Just about everybody in America is angry right now.  Stop off to buy milk, in a minute  you will be in deep overlapping conversation with the cashier about taxes you had to pay last year while billionaires hire tax attorneys to avoid paying, or however else this great sell out of America has hurt you.  When Joe Stack flew his plane into the IRS last Thursday morning, I knew why as soon as I heard about it, without having to read his “last words.”  It’s the frustration of trying to deal with a government that stopped paying attention decades ago.

Thursday afternoon in fact found me in deep conversation with a guy I just met in the shop minutes earlier, we stood for twenty minutes on a Hollywood Boulevard corner talking about the Medical mess the country is in.

“My friend, they were letting him die,” Harry said.  At an East L.A. hospital, his friend finally checked himself out as all they would do is run tests and more tests.  Harry said, “The insurance companies were killing him, spending time on diagnostic tests, he was dying. 

“He checked out and got a ride to Tijuana, and a doctor there performed the surgery right away, saved his life.” 

Often in L.A. we hear stories about how much better medical care you can get in Mexico. 

My own Catch 22 is so bad that when I heard Joe Stack flew his plane into the IRS building, I thought immediately of how for more than a year I was So Angry at Social Security.  Here is my Catch 22.  I lost my job when they sent it to the Philippines.  Two weeks later my health insurance was gone.  Now I am sick but can’t get on SS Disability, because a doctor who is treating you has to fill out the forms. 

See the Catch 22?  I can’t get disability because I don’t have a doctor to fill out the forms.  Uh, that also means I’m sick and have no medical care.  Oh and it also means I still have to work or I will not be able to pay my rent.  So to pay the rent I roll out of bed to my computer every day and knock out as many pages of transcription as I can get assigned to me.  I have to earn at least $1700 a month to meet my rent and bills and just the basics, no movies, no new clothes.  At $1.50 a page, that’s a lot of pages, the pay per page has not gone up since 1998.

Oh, right, one more.  Then I get taxed as a self employed person, so it’s a higher rate than if I had a job.

Before I lost that job, I had to be working right on the same floor as the woman who they hired to send our jobs overseas.  She was this wealthy damme from Burbank, who in her size 2 suits, would warble into the coffee room to freshen her tea and announce, “Oh I went to the most wonderful fundraiser for the A-a-hmaanso-o-onn last night.”  Then she’d waltz back to her desk and in that same loud voice continue her work at selling our jobs to the Philippines, over the phone cold calling like a West Side fundraiser and selling all of us out.

One day in that same coffee room, while everyone else was seething sitting in tension around the table, I walked in and announced, “It should be illegal to send our jobs overseas.  I’m a mom, I have a kid about to enter college.  I served in the U.S. Naval Reserves.”

A week later I did not have that job anymore. 

Everywhere you go today, Americans are angry.  I hope others don’t feel the only place to turn to is violence. 

I suggest people blog it.  Put it all on line, tell your stories.  Blog it. 

By Kay Ebeling, producer City of Angels Network

Oh I forgot, there’s one more Catch 22.  That money I earn by typing, while sick in bed basically to keep a roof over my head, is the other reason I get turned down for Disability.  I’m paying my rent working on this treadmill, so I must not be disabled. It’s not just one thing, it’s lots and lots and lots of things that are broken in this country.
…

How do they avoid monitoring? Seven in LA, three in the SF Bay Area, the list is too long. Convicted pedophile priests who served time today somehow escape legal mandates to register as sex offenders in California, according to research done by a Southern California activist, Debby Bodkin (the ex-priests names are listed below).

“After reviewing a public database maintained by bishop-accountability.org and public court records,” Bodkin writes she’s found, “The Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese, has an at least 7 convicted former priests that have somehow escaped mandatory sex offender registration.” I called Debby and asked her why their names aren’t on the Megan’s Law website and she answered, “That’s what I’d like to know.”

These are pedophiles who were Catholic priests and served time for their crimes, yet somehow they are not on the Megan’s Law website.

Note: Los Angeles has been without a U.S. attorney since Thomas O’Brien retired in Spring of 2009. Amid rumors that a federal Grand Jury is investigating Cardinal Roger Mahony right now, the DOJ Los Angeles website reports: “The USAO is headed by Acting United States Attorney George S. Cardona.”

From Bodkin’s report on convicted pedophiles not registered:

“The Diocese of Oakland has 1, the Diocese of San Bernardino has 2, the Archdiocese of San Francisco has 1, the Diocese of San Jose has 2, and the Diocese of Orange has 3, priest Gerardo J. Tanilong who has been in violation since 10/5/09, and Albert Schildknecht and priest Luis Eduardo Ramirez, are not registered as all.”

Bodkin found these former priest perpetrators from California parishes who are now out there somewhere with no monitoring:

LOS ANGELES

1. Ahumada, Arturo, Convicted, Diocesan, Deacon, (NOT REGISTERED).

Pleaded no contest in 3/02 of providing pornographic material to 2 boys and misdemeanor sexual battery on one of them between 1999-2000 at Epiphany Church in South El Monte . Taken into custody 5/02 pending sentencing Sentenced 6/02 to 1 ys in county jail, a 44-month suspended state prison term, 5 yrs felony probation, and required to register as sex offender.
Source: LA Times 4.16.02; City News Services 5.24.02; LA Times 6.28.02; LA Times 8.18.02; LA Archdiocesan Report 2.17.04 page 6; Religion News Service 7.18.07

2. Bismonte, Honesto Bayranta, 1954, Convicted, Diocesan, (NOT REGISTERED)
Accused of abuse between 1997-2001 while at St. Joseph Church in Pomona . Convicted 2003. Battery (misdemeanor) of two girls, age 12 & 8. Received 2 yrs probation.

Source: Press Enterprise 4.24.02; LA Times 4.24.02; LA Times 4.25.02; San Bernardino Sun 4.29.02; San Bernardino Sun 4.29.02; Press Enterprise 5.22,02; LA Times 8.18.02; LA Times 8.18.02; LA Archdiocese Report Errata Notice # 1; USA Today 11.11.02; Press Enterprise 9.6.03; Inland Valley Daily Bulletin 9.6.03
Assignments: LA Times Database 4.20.06

3. Fessard, Gerald B., 1972, Convicted, Diocesan, (NOT REGISTERED).
Convicted 1987 of battery on child. 3 years probation. Sued in 2003 re alleged abuse.

Source: National Catholic Reporter 8.30.02; LA Archdiocesan Report 2.17.04 page 1; LA Times 8.18.02; City of Angels 12.07.07, Assignments: LA Archdiocesan Report Addendum 11.15.05; LA Times Database 4.20.06

4. Henry, Richard Allen, 1972, Convicted, Diocesan, (NOT REGISTERED).
Placed on leave 1991 after conviction for abuse of 4 boys. Removed from active ministry 1993. Sentenced 1993 to 8-year prison sentence. New accusations in 2002. Civil suit 2003 by 3 plaintiffs. A total of 13 accusers per archdiocese list. Included in12/06 $60M settlement re 22 priests which covers all of the cases involving molestations that occurred since Mahony was named head of the diocese in 1985.

Source: LA Times 6.25.92; LA Times 4.29.93; LA Times 6.17.02; LA Times 8.18.02; USA Today 11.11.02; Pasadena Star News 11.24.03; LA Archdiocesan Report 2.17.04 page 2; LA Times 2.18.04; LA Times 4.20.06; LA Times 12.2.06
Assignments: LA Archdiocesan Report Addendum 11.15.05; LA Times Database 4.20.06

5. Kelly, Patrick M., 1950, Convicted, (NOT REGISTERED).
Jesuit – Irish Province Visiting Priest from Ireland . In 1991 returned to Ireland after allegation he abused a girl. Promised to return to face charges but did not. Pleaded no contest in 1992 to charges and received 3 yr Probation without returning to US. Civil suit filed 1992. Archdiocese report says 4 accusers from 1991.

Source: LA Times 8.18.02; National Catholic Reporter 8.30.02; LA Archdiocese Report 2.17.04 page 5, Assignments: LA Times Database 4.20.06

6. Lawrence, Joseph (LJ), 1951, Convicted, Claretians, (NOT REGISTERED)
Convicted in 1986 ( Los Angeles –3 mo. probation) for abuse of 14 yr old boy and in 2004 for abuse of several boys in 1970s-1980s ( Phoenix –14 yrs prison). Placed on leave 1985 and laicized 1992. Married woman with 3 boys in 1995. She knew he had been a priest but never knew of past allegations until his arrest in 2003. He was a counselor and worked for U of NM health center. Civil suits filed 1996 and 12/03.

Source: Associated Press 3.26.03; LA Times 3.26.03; Pasadena Star-News 11.24.03; LA Archdiocesan Report 2.17.04 page 5; Associated Press 8.31.04; Albuquerque Tribune 12.29.06, Assignments: LA Archdiocesan Report Addendum 11.15.05; LA Times Database 4.20.06

(NOTE: This priest does not appear to be on bishop accountability but is in Bodkin’s research. Also, below, Bodkin lists Michael Baker, although as far as we know, he is still in prison.)

7. Baker, Michael Stephen, 1974, Settled Diocesan Accused of abuse, (NOT REGISTERED).

 Two brothers settled in 2000 for $1.3M. Criminal charges dropped due to Supreme Court ruling. LA archdiocese counts 23 accusers. Arrested again 1/06. Laicized 12/00 per LA Times Database. Included in 12/06 $60M settlement re 22 priests. Also included in 7/07 massive $660M settlement of LA Arch cases. Pleaded guity 12/07 to abuse of 2 boys. Sentenced to 10 yrs 4 mo in prison. Protected by ArBp Maloney. Los Angeles , CA Source:
LA Times 5.16.02; LA Times 08.18.02; LA Archdiocesan Report 2.17.04 page 1; KTLA 1.20.06; LA Times 12.2.06; LA Times 12.12.06; KNX 12.12.06; LA Times 12.13.06; Contra Costa Times 1.4.07; LA Times 1.4.07; Lompoc Record 1.5.07; LA Times 3.7.07; California Catholic Daily 3.9.07; Monterey Herald 3.16.07; LA Times 7.15.07
Assignments: Union Tribune 7.30.07 (add’l article); San Gabriel Valley Tribune 11.17.07 (add’l article); LA Times 12.4.07 (add’l article); LA Times 8.14.09 (add’l article); LA Archdiocesan Report Addendum 11.15.05; LA Times Database 4.20.06

OAKLAND

1. Green, William S., Convicted, Redemptorist, (NOT REGISTERED)
Arrested 4/99 along with 5 other individuals for sending sexually explicit messages and pornography to a 14 yr old boy in chatroom on the Internet. Pleaded guilty 7/99 to two counts of oral copulation and one charge of attempting to send harmful material to a minor and was sentenced to two years in prison.

Source: San Fransicso Chronicle 4.14.99; San Francisco Chronicle 7.24.99

SAN BERNARDINO

1. Benson, Gustavo, 1972, Convicted, Diocesan, (NOT REGISTERED)
Arrested in San Bernardino for abuse of 2 boys. Pleaded no contest 1/87 re 1 and given 3 yrs probation and treatment in New Mexico . 6/02 article says he moved to Mexico and was assigned to a diocese there. Calif. Bishop told Tijuana Bishop of Benson’s history and that he should never have access to adolescents. Benson does have access to children in current position. Two filed civil suit 12/03. Listed on 3/07 list released by San Diego Diocese.

Source: LA Times 5.6.87; San Bernardino Sun 4.29.02; San Bernardino Sun 5.8.02; Press Enterprise 5.10.02; Dallas Morning News 6.12.02; Press Enterprise 1.1.04; Press Enterprise 1.14.04; Press Enterprise 11.10.05; Lompoc Record 3.30.07; Union Tribune 3.31.07
Assignments: Diocese of San Diego List 3.30.07

2. Dominguez, Jesus “Jesse”Armando, 1983, Convicted, Diocesan, (NOT REGISTERED)

Name appears on list of accused priests and religious released by the Los Angeles Archdiocese on February 17, 2004. List reflects 6 accusers and 1973-1988 as time of incidents. Worked in San Bernardino diocese from 1978-1993. Placed on leave. Pleaded no contest in 2001 to misdemeanor child molestation. Laicized in 2000. Charged in 2005 with abusing 2 boys in 1988-1989. Fled to Mexico before he could be arrested. Six men filed civil suits.

Source: LA Archdiocesan Report 2.17.04 page 4; LA Archdiocesan Report Errata Notice # 1; Press-Enterprise 12.14.04; Press-Enterprise 12.18.04; Press-Enterprise (CA) 2.02.05; Press-Enterprise 3.08.05; Reno Gazette Journal 7.30.05; Press-Enterpriest 8.02.05; Press-Enterprise 2.08.06; OBS 2 10.02.07; InjuryBoard.com 1.28.08; City of Angels 3.19.08

SAN FRANCISCO

1. Schipper, Carl Anthony, 1968, Convicted, Diocesan, NOT REGISTERED.
Arrested 3/04 after he held a series of explicit sexual conversations with what he thought was a 13 yr old boy in an Internet Chat Room. He was immediately placed on leave from position as academic dean at Menlo Park ’s St. Patrick’s Seminary. Pled guilty 8/00. Sentenced to 6 mo. jail and 3 yrs probation and to register as sex offender.

Source: San Jose Mercury News 3.4.00; SF Chronicle 3.4.00; SF Chronicle 8.23.00; San Jose Mercury News 11.22,00; Guardian 5.8.02

SAN JOSE

1. Burke, Edward Thomas, 1956, Convicted, Jesuit, (NOT REGISTERED)
Admitted to Jesuit superior in 2000 that he abused dependent adult man living/working at Jesuit center. Jesuits moved Burke but did not report accusation to police. Charged 5/9/02, pled guilty, and was sentenced 6/28/02 to 2 years in prison. Claims against Burke and Br. Charles Leonard Connor SJ settled 6/4/02 by Jesuits for $7.5M.

Source: LA Times 3.24.02; San Jose Mercury News 3.30.02; San Jose Mercury 4.1.02; LA Times 4.3.02; LA Times 5.10.02; LA Times 5.24.02; San Jose Mercury News 5.24.02; LA Times 6.29.02; LA Times 9.5.02

2. Gray, Robert A., 1988, Convicted, Diocesan, (NOT REGISTERED)
Convicted of sexually abusing a teenage boy while teaching him karate in 1993. Charges re two other boys were dismissed. Sent to jail for 160 days and 5 years probation. Received psychiatric treatment before being returned to job in the Diocese in 1995.Removed from his job as head of cemeteries department and placed on permanent leave in June 2002.

Source: San Jose Mercury News 5.26.02; San Jose Mercury News 6.1.02; Dallas Morning News 6.12.02; San Jose Mercury News 6.22.02; SF Chronicle 6.23.02; San Jose Mercury News 11.12.02

************

Debby Bodkin is not affiliated with any nonprofit or advocacy group, she did this research on her own.  She’s just a parishioner from Orange County, who when she saw how bad the problem was, became activated.  Bodkin wrote the Department of Justice Los Angeles this week to report these unlisted sex offenders and to say, if allowed to continue without law enforcement action:

“The civil right to be safe from sex crimes for unsuspecting children, adults, families and employees, is at serious risk.”
Bodkin added: “The Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese, has approximately 7 convicted former employees that have somehow escaped mandatory sex offender registration,” Bodkin writes. The Diocese of Oakland has 1, the Diocese of San Bernardino has 2, the Archdiocese of San Francisco has 1, the Diocese of San Jose has 2, and the Diocese of Orange has 3, priest Gerardo J. Tanilong who has been in violation since 10/5/09.

“Albert Schildknecht and priest Luis Eduardo Ramirez, are not registered as all.”
.
Posted by Kay Ebeling, Producer, City of Angels Blog where you can see this post with pictures.

Because the same thing happened in nearly every parish in the United States. Same MO, same pattern of criminal behavior, the Church should be investigated and then likely prosecuted, on a national level.

Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles oversaw an archdiocese that produced 510 settled lawsuits in 2007 from a one-year window of opportunity that opened in 2003 to bypass statutes of limitations.

Since December 31, 2003 when the SOL window closed at midnight, plaintiff attorneys report their phones have continued to ring. People did not hear about the window in time so now their cases cannot be litigated, AND with calls from plaintiffs with New Allegations that do fall within the statute of limitations.  Or they don’t.

Currently attorneys on both sides wait for a Supreme Court of the State of California decision on how to handle the new cases that have come forward since the 2003 window closed. The Court’s decision could change the statute of limitations for child sex crimes in the state of California.

Plus Roger Mahony’s career includes time as Bishop of Fresno, a diocese that produced dozens of pedophile priests and hundreds more victims.

Yet Roger Mahony still sits on a throne on an altar in front of thousands of misinformed people, every week.

Why haven’t bishops all over the country who aided and betted the pedophile priest perpetrators been prosecuted yet?

******
By Kay Ebeling, Producer
City of Angels blog

See original story in full here:

Why Catholic bishops like Roger Mahony of L.A. should be prosecuted, in one paragraph

The Heights is the student newspaper at Boston College.

They were keeping it a secret. The employee who reported it got fired, and ex-priest Roland Lepire still sells used cars to families in small town Massachusetts.  He’s admitted he molested at least five boys while a priest in Rhode Island, the Diocese of Providence paid out more than $15 million in settlements concerning Lepire.  In the video of a news report, he sneers and makes excuses.

His MO was wrestling, then groping, he took the boys into rectories, and the groping always ended up in fondling of the boys’ genitals.  He admits to touching four boys one time over a one-month period, which is highly unlikely considering data on child molesters, they rarely stop at one or two, rarely only do it once or twice.

This is a nationwide problem.  Pedophile priests get prosecuted in less than 1 percent of the cases, because of outdated Statutes of Limitations of Child Sex crimes.  In most states, the child has to report within too few years from the crime. 

Then if there is a civil case filed, the Catholic Church almost always settles out of court and keeps identities of the pedophile priests secret.

So today there are likely hundreds of credibly accused defrocked priests living in communities around the country, without monitoring. 

In this case, someone found Lepire perched, positioned to approach more children.  In November 2009, his office was right next to the play area for children at the car dealership.

The story is in the video linked below from a Norwood, MA, news report. 

On camera Lepire says about his crimes, “Everything is public,” so there’s no problem of his desk being near the car lot play area.  

His boss fired the priest after this report and others came out, November 2009.

Pedophile priests are now all over the country, with no monitoring, turned loose by the Catholic Church whose spokespersons have said on numerous occasions:  That priest is on Social Security now that we’ve defrocked him, he is no longer the Church’s responsibility.

Video here:  

Pedophile Priest found working at Car Lot next to Playground

There have been 6000 pedophile priests in the USA since 1950 and researchers say when all investigations are finished the number will be closer to ten thousand.  Read Ongoing Coverage of the Epidemic of Pedophilia at City of Angels Blog.  

Background on Roland Lepire:

$13.5M settlement ends abuse suits against diocese Today meant a real lot.” White, in an interview, said he felt that filing a lawsuit was …Alfred P. Desrosiers, Roland M. Lepire, Michael V. LaMountain,

Providence diocese settles 4 cases alleging priest abuse – Projo 7 … Taking the news pulse of Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts, … by Father Roland Lepire at St. Matthew Parish in Central Falls in the early 1980s. …

Or look under L in the database at bishopaccountability.org

By Kay Ebeling, Producer, City of Angels Blog 

The City of Angels in Everywhere

“When my son was an altar boy, Newman gave him opiods so he’d go into a haze while the priest raped him, sodomized him,” Arthur II said. “Then for about a decade, the priest gave the boy wads of cash, thousands of dollars, which unfortunately but predictably, the boy used to buy drugs. By the time he was in his early twenties, he was a hopeless drug addict, then he… Arthur III is dead now, of an opiod overdose.”

The only time Fr. Charles Newman ever stood in front of a judge was for Embezzlement from the Catholic Church. He stole cash to buy drugs and other extravagances for the boys he was grooming, and the pedophile priest went to prison for embezzlement, not pedophilia. He pled guilty March 2009 and is serving a 3-6 year sentence.

The day Pennsylvania passed a law that worked against victims of pedophile priests in the state, including Arthur III, he left the house for an NA meeting. Next morning police found him dead in a drug house in nearby Camden, NJ. Months earlier Arthur Baselice II had brought his son to the Philadelphia Archdiocese begging them for help. “This kid couldn’t even walk,” said the dad. “We went in there and poured our hearts out. They told me they can’t help me. The perpetrator is not Roman Catholic he’s Franciscan.”

In 2006, the Baselice’s lobbied the state Legislature, but so did the Catholic Church and “Pennsylvania changed the reporting age from 18 to 35 but didn’t do anything for those who were in the Philadelphia Grand Jury Report,” Arthur II said. “They provided an escape for the perpetrators. Removed liability for the Church.

“My son died the day they passed that law.”
Arthur Baselice III (1978-2006)

November 2009 Arthur II emailed City of Angels a copy of a letter he sent to all the Legislators in Pennsylvania:

Respectfully I am writing to you to request that you obtain a copy of the November 2009 issue of the “Philadelphia Magazine” or go on line and read the article written by Mr. Richard Rys entitled “Sins of the Father”, it is important that you read this article and the comments offered on line.

This article will give you a brief glimpse of the pain and suffering my wife Elaine and I go through everyday after losing our son “Arthur III ” as a result of clergy sexual abuse.

The current law does not go far enough to identify the abusers and hold those accountable who enabled these perpetrators as outlined in the Philadelphia Grand Jury Report. It is well documented that the church abused its power and authority because bishops wanted to protect the church’s reputation at the expense of the victims. 

The current law only provided an escape for the abusers. I strongly urge you to work for legislation to open a “windoe” that would identify the perpetrators by allowing the victims to come forward. 

I don’t believe it is necessary to recite what evil behavior the Catholic Church engaged in. As it stands now there are perpetrators in the community who have escaped criminal charges, do you know where they are and what they are doing ?

If you have a conscience and want to address the needs of your constituents you need to hold the individuals, groups, and organizations accountable by opening this “WINDOW”.

I look forward to your response.

Respectfully,
Arthur J. Baselice Jr.
　
***********

To read this story in full where it was first published last month click: I took the bishop my son. I said, you broke him you fix him. They said, not our problem as perp a Franciscan. Now my son is dead

 By Kay Ebeling, Producer

City of Angels Blog

The City of Angels is Everywhere

“I would like to see the Legislature provide a ‘window’ for those who have been abused as children. And I would be grateful if it was named Arthur’s Law after our son ‘Arthur III.’”

Here is link to Baselice Story in Philadelphia Magazine Nov. 2009 issue, which we mention above, available to read online:

With reckless disregard, the Catholic Church is hiding crimes of pedophile priests as recently as 2003, alleges an April 2009 lawsuit (Complaint scanned in to enlarge and read at City of Angels Blog with outstanding quotes.)

As I read this yet another set of documented charges against pedophile priests, I can’t help thinking, these lawsuits are no longer about one plaintiff or even the individual victims.The general public suffered damages as well, because anywhere these priests went, children were at risk. And considering how hard it’s been for the few victims, now adults, who have come forward with charges, and how often children repress memories and never recover them, there is no way to know how many Americans got sexually molested by predator priests.  Now it looks like Cardinal Roger Mahony let another one loose on L.A. County.

How can so much pedophilia take place in an institution as influential as the Roman Catholic Church, without repercussions?Read the documents we’ve scanned, see if, about halfway through, you don’t start feeling outrage, wanting to shout, Enough. Where is law enforcement. Not only do Catholic priests commit sex crimes against children without rosecution, but the major perpetrators are still influencing American government and culture.The boy in this case was 14 at the time of the crimes.

The Diocese of Rome, Italy, “knew or should have known about Father Lopez’ dangerous propensities and tendencies as a child molester, sexual harasser, and sexual abuser, prior to transferring him to serve as a priest for Defendant The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Los Angeles.”

While plaintiff was a student at St. Thomas, defendants “engaged in a pattern and practice of employing other child molesters and staff known to be a danger to minors in their care.”

“This belief is based on the fact that Church, hierarchical, and/or school records of defendants … reflect numerous incidents of in appropriate sexual contact and conduct with minors by priests,” and other employees.

Click docs to enlarge and read at the original location of this post  last month

Ongoing coverage of the pedophile epidemic in the Catholic Church at City of Angels Blog

By Kay Ebeling, The City of Angels is Everywhere, sorry can’t figure out how to change the type to a regular type, it keeps going italic…

Read about Father Fernando Lopez under L in the database at BishopAccountability

Once again the Church removes a priest after credible pedophile allegations. He ends up with no criminal record, no monitoring. The Stockton Diocese in early January said he is in “treatment.” Where?  For how long?  With how many day passes?  Where will he go next? What community will Leo Suarez be free to roam now that he he gone off the Diocese Payroll and onto Social Security to be supported by taxpayers?

Modesto priest removed over sexual misconduct
San Jose Mercury News – ‎
AP
MODESTO, Calif.—The Roman Catholic Diocese of Stockton says it has removed a Stanislaus County priest after he admitted sexual misconduct with a minor 20 …

Priest removed over past misconduct with minor
Stockton Record – Joe Goldeen
STOCKTON
The Rev. Leo Suarez, a 22-year Roman Catholic priest in the Diocese of Stockton, has been relieved of his duties after admitting …

Priest Out Of Church After Sex Abuse Allegations
CBS13.com
Andrea Menniti
The information you provide will be used only to send the requested e-mail and will not be used to send any other e-mail communications. …

Stockton Diocese Priest Makes Child Sex Admission
News10.net
STOCKTON, CA – A longtime priest in the San Joaquin Valley has been relieved of duties following an admission of child sex 20 years ago, according to the …

Former Fatima priest removed for sexual misconduct
Merced Sun-Star
Sue Nowicki
The Rev. Leo Suarez, a priest who served last year at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church in Modesto, has been removed because of sexual …

Read Ongoing coverage of the Pedophile Epidemic in the Catholic Church at City of Angels Network

By Kay Ebeling – The City of Angels is Everywhere

Six thousand.  Researchers predict when all the crimes are investigated the number will be 10 thousand.  (The Forum in Chicago has some real reporting on the pedophile priest epidemic in that city. Here is link to Sins of the Father Part II published January 1, 2010. City of Angels Lady has to drop in from her tropical island resort hotel vacation [yeah, right] to respond to the Sins of the Father series, and encourage The Forum to go on from Parts 1 and 2 to Part 222 and farther, to get the whole story told. Note this post is at our new 2010 address: City of Angels 8. Even though we are on a break until the 15th, I keep being compelled to post. Here is email to The Forum in Chicago reprinted below:)

The Church turned at least six thousand pedophile priests loose on the population in the USA alone since 1950. Hundreds of thousands of American parish children were raped as a result. Yet the enormity of the crimes has somehow not gotten through to people.

The public has a right to know how one organization with as much influence as the Catholic Church can have so much criminal activity taking place among its employees and on its grounds for more than fifty years.

Thanks for the excellent reporting in the Forum series Sins of the Father. These Two Articles have been among the best I’ve seen written in several years. THANK YOU for not just going to nonprofit spokesmen for quotes to do stories about pedophile priests, as most reporters do. Instead you dug and did real reporting, talking to the victims.

Please don’t stop here.

Start with my priest, Thomas Barry Horne who founded St. Peter Damian church outside Chicago in 1949. There are signs of conspiracy and networking in these crimes, I’ve seen it often in three years of reporting on them. That is why the Church almost always settles before trial, to keep from having to release documents, as you reported. Good job.

So please keep digging, keep reporting, there is a Pulitzer Prize worth of material here if you keep researching. I’m a sick old lady in LA trying to get the story out with one small blog I write for free from home. I wish more real reporters would jump on this, and uncover the crimes in the church hierarchy that allowed this epidemic to go on.

I’m a victim from Chicago raped by Fr. Thomas B. Horne there 1953-54 in Bartlett. Now I’m a journalist who writes on this topic from L.A. My blog on pedophile priest crimes is City of Angels Network at http://cityofangels8.blogspot.com/ with more stories coming, starting Jan. 15. Stories from 2009 at City of Angels are at http://cityofangels5.blogspot.com/

Please keep researching and writing on Chicago’s role in this international child sex crime spree.

I hope there will be a Parts 10-12- and on to a 100 here at the Forum on pedophile priests, because there is enough material here, really. Keep digging.

Another source, in case you didn’t already find it, is http://bishopaccountability.org/ where every news article ever written on the topic is in the database, plus you can start from A to Z and read about the six thousand (6000!) pedophile priests identified so far in the U.S. Catholic Church.

And 6000 is just from this country, there’s still Ireland Australia Poland France Haiti Africa…

Click headline below to read this entire article:

The Public Has a Right to Know how Six Thousand Priests Got Away with Pedophilia

“Watching his son at the age Steve was when he was abused, he realized how innocent he was, how naïve he was. How little the kid understood about sexuality at that age, what this priest did to me and the way he groomed me. He said, I just had no tools to deal with that at that age. And what it did was it removed the guilt. It wasn’t my fault, he thought, it removed the guilt.”

(We move slowly. Last summer City of Angels interviewed Kelly Clark, Portland, Oregon, attorney who has handled clergy sex abuse cases for more than a decade. I asked him about the phenomenon, of recovering memory when your own child reaches the age of the suppressed trauma. Here is the transcript and video, it took me this long to get it cleaned up for post…)

Q ; Thanks for talking to me today. In a lot of clergy sex abuse cases recovered memory happens when a victim’s child turns the age the victim was when they were molested. They suddenly remember. you’ve had a couple of cases where that’s been part of the story. Can you talk about that.

KELLY CLARK : Sure the first incident I handled. Steve testified that when he was about twelve or thirteen, which is the age he was when he began to be groomed and abused- when he saw his son turn that age, he started thinking realizing he had always blamed himself for the abuse. He thought, I should have said something, I should have stopped it, I should have resisted.

Steve said, when I started looking at my son who was that age I started thinking, he’s just a kid. He doesn’t have responsibility. If somebody came on to him sexually, that’s not his fault, it wouldn’t be his fault. And, and he realized, maybe it wasn’t my fault. And that was when he began to, to think that I should do something about this.

Q ; It was when his child what, what age was when- what happened, his child turned 12 13 and what did he do?

KC : He said he was just looking at him one day thinking about how innocent his kid was and, uh, and naïve in some ways. And then he started thinking, well wait a minute that’s the age I was when I was abused. And the kid wasn’t at fault.

Q ; Mm-hmm and he came to you?

KC : It was one of the things that led him to me eventually. That, also a, a meditation group at his local church where he finally for the first time ever talked to people who had been. Anyway, he went to a, a counselor, he eventually went to the archdiocese, they agreed to pay for his counseling – then

Video, and story in further depth at City of Angels, click title below

When child turns age of parent sex abuse, recovered memory often triggered. Oregon attorney Kelly Clark talks to City of Angels

Since 1964, the Franciscan Friars of Santa Barbara have produced 24 pedophiles, resulting in 60 settled lawsuits, likely hundreds more victims. “This is a city of a hundred thousand people, and the Franciscans still have perpetrators hidden here,” said Tim Hale, who with his partners, obtained $28 million in the late 1990s, for victims of serial pedophiles among the Franciscan Friars.

(Pictured, Santa Barbara plaintiff attorne Tim Hale, who wrote the briefs)

A woman contacted Hale in early 2004 with a case similar to two in the Southern California clergy cases, but the window in the statute of limitations closed at midnight January 1, 2004. Hale (pictured at right) decided to get around the statute of limitations by filing suit against the Franciscan Friars of Santa Barbara for being an Ongoing Public Nuisance. (The entire complaint is copy and pasted at the end of this post.)

“Defendants, in concert with each other and with the intent to conceal and defraud, conspired and came to a meeting of the minds whereby they would misrepresent, conceal or fail to disclose information relating to the sexual misconduct of the Perpetrator and/or Defendants,” reads the September 22 Complaint.

“Even if it works it’s not going to save every case out there, beyond the SOL window,” Hale said. “This works in the Franciscan context in Santa Barbara because of their extensive history of this conduct.

The key word is ongoing. Because the Friars continue to hide, lie about, and transfer pedophile priests, the cover-ups are ongoing. Since children are still being raped by Franciscans friars who’ve been transferred from Santa Barbara to other cities, the menace to the community is ongoing.
Correction (09/23):
Tim Hale wrote to tell me:

“I actually didn’t speak with or meet Mary until November of 2007. I believe the Public Nuisance cause of action does allow Maria’s complaint to survive the statute of limitations attacks that are coming, that was not the purpose of the cause of action. The nuisance cause of action precedes by six years the current caselaw the church is now using to attack survivor’s lawsuits based on the statute of limitations. I’ve attached a document we filed yesterday which spells this out in more detail.”

City of Angels will post a follow-up along with the church’s attempt to change the venue of this EXTREMELY local Santa Barbara public nuisance suit so it can be considered in LA by Judge Emilie Elias with the rest of the LA mess. Update to come.
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“We have this huge body of evidence against one specific entity,” Hale said. “Our one law firm has devoted decades to finding evidence against this one province,” Hale continued trying not to get too excited about other cities filing similar suits.”

Still I’m thinking Boston, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Michigan, Minneapolis, Chicago, all cities with law firms that have accumulated “a huge body of evidence.”

CHICAGO???

Is there an attorney out there who’ll file a public nuisance against the Chicago Archdiocese in my name?

“It’s going to vary on a case by case basis,” Hale said.

The First Amended Complaint reads:

The “Franciscan corporate practice” of concealing the identities, crimes, and current assignments of these perpetrators ends up enabling and empowering them, so they continue to commit sexual assault on children. The Franciscans “continue to place at risk countless children.”

“For decades the Franciscans have successfully frustrated law enforcement efforts to enforce this compelling state interest, shielding Franciscan perpetrators from criminal prosecution by concealing their crimes and the whereabouts of known perpetrators. Time and again the Franciscans’ efforts have helped such criminals escape prosecution through, among other methods, expired criminal statutes of limitation. As a result, very few of these men have been prosecuted, convicted, and forced to register as sex offenders. Thus, the Franciscans have successfully concealed from the public the identities of an unknown number of Franciscan perpetrators.

The entire First Amended Complaint against the Friars as a Public Nuisance is copied at the bottom of this post.

Below is excerpt from Complaint filed last month against the Franciscans of Santa Barbara for not identifying and removing pedophiles immediately, instead allowing 60 (SIXTY!) children to be raped in this idyllic beach town north of L.A.

As a result the Franciscans created a:

PUBLIC NUISANCE

“After sending Ladenburger for treatment for his criminal conduct twice in the 1980s, the Franciscans allowed him to continue to work as a priest, including working at high schools.

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Photo above, LouisLadenburger

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At no time did the Franciscans report Ladenburger’s criminal acts to law enforcement. At no time did the Franciscans warn any families or communities where Ladenburger had worked or was working as a priest.
As a result, when he left the priesthood nearly twenty-years later, Ladenburger had never been convicted of a sex crime, was not a registered sex offender, and only the Franciscans were aware of his pedophilic propensities. An unknown number of children have been sexually assaulted by Ladenburger as a result.

In May of 2007, Ladenburger was arrested for sexually assaulting several children in Idaho.

After Ladenburger’s arrest last year, the Franciscans denied having any record of his past abuses. Fr. Jurisich finally admitted to Ladenburger’s sordid history, and the Franciscans’ knowledge since the 1980s of the risk he posed to children.

Ladenburger has since pleaded guilty to lewd conduct with two boarding school students, and on March 24, 2008, he was sentenced to five years in prison. The sentencing judge, the Honorable John Luster, found Ladenburger’s conduct so severe that he rejected a joint request by the prosecution and the defense of a suspended sentence.

Ladenburger has admitted he has a sex addiction.
These latest victims are further evidence of the continuing threat to all children posed by the Franciscans refusal to warn the public of their current and former members who have been accused of sexual abuse.

Four months after the Franciscans first denied then admitted they knew about the threat posed by Ladenburger, they were at it again. One would hope that after decades of Franciscan sexual abuse and cover-ups, at some point – perhaps, for instance, now that the number of confirmed Santa Barbara victims of Franciscan childhood sexual abuse has risen to 60 (sixty) – the Franciscan hierarchy would finally reconsider the corporation’s horribly flawed strategy of lying about and refusing to identify Franciscan priests and brothers accused of sexual abuse.

One would hope that after seeing today’s children continuing to be victimized as a result of this failed corporate strategy they would finally recognize that for the sake of both past and future victims, it was time to tell the truth.

However, as evidenced by their recent conduct towards (plaintiff) Mary, the Franciscans have learned nothing from the sad events involving Ladenburger, much less from their sordid history. Instead, they continue to re-victimize survivors of Franciscan sexual abuse, and to create new victims, by continuing to lie, conceal and cover-up the identities of Franciscans who pose a risk to children.

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The pedophile epidemic in the Catholic Church is a community and state problem. Religious orders who continue to hide and in other ways aid and abet pedophiles are producing an ongoing Public Nuisance, and as such can be prosecuted and sued for ongoing cover-ups.

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Rembrandt rendition of St. Francis
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