awesome non-profit that provides more than 140 support groups a week, helps people in crisis…Continue reading It all started with a support group