The Worthy Adversary

Tag: John Urell

A Rotten Legacy Ends – Bishop Tod Brown Retires

From my SNAP statement:

Today, the Diocese of Orange has announced the retirement of Orange County, California Bishop Tod D. Brown. We will learn the name of his successor tomorrow.

The author and Tod Brown at the press conference announcing the Diocese’s $100 million settlement with 97 victims of child sex abuse

Simply put: we are grateful to see him go. Why? The facts of his tenure are shocking for victims of abuse, Catholics and the Orange County community.

For more than ten years, Brown cultivated an environment that fostered and rewarded the cover-up of clergy abuse. Need some examples? Since he became Bishop of Orange, he:

— Sent his former highest ranking priest out of the country to avoid a sex abuse and cover-up deposition and then faced criminal contempt of court charges,

— Used an over-priced PR stunt to announce “reforms” in his diocese – reforms that he never took seriously,

— Kept numerous priests in ministry who had been accused of abuse, and then removed them in events that deceived parishioners and shamed victims about the true nature of the abuse,

— Currently keeps an accused priest in ministry, even transferring him to a wealthy south county parish without giving complete information to parishioners, and

— Broke his own rules of transparency and remained silent about sexual abuse allegations against him secret – saying that he was ashamed – years after he and his fellow bishops promised transparency and honesty.

It’s important to note that Brown’s cover-up of child sex crimes was no solo operation. We suspect that current and former diocesan and parish staff may have ignored, concealed and enabled child sex crimes. This is important to note: Brown’s departure doesn’t automatically usher in some new, magically safer era for children. The culture and climate and patterns of reckless and secrecy surrounding child sex crimes in the church are deeply rooted and long standing. They won’t be suddenly erased by one man’s departure.

In order to help heal the wounds caused by Bishop Brown, his successor should take steps to remove other church officials, such as Msgr. John Urell, who have helped perpetuate these cover-ups. He should also remove priests with open allegations of abuse against them, such as Fr. Timothy Raemaekers, and go through all the diocesan personnel files and turn over all evidence of abuse to secular authorities.

This will be the new bishop’s first test of leadership in Orange County – will he depart from the dangerous secrecy of his predecessor or will he continue that pernicious trend? We hope that it will be the former.

September 20, 2012
Breaking: Michael Harris case settles for $2 million

After years of litigation and on the eve of what was going to be a blockbuster trial, the Diocese of Orange has settled its most recent case against notorious former priest and Mater Dei/Santa Margarita High School principal Michael Harris for $2 million.

The victim is a decorated Air Force pilot. He risked a lot more than most victims by coming forward.

Just think: if Msgr. John Urell and Bp. Michael Driscoll had done the right thing, Harris would be in jail. But no … that would have been the RIGHT thing to do.

Something tells me that this is not the end of the story ….

June 19, 2012
Michael Harris trial is a go …

The Michael Harris trial is scheduled to begin on Monday, June 18 at 9am. Barring any last-minute settlements, you’ll see me at Dept. CX103, Orange County Supreme Court.

It should be a barn burner. Get ready to see some diocese dirty laundry.

Even Bishop Tod Brown concedes Harris is a monster.

The victim is an active duty Air Force lieutenant colonel and KC-10 pilot who has flown combat mission over Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan and other parts of the Middle East and Europe.

So, the Diocese of Orange chooses the word of a monster over the word of an active duty war hero — a war hero with everything to lose by coming forward.

I’m speechless.

June 14, 2012
Notorious former OC priest Michael Harris headed to court on more abuse charges

A sex abuse and cover-up lawsuit against former priest Msgr. Michael Harris, Mater Dei High School and the Diocese of Orange is slated to go to trial in Orange County Superior Court on June 18.

Harris, the former principal of Mater Dei and Santa Margarita High Schools, has been smack in the center of the clergy sex abuse scandal in Orange County, with at least nine accusers settling with the Diocese of Orange in 2005, twelve accusers listed by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, and a record $5.2 million settlement with victim Ryan DiMaria.

Frankly put: Harris is a menace. We have seen Harris’ psych reports from the most notorious church-run facility for child molesting clerics (information that Msgr John Urell kept secret), and in 2001, Bishop Tod Brown told the Los Angeles Times:

The Diocese of Orange has grave doubts about [Harris’] innocence in these matters, taking into consideration the number of complaints made against him, the similarity of those complaints and the apparent sincerity of the persons making these statements.

The attorney for the victim, John Manly (another Mater Dei grad), is just coming off of a huge win in Stockton, where a jury unanimously decided that Fr. Michael Kelly sexually abused former Air Force pilot Travis Trotter. The Diocese of Stockton refused to remove Kelly from ministry during the litigation and spent four years trying to discredit Travis. After the verdict, Kelly skipped to Ireland. The case eventually settled for $3.75 million on the eve of the scheduled testimony of Cardinal Roger Mahony.

No one knows Mater Dei, Harris and the Diocese of Orange better than Manly and his team do. There’s going to be a whole lot of Diocese dirty laundry aired. Want a great start off for your research? Start here. Since 2003 Gustavo Arellano at the OC Weekly has covered the story better (and longer) than anyone else.

If you went to Mater Dei or Santa Margarita, sent your kids there, or donated money to the schools, you owe it to yourself to follow the trial. Although Harris is no longer a priest, his ties to the Diocese and Orange County money are strong. He’s only a free man because Mater Dei and Diocese officials didn’t care enough about any of the kids Harris abused to pick up the phone and call the cops. Shame on all of them.

Disclaimers – I was a student at Mater Dei at the tail end of Harris’ tenure there. I had very limited interactions with him. But then again, he had very limited interactions with most girls. John Manly was my attorney in my 2003 case against the Diocese.

June 4, 2012