In hypothetical sex crime reports to oversight board in  L.A. Archdiocese, perps all named “Father Fred” and later “Father X” to protect priests named Fred 

Even John Manly seems astounded to hear the name of a lay committee in Los Angeles assigned to oversee sexual “misconduct” of Catholic priests. The news for years reported that CMOB advised the Archbishop on how to handle pedophile and other priest sex crimes. Manly, representing plaintiff Luis C., asked at the January 25, 2010, deposition of Cardinal Roger Mahony:

MANLY: There were two boards, SAAB and then another board after 2002, is that right?
A: Correct.
Q: So the SAAB Board and its follow on board is CMORE?
MR. HENNIGAN: CMOB.
MR. MANLY: Okay. I don’t know how you put that on the record but fine.
MR. HENNIGAN: C-M-O-B.
MR. MANLY: CMOB. Is that C-MOB? Okay…

John Manly

Manly (right) released transcripts of depositions of Judge Richard Byrne and Bishop Thomas Curry, as well as the L.A. Archbishop in June 2010, from the case of Luis C vs. Doe 1 et al. In that case, Father Michael Baker had gotten away with pedophilia for so long, he was barely hiding it by the time he met altar boy Luis C, whose charges were recent enough to fall within the statute of limitations and helped put the priest in prison.

Manly did not finish deposing the Cardinal last January 25th:

MR. MANLY: This will conclude Volume I of the deposition of the Cardinal.
MR. HENNIGAN: The final volume.
MR. MANLY: No, I’m not going to agree to conclude the deposition.
MR. HENNIGAN: And I’m not going to agree to continue it.
MR. MANLY: I have a stack of documents here-
MR. HENNIGAN: Then you should have gotten to them. My point, your honor-
MR. MANLY: What is this, Judge? Who does he think he is?
THE COURT: Everybody calm down.
MR. HENNIGAN: We will review the transcript and make a record on the repetitiveness, the dilatory nature of this interrogation. If [the judge decides] that we have got to come back for another day, then we will.
MR. MANLY: That’s fine but, Judge, there’s a variety of documents I haven’t gotten to.
THE COURT: I understand but- it’s got to go in at a faster pace… So three hours really ought to be able to-
MR. MANLY: That’s absolutely fine with me.
THE COURT: Can you agree to three hours?
MR. HENNIGAN: Avoid making a motion and we’ll do it for three hours.

(But then the Luis C. Case was settled, or “dismissed” as it is called legally, on March 25, 2010, two months after the deposition of Mahony was interrupted.)
******************

(Note, quotes in this blog post are copy and pasted directly from transcripts, slightly out of context and excess verbiage removed for sake of story, but no facts or details are changed.)

Cases of Priest Misconduct Went to the Clergy Misconduct Oversight Board As Hypothetical Cases

CMOB Never Heard Names of Priests or any Details of the Crimes.

CMOB never even knew if the crimes were real.

Manly asks Judge Byrne how the CMOB, Clergy Misconduct Oversight Board operated, from deposition on October 29, 2009:

Q: After hearing about all these hypothetical cases, did you see a larger problem that needed to be addressed between 1992 and 2002 with sexual abuse?”
BYRNE: No.
Q: Were you under the impression based on these hypothetical cases that you learned about that there were priests serving in the archdiocese that had previously molested children and were allowed to return to ministry?
BYRNE: I had no idea.

**************
(CofA: WAS HE SLEEPING?)
******************

JUDGE BYRNE: I don’t have a recollection about any of these cases.
Q You don’t ever remember Monsignor Loomis or Dire or Cox telling you that Father Fred or Father X had sodomized a child?
A No. I don’t recall.
Q: Okay. Judge, when they were talking about Father Fred, would they say, ‘Hypothetically Father Fred had sodomized altar boy Jim” or how did that work?

**********
(THEY DIDN’T EVEN KNOW if it was the same Father Fred or several different Father Freds:)
***********************

Q So it could have been the same father — it could have been the same priest the whole time, you had no way to know; right?
A Well, the facts were different, so the hypothetical that was presented was different. It sounded — but it could be like it was the same person.
Q But you’re not sure as you sit here today?
A Not today.

*********
(HOW EFFECTIVE COULD THIS BOARD BE? As you read these depositions, you realize almost everything the Church does to make the public think it’s taking care of its pedophile epidemic is more public relations than real news:)
*******************

Manly enters Exhibit 2, an online article from a Tidings article: February 17, 2006.

Q Does that look familiar to you?
A I may have read this particular article, I’m not sure, but the substance is familiar.
Q Okay. And it quotes you in the article several times. Did you notice that?
A Yes.
Q Are those quotes accurate?
A I assume so.
Q You’re quoted in the second paragraph the article, Your Honor “Our mission is to make sure all allegations of misconduct by priests are investigated.” Is that accurate?
A Yes.
Q And is that the board’s mission?
A That’s one of the things we do.
…
Q Have you ever had a conversation with the cardinal about Michael Baker?
A No. I don’t talk and haven’t talked with the cardinal very much.
Q Well, the reason I ask is that according to the report in The Tidings your role is to advise the cardinal, and so I mean, have you ever talked to the cardinal about sexual abuse?
A Oh, yes.
Q Does the cardinal come to the board meetings now?
A From time to time.
Q How many different conversations have you had with him regarding sexual abuse and sexual abuse of children?
A It would be hard to say over the years.

*****************
(CofA: What were they doing at those Oversight Committee Meetings besides eating pastry?

Adults who were raped as children by Catholic priests want to know.)
**************************

Q: Judge, do you remember a time where a case was presented to you involving the Father Fred between ‘92 and 2002 where you learned that father — this hypothetical priest had previously admitted to molesting children, had gone to treatment and been placed back in ministry and then had boundary violations where he was found alone with children? Do you ever remember a case like that coming in front of you?
A No.
Q: were there ever any type of written materials distributed to board members between ‘92 and 2002?
A I don’t believe so

***************
(CofA: INSTEAD THE BOARD WAS KEPT IN THE DARK: given hypothetical cases that were mild:)
*************************

Q: Say you have a situation where a priest has previously sodomized a little boy or little girl. Can you think of an instance where…

This lengthy post continues at city of angels here:   CMOB: In sex crimes reported to L.A. Archdiocese board, priests were all named Father Fred, and later Father X to protect any priests named Fred

By Kay Ebeling, Producer, The City of Angels Is Everywhere

Clergy Misconduct Oversight Board only heard hypothetical cases, while touted in the press as advisors to L.A. Archbishop Roger Mahony
 
Even John Manly seems astounded to hear the name of a lay committee in Los Angeles assigned to oversee sexual “misconduct” of Catholic priests. The news reported that CMOB advised the Archbishop on how to handle pedophile and other priest sex crimes. Manly, representing plaintiff Luis C., asked at the January 25, 2010, deposition of Cardinal Roger Mahony:

*MANLY: There were two boards, SAAB and then another board after 2002, is that right?
A: Correct.
Q: So the SAAB Board and its follow on board is CMORE?
MR. HENNIGAN: CMOB.
MR. MANLY: Okay. I don’t know how you put that on the record but fine.
MR. HENNIGAN: C-M-O-B.
MR. MANLY: CMOB. Is that C-MOB? Okay…

John Manly

Manly (right) released transcripts of depositions of Judge Richard Byrne and Bishop Thomas Curry, as well as the L.A. Archbishop in June 2010, from the case of Luis C vs. Doe 1 et al. In that case, Father Michael Baker had gotten away with pedophilia for so long, he was barely hiding it by the time he met altar boy Luis C, whose charges were recent enough to fall within the statute of limitations and helped put the priest in prison.

Manly did not finish deposing the Cardinal last January 25th:

MR. MANLY: This will conclude Volume I of the deposition of the Cardinal.
MR. HENNIGAN: The final volume.
MR. MANLY: No, I’m not going to agree to conclude the deposition.
MR. HENNIGAN: And I’m not going to agree to continue it.
MR. MANLY: I have a stack of documents here-
MR. HENNIGAN: Then you should have gotten to them. My point, your honor-
MR. MANLY: What is this, Judge? Who does he think he is?
THE COURT: Everybody calm down.
MR. HENNIGAN: We will review the transcript and make a record on the repetitiveness, the dilatory nature of this interrogation. If [the judge decides] that we have got to come back for another day, then we will.
MR. MANLY: That’s fine but, Judge, there’s a variety of documents I haven’t gotten to.
THE COURT: I understand but- it’s got to go in at a faster pace… So three hours really ought to be able to-
MR. MANLY: That’s absolutely fine with me.
THE COURT: Can you agree to three hours?
MR. HENNIGAN: Avoid making a motion and we’ll do it for three hours.

(But then the Luis C. Case was settled, or “dismissed” as it is called legally, on March 25, 2010, two months after the deposition of Mahony was interrupted.)
******************

(Note, quotes in this blog post are copy and pasted directly from transcripts, slightly out of context and excess verbiage removed for sake of story, but no facts or details are changed.)

Cases of Priest Misconduct Went to the Clergy Misconduct Oversight Board As Hypothetical Cases

CMOB Never Heard Names of Priests or any Details of the Crimes.

CMOB never even knew if the crimes were real.

Manly asks Judge Byrne how the CMOB, Clergy Misconduct Oversight Board operated, from deposition on October 29, 2009:

Q: After hearing about all these hypothetical cases, did you see a larger problem that needed to be addressed between 1992 and 2002 with sexual abuse?”
BYRNE: No.
Q: Were you under the impression based on these hypothetical cases that you learned about that there were priests serving in the archdiocese that had previously molested children and were allowed to return to ministry?
BYRNE: I had no idea.

**************
(CofA: WAS HE SLEEPING?)
******************

JUDGE BYRNE: I don’t have a recollection about any of these cases.
Q You don’t ever remember Monsignor Loomis or Dire or Cox telling you that Father Fred or Father X had sodomized a child?
A No. I don’t recall.
Q: Okay. Judge, when they were talking about Father Fred, would they say, ‘Hypothetically Father Fred had sodomized altar boy Jim” or how did that work?

**********
(THEY DIDN’T EVEN KNOW if it was the same Father Fred or several different Father Freds:)
***********************

Q So it could have been the same father — it could have been the same priest the whole time, you had no way to know; right?
A Well, the facts were different, so the hypothetical that was presented was different. It sounded — but it could be like it was the same person.
Q But you’re not sure as you sit here today?
A Not today.

*********
(HOW EFFECTIVE COULD THIS BOARD BE? As you read these depositions, you realize almost everything the Church does to make the public think it’s taking care of its pedophile epidemic is more public relations than real news:)
*******************

Manly enters Exhibit 2, an online article from a Tidings article: February 17, 2006.

Q Does that look familiar to you?
A I may have read this particular article, I’m not sure, but the substance is familiar.
Q Okay. And it quotes you in the article several times. Did you notice that?
A Yes.
Q Are those quotes accurate?
A I assume so.
Q You’re quoted in the second paragraph the article, Your Honor “Our mission is to make sure all allegations of misconduct by priests are investigated.” Is that accurate?
A Yes.
Q And is that the board’s mission?
A That’s one of the things we do.
…
Q Have you ever had a conversation with the cardinal about Michael Baker?
A No. I don’t talk and haven’t talked with the cardinal very much.
Q Well, the reason I ask is that according to the report in The Tidings your role is to advise the cardinal, and so I mean, have you ever talked to the cardinal about sexual abuse?
A Oh, yes.
Q Does the cardinal come to the board meetings now?
A From time to time.
Q How many different conversations have you had with him regarding sexual abuse and sexual abuse of children?
A It would be hard to say over the years.

*****************
(CofA: What were they doing at those Oversight Committee Meetings besides eating pastry?

Adults who were raped as children by Catholic priests want to know.)
**************************

Q: Judge, do you remember a time where a case was presented to you involving the Father Fred between ‘92 and 2002 where you learned that father — this hypothetical priest had previously admitted to molesting children, had gone to treatment and been placed back in ministry and then had boundary violations where he was found alone with children? Do you ever remember a case like that coming in front of you?
A No.
Q: were there ever any type of written materials distributed to board members between ‘92 and 2002?
A I don’t believe so

***************
(CofA: INSTEAD THE BOARD WAS KEPT IN THE DARK: given hypothetical cases that were mild:)
*************************

Q: Say you have a situation where a priest has previously sodomized a little boy or little girl. Can you think of an instance where…

This lengthy post continues at city of angels here:   CMOB: In sex crimes reported to L.A. Archdiocese board, priests were all named Father Fred, and later Father X to protect any priests named Fred

By Kay Ebeling, Producer, The City of Angels Is Everywhere

People are picking up cameras and reporting the real stories of the the BP Gulf of Mexico Oil Disaster on YouTube.  Images you have never seen, elements that have never existed before, plants dying in several states with same burn marks on leaves, all shot with hand held cameras by ordinary people recording the disaster literally from the ground.  Here are links to videos:

After three days of rain, plants are dying in Miami reports FederalJackTube2 channel on YouTube in this video: HEALTH ALERT: Toxic Rain In Miami From Gulf Oil Leak, Plants & Trees Dying

On Coast to Coast Radio show callers talk about Oil in Rain in South Carolina second half of this video is home movie quality footage of oil falling in the rain against a window in South Carolina July 7, 2010

From Russian TV Oily Rain In Louisiana “It is literally raining oil right here in River Ridge.”

From Georgie, URGENT: TOXIC RAIN OIL SPILL in my grass, woman shows dead vegetables in her garden Woman says, ‘It might not even be healthy for me to be out here in this grass looking at this.”  Plants have same burn marks as found in South Carolina, Louisiana and Florida.  She says same thing, The plants are dying “after three days of rain.”

AFTER THE RAIN, the plants die…

Is it raining BP Oil in Mississippi?  

ALSO

Possible Oily Rain in Panama City

 Thank God for the Internet, We Won’t Get Fooled Again, posted by Kay Ebeling, The City of Angels Is Everywhere

“We hope to depose officials who know how things have operated there for a long time, including Bertone and Sodano*” Jeff Anderson, July 6, 2010

In one video at City of Angels, a bishop says, “It was wrong taking comfort from children,” and an ex-Catholic who is now a street minister in England responds in outrage on YouTube. Also in ROUNDUP this week, a music video of “There’s No End” by Magdalen Graal, that may leave you feeling prickly.
First, City of Angels had a quick conversation by phone with Jeff Anderson, asking what are next steps the St. Paul MN attorney will be taking in pursuit of deposing the Pope and Vatican officials in Doe v. Holy See:
*****
CofA: Who will you try to depose first, as you work your way up to the Pope? What is the first step?
Anderson: We’re go back now to the trial court in Oregon, with a discovery plan. We have yet to propose that to the Court, we’re formulating it now. We’ll work up the line and we hope to get depositions from high ranking officials in the Vatican, the ones who know how things have operated there for a long time, like [Tarcisio] Bertone and [Angelo] Sodano.”

Depending on how those depositions go and what position The Vatican takes in court, we’ll have battles to fight.
Many of these depositions we’ll be taking in Rome. The first persons we’ll go after will be in Rome.
The judge will decide the pace, in hearings in Federal Court, what depositions we can and can’t take, what documents are discoverable and which aren’t.
Q: Will transcripts of the depositions end up on your website?
A: I will do everything I can to get as much information as we can out there publicly, but we have to be very prudent.
******
Doe v. Holy See hearings take place in Federal District Court in Portland, Oregon. Judge is Michael W. Mosman. Case #CV-02-00430
********************

Unusual News:
From Jamaica Observer, July 4, 2010
Hypocrisy Much?
By Sharon Leach
All in all, I’d say the past couple of weeks have been bad for the church. Well, their PR machinery. First, we had to be subjected to a preening Al Miller … Then, as if that wasn’t enough, the report of the pope raising holy hell about the Belgian police raiding the cathedral and chancery of the Brussels archdiocese in response to another round of sex abuse allegations and cover-ups…
What horrifies me is the fine lather the Church has worked itself into about the, well, violation of its rights by the police. Hello? What about the violation of the rights of all the victims who’ve been coming forward over the past years to voice the abuse they’ve had to suffer at the hands of certain paedophiles disguising themselves as priests? The scandals simply refuse to die. You’d have thought the Holy Father would be relieved at the intervention of civil law since canon law…

MORE UNUSUAL NEWS:
From Politics Daily July 8, 2010
Vatican’s New Rules Against Child Sex Abusers to Maintain Status Quo
The Vatican is expected to slightly enhance its rules for punishing clergy who sexually abuse children, but the new policies, likely to be announced within days, will still fall short of what victim advocates say is necessary to protect minors. Moreover, the changes are seen as fairly minor concessions in a decades-long battle to push Rome to act forcefully against abusers. In addition

*****
Music Video
Like it or not, it happened and we all have to reel in the residual effects.
The Image of Catholic Priests raping children is now fusing into arts and culture, so City of Angels is running There’s No End video (WARNING MAY OFFEND, MAY TRIGGER), song by Magdalen Graal who gives away her music for free at that site and here.  (To see Videos and Much More News Roundup go to City of Angels where this post first appeared Thursday, July 8, 2010 here)  ROUNDUP: Music, News, Video You Will Not Find in Mainstream Media Re Pedophile Epidemic in Catholic Church

City of Angels Blog is Posted by Kay Ebeling, The Cityof Angels Is Everywhere. Please credit and link back to this blog when copy and pasting.

Google Satellite Map of 3700 Sutter Street, Stockton CA, where activist found Titian Miani, pedophile priest with numerous credible charges, living with easy access to children.

The old man actually cried. He said, “My grand kids have been playing with him.”

When pedophile priests are removed from ministry for their crimes, they can end up living in any community, usually with no monitoring, even though they are credibly accused sex offenders, as the AP reported earlier this week followed by yesterday’s story at Politics Daily When civil lawsuits settle without going to trial, sex crimes of the priests remain “alleged.” As a result there could be thousands of pedophile priests, who have or have not been removed from ministry for child sex crimes, now living anywhere in the United States, with free and easy access to children.

A lawsuit filed including the Vatican as a defendant June 30th in Norwalk, California, concerns Father Titian Miani, who was the subject of several cases that were part of the 2007-2008 settlements against the L.A. Archdiocese, and his religious order, The Salesians. Miani has accusations of serial child rape from Italy, Brazil, Canada, and California.

After hearing about the new lawsuit June 30th that goes all the way to the Vatican, activist Joey Piscitelli of Martinez tracked down the priest and was alarmed to find that Miani’s current apartment in Stockton, CA, is between St. Luke’s Church, where Miani is apparently still serving as a priest, and a park with a skating area for children. The Stockton Diocese as recently as June 30th still listed Miani as a “Priest (Retired)” although his name has since been removed. (See Anderson Advocates site link below.)

We talked to Joey by Phone yesterday, here is what he had to say in his own words, taken down verbatim as he reported:

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

They have Miani stationed at St. Luke’s Church, and there’s a grammar school on either side of where he lives.

When I went there, he wasn’t in his apartment, the landlady said he was at the park.

I looked and a school is just a couple blocks away and there’s a park across the street.

Titian Miani is the poster boy for international child rape and here he wasn’t in his room, the woman says on a recent weekday afternoon, she says, “I think he’s at the park next door.”

His address is 3700 Sutter St. Apartment 1 Stockton, (the apartment building across street from Oak Park).

Local TV news from Channel 3 came out to cover the story of us leafletting Miani’s neighborhood, but they never ran a story.

There’s one park on each side of his building and a grammar school two blocks away.

The church has the audacity to put him there.

I’m going back again with fifteen hundred fliers.

I gave fliers to some of the other tenants in his building. It’s a retirement home, there were some older men on the porch playing checkers.

I told them about Titian Miani in Apartment 101 and one man said, “I have the apartment next door, my grand kids are around all the time, what are you saying?”

I said, look this guy is a serial child rapist.

The old man actually cried. He said, “My grand kids have been playing with him.”

Then the woman, I think she was the landlady, came out and took the flier out of his hands. She was working there at the apartments and I think she got on the phone, made a call, then came out and took fliers out of the hands of the tenants.

3700 Sutter Street in Stockton is a square building built in the thirties or forties. Everyone living there is over age 55, not priests, regular people.

Titian Miani is still a priest

I told them he’s listed as a priest retired not defrocked.

I said just look up Jim Miani on the internet, on bishop accountability.

Why wasn’t he convicted, the neighbors asked, and I said, the statute of limitations.

He’s living between two parks and across from a grammar school.
*****
END OF JOEY’S PHONED IN REPORT
*************

This battle is not anywhere near over…

***

Lots more information where this story first appeared at City of Angels:

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Pedophile Priest Lives by Park, Schools, and Church Even After 2008 Settlements Plus Current Vatican Lawsuit for His Crimes

Blog Posted by Kay Ebeling, The City of Angels Is Everywhere

(Analyzing Cardinal Roger Mahony’s statements under oath in deposition January 25, 2010 in the case of Luis C v. Doe, continued from from Part 1 and Part 2 . )

So Much For Pastoral Care. Since the July 2007 settlements in L.A. every mainstream news group has quoted the Archbishop saying he approaches the matter of pedophile priests in a pastoral way. He apologized on camera and says he is truly concerned about the victims who are struggling today. Yet this is what he said about two former altar boys in the deposition released to the public last month:

Q: Did the issue of reporting this to the police ever enter your mind [in 2000] when the Cadigan* matter carne up?
MR. HENNIGAN: Purely argumentative.
THE WITNESS: I answered that. I told you, these were adults. They were angry. They were furious at Baker. They had an attorney that was furious at Baker. They were in a different state. seemed to me if they really wanted to get him, they would have reported it in Arizona.
***
(Then 30 pages of transcript later, Mahony says about those same victims:)
***
MANLY: So the reason you didn’t tell the parishes about Michael Baker molesting children is because you were worried about a [2000] confidentiality agreement?
10 MAHONY: I was worried- not worried. I wanted to get that lawsuit settled.
12 Q Why?
13 A For the sake of these men, these victims.
***
*”Cadigan” refers to Lynne Cadigan, the Arizona attorney representing this set of victims; John Manly is the Orange County attorney representing Luis C. Hennigan is the L.A. attorney who represents Mahony

Around page 146 of transcript, Manly queries why the story of the illegal alien victims who went back to Mexico is nowhere in the “Report to the People of God” released in 2004.  When Mahony’s asked again why not call police, his laywers object: Not again, “It’s argumentative and it’s offensive.” Manly says, “Yeah, especially if you were molested by Father Baker.” Another question never really answered: Where did Father Baker get the $500,000 he apparently gave to one of his victims to make him go away?

MORE FROM TRANSCRIPT:

Q: When you were bishop of Stockton, did you have a policy where you kept files with allegations of sex molestation by priests against children?

A: There was a confidential section in the files.
Q: Did a confidential section for files exist when you came to Los Angeles?
A: I don’t recall.

**********
[Okay, He Right Away Remembers the Confidential Section Of Files In Stockton Where He’d Been 20 Years Earlier, But He Can't Remember For Los Angeles Where He Is Today? That Just Does Not Sound True. Look at Any Deposition, You See, Church Hierarchy Believe They Can Say Anything Under Oath, And Since No One Can Verify It, They Can Say Anything They Want Even Under Oath. ]
***************

DEPOSITION QUOTES CONTINUED:

Q: If a priest says to you, “I molested children,” don’t you think it’s appropriate at that point to call the police, be it in 1985 or now?
A: If you want to review the suspected child abuse form, you’ll see that the very top little section says, name of mandated reporter, title of mandated reporter, category of mandated reporter, the agency to which it is sent.
And the rest of it is a big section about each victim and the victim’s parents. So you– obviously, if you can’t fill out the form you can’t send it.
Q: I see. What about just picking up the phone as Bishop and calling for example, you knew Chief Gates, right?
A: Yes.
Q: You knew him personally, right?
A: Yes.
Q: He came to the Red Mass, right?
A: I think possibly.
Q: Couldn’t you cal up Chief Gates and say, “Hello, Chief, this is Cardinal Mahony. I have a priest here who has violated a child. I am not sure who it is. Could you please get somebody over here and begin an investigation?”
Wouldn’t that be the right thing to do?
A: Well today it would, but back then that isn’t the way these matters were approached.
Q: I see. When did that change, you know, when in your mind do you think it would have been appropriate to call the police? What was the year that changed?
A: Well my first approach is always the pastoral one. That is, if there is a suspicion of wrongdoing, regardless what it is, to get the priest away from ministry, to find out what is going on, and then to take whatever steps seem appropriate.
Q: How many priests admitted to you in Los Angeles they had molested children?
A: Over what time period?
Q: The entire time you’ve been here.
A: One. Michael Baker.

*********

This is A LOOOOONG post.  Read it in full here at City of Angels

Posted by Kay Ebeling, The City of Angels Is Everywhere

As the 20th Century began, Wadja and Janik Jendrzewski moved from Poland to Indiana and opened a bakery, drawn by the Freedom to NOT be part of a religion in this country.  Here is how they looked when they arrived:

The Jendrzewskis, 1900

They were “Intelligentsia,” my mother would say proudly, a burgeoning movement at the time in what later became the Soviet countries: People who wanted freedom to think, to entertain new ideas.  But an oppressive Roman Catholic regime in Eastern Europe made the life they wanted impossible.  So they moved into a Polish neighborhood in Gary, Indiana, where my mom Lucia was born.  They arrived and immigrating through Ellis Island in New York in 1900, which is around the time this photo was taken.

Posted here today to remind readers of the real reasons we have freedom of religion in this country.  So a person can profess any faith, even if it is only in the human mind.

My mom then married a sharp Chicagoan, who in the middle of the Great Depression, had a great job and was going to law school at night.  He was also a German-Irish Catholic, and she agreed to go along with the rule, join his religion to marry him.  She had no idea what she was getting herself into…

By Kay Ebeling (Who By The Way Loves Bible Studies but Is Not Religious)

Producer, The City of Angels Is Everywhere where this story first appeared here:

PIC: For Religious Freedom, the Right to be Atheist, My Grandparents Came to the USA

Since Roger Mahony is still on U.S. soil and as such still prosecutable, we interrupt our series, “Deconstructing William Levada,” to go through, line by line, the deposition of the Archbishop of Los Angeles, which was released last month. A quick read of the transcript makes it clear there are many contradictions and statements in his testimony, made under oath, that can only be fallacy when logic is applied to what was said.

Mahony close up

For example, Mahony claims to have had no knowledge of pedophile behavior patterns back in 1986, even though he was a masters level social worker* before entering church hierarchy as a bishop and upwardly mobilizing to Cardinal. He even taught Social Work at Fresno State University, after getting his MSW in 1964 up to becoming Bishop of Fresno in 1975.

So when Mahony claims that in 1985 he did not know pedophiles usually have numerous victims and can be sociopathic liars, it begs believability.

Also he refers to the families perpetrated by Father Michael Baker as “illegal aliens” as if that is how the perp priest and Mahony discussed the crime victims in 1985. The term “illegal aliens” did not infuse into American vernacular until around the turn of the century:

***

Q: Okay let’s go back to 1985. You knew, of course that sexual assault of any type is a crime, right, in 1985. 

A: Yes. ..

Q: How many priests admitted to you in Los Angeles they had molested children?
A: Over what time period?
Q: The entire time you’ve been here.
A: One. Michael Baker.
Q: What did he tell you?
A: He told me that they were two families of illegal aliens and they had left the Los Angeles area.

Q: I want to know, in 1986, did it occur to you that it would be a good idea, sir, to make an announcement to the parish?
A: Let me explain. It is impossible to talk about 1986 without understanding all that has gone on since… I can’t disassociate what we have accomplished over the years to protect children.

***

In 1985 you barely heard the term “illegal aliens,” that’s a post Bush era colloquialism.

Illegal alien
From 2006 article National Association of Hispanic Journalists:

NAHJ is concerned with the increasing use of pejorative terms to describe the estimated 11 million undocumented people living in the United States. NAHJ is particularly troubled with the growing trend of the news media to use the word “illegals” as a noun, shorthand for “illegal aliens”. Using the word in this way is grammatically incorrect and crosses the line by criminalizing the person, not the action they are purported to have committed. NAHJ calls on the media to never use “illegals” in headlines. (From Association of Hispanic Journalists)
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A growing trend to use this term in 2006, yet Baker and Mahony tossed it back and forth between them in 1985? Mahony must have forgotten his political correct hat at the January 2010 deposition.

PREVIEW OF POST NEXT WEEK:

This post is a preview of what is to come, when we finish this project of Deconstructing the Deposition of Roger Mahony, which will be followed by the the Deconstructing of depositions of Cardinal Frances George and Cardinal William Levada. Then, hopefully as Minnesota attorney Jeff Anderson deposes others of these high hat guys in dresses who are Catholic Church hierarchy, in his pursuit of prosecuting the Pope, we will deconstruct those transcripts here as well.

In what we have read so far from Roger Mahony, he claims that in 1985 he did not know pedophiles usually have more than one victim and can be sociopathic liars.

Plus, how convenient to just shrug and say, “they were illegal aliens” when that was not even a term used in the 1980s.

*From Wikipedia, re Roger Mahony’s education:

He graduated from The Catholic University of America in 1964 with a master’s degree in social work. For the next 13 years, he held pastoral and curial assignments in the Diocese of Monterey-Fresno and the newly formed Diocese of Fresno. He was named a monsignor in February 1967. He also taught social work at Fresno State University during this period.

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It just sounds too practiced and prepared, the term illegal alien as Mahony uses it.

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I am trying to finish taking apart the deposition so can post the full in depth analysis by Monday night, and will do so, barring unexpected delays.

-Kay Ebeling, The City of Angels Is Everywhere -

This post first appeared: Saturday, July 3, 2010

Mahony Redux: Deconstructing the Deposition of the Archbishop of Los Angeles, Part 1

“It feels as though news reporting is being criminalized,” says New Orleans photographer today. From video on Olbermann last night:

“We saw this pod of dolphins obviously struggling just to breathe.   Then we found this guy: a sperm whale swimming in the oil had just breached. Along his back we could see red patches of crude as if he’d been basted for broiling.  Then we saw this pod of dolphins, some already dead, some in their death throes.  It seemed they were raising their heads looking at the fires, wondering why is my world burning down around me, why would humans do this for me.”

Conservationist John Walthen showed his video on MSNBC last night. This morning in New Orleans the Coast Guard “put new restrictions in place across the Gulf Coast that prevent the public- including news photographers and reporters covering the BP oil spill-  from coming within 65 feet of any response vessels or booms on the water or on beaches,” according to a stoy in New Orleans Times-Picayune today.

See the video of Whelan on Olbermann here  and Whelan’s Web Site is BP Oil Slick on Blogspot 

More from Times Picayune story about Coast Guard ban of flyovers:

Photographer Ted Jackson of The Times-Picayune was trying to charter a flight with Southern Seaplane in late May to photograph oil coming ashore on Grand Isle, but the pilot was told that no media flights could go below 3,000 feet, due to restrictions from the Federal Aviation Administration.  That FAA policy has remained in effect, requiring media outlets to get special permission in order fly below 3,000 feet.

‘ “Often the general guise of ’safety’ is used as a blanket excuse to limit the media’s access, and it’s been done before,” Herbert said Thursday. “It feels as though news reporting is being criminalized.” ‘

City of Angels first linked to James Whelan’s BP Oil Slick blog last week: