“Mr. Woods informed Mr. Manly that he had strict marching orders, and that he was unable to agree to allow any deposition of Cardinal Mahony to proceed.”

Quote above is from a public document obtained by City of Angels Blog Sept. 29, 2010, filed September 29, 2010, by plaintiff attorneys Manly & Stewart of Newport Beach (who did not send the document to CofA).

The “Joint Status Conference Statement” reveals some of the obstruction Catholic Church attorneys carry out fighting plaintiffs behind the scenes, while bishops and reverends assure parishioners and the media that the church is cooperating and operating in a new transparency, re the crimes of pedophile priests.

We are letting the document speak for itself, here are direct quotes, from the PDF document received just hours ago, copy typed by this blogger, who was once employed at a transcription company called “Raging Fingers.”

Plaintiffs subpoenaed Cardinal Roger Mahony for deposition.

“We have been informed by counsel for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and Cardinal Mahony, Don Woods, Esq., that they will be filing a motion to quash the subpoenas and objecting to the notices.”

Plaintiffs and Defense attorneys met and conferred by phone with Woods, “Seeking to reach a resolution of the Cardinal Mahony deposition issue, to the benefit of all parties involved.”

Manly’s office writes: “Mr. Woods informed Mr. Manly that he had strict marching orders, and that he was unable to agree to allow any deposition of Cardinal Mahony to proceed.”

“The deposition of Cardinal Mahony is crucial in the above noted cases, and because of his impending retirement, must be scheduled some time between now and early 2011.”

On February 27, 2011, upon the Cardinal’s 75th birthday, Archbishop Jose Gomez is scheduled to succeed Mahony.

”As such it is imperative that Plaintiffs have the ability to depose Cardinal Mahony in their actions.”

John VG Doe was sexually abused by Father Fernando Lopez-Lopez, a Colombian priest working in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles by way of the Archdiocese of Rome, from 2003-2004. Cardinal Mahony was the archbishop of Los Angeles at the time, and thus directly responsible for reviewing priest Lopez-Lopez’ past and credentials, allowing his visit to the archdiocese to serve, and supervising his conduct.

Cardinal Mahony is also a party to the action.
Father Lopez-Lopez was charged with multiple criminal offenses for his sexual abuse of Plaintiff and another boy, and convicted in 2005. He has subsequently been deported from the country.

John MG Doe was sexually abused by Father Michael Baker of Los Angeles 1994-1997. Cardinal Mahony was archbishop of Los Angeles at the time.

John TH Doe was sexually abused by Father Michael Harris of the Diocese of Orange. Prior to being a priest of Orange, Father Harris was a priest of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. He received treatment while he was a priest of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. As such Plaintiff John TH Doe has the right to depose Cardinal Roger Mahony.

John D-C Doe was sexually abused by Monsignor Simon Falvey of the Diocese of Orange from 1985 to 1992. Prior to being a priest in Orange, Falvey was a priest of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

(Manly has two other cases. John TZ Doe, and John JS Doe, TZ happened in the Diocese of Stockton where Mahony was Bishop at the time. John J-S in Turlock and Lodi, both within the Diocese of Stockton. )

“These plaintiffs have the right to depose Cardinal Mahony regarding relevant matters and those reasonably calculated to lead to discovery.”

Re: John TH Doe: This matter has been proceeding for two years and eight months. Suggest a trial date of July 2011.

Re: John DC Doe: This matter has been proceeding for one year and four months. The matter has been released from temporary stay. Defendants have filed demurrers and motions to strike, and plaintiff filed a First Amended Complaint to remedy some of the defects noted by Defendants. Suggesting a trial date for Summer 2011.

The Case Re: John VG Doe has been released from temporary stay and “is past demurrer and motion to strike stage, now in discovery stage”. Requesting “the heretofore agreed to date of March 7, 2011.” This matter has been proceeding for one year and six months.

John MG Doe case has been proceeding for four months.

In all three cases, “Without a trial date set, Plaintiff’s counsel is unable to set a time line for discovery.”
***************

See Exhibit C and Page One of document by going to original post at City of Angels Blog here: Mahony Dodging Deposition re current pedophile priest cases before retiring February 2011, plaintiffs request trial dates - Posted by Kay Ebeling, Producer, City of Angels Blog on September 29, 2010.

(There’s been a lot of pre-show publicity for tonight’s CNN program, “What the Pope Knew” best coverage has been at beliefnet. Part one of their series on the CNN show quoted here:)

“Back then the local bishops could have made decisions on their own — and should have decisions on their own to get these priests away from kids. And it was known that they could do that — but if they knew that why were they sending desperate letters to Cardinal Ratzinger asking for it and doing it repeatedly? Even the bishops didn’t know that! So, that’s what’s disturbing. “The argument is things were different back then. But, you know what? Children are children and they were being molested and nothing was being done about their molesters. The police weren’t told, the public wasn’t being told and the bishops in the United States were getting no adequate response from Cardinal Ratzinger.” ( Read entire story at BeliefNet )

Blogger Mary Shaw in Philadelphia writes about the upcoming cable news report:

“According to CNN, the pontiff expressed his “deep sorrow” for the scandal. But is he really sorry for the abuse, or is he just sorry they got caught? Talk is cheap, you see. So let’s once again take a look at his actions, which I’ve documented before, because this nonsense is nothing new. This pope has a long history of covering up the problem. Apparently, protecting the Church’s reputation is more important than protecting its children…(Continue Reading: More Papal Hypocrisy on Clergy Sex Abuse at Philadelphia Freedom Blog

Religious Douchebags Blog keeps an ever-watchful eye on clergy sex abuse issues around the world, Catholic and other, Found at Religious Douchebags, posting recently: “Pope Benedict XVI spent the past few days in the UK. While there, he met with five former victims of sex abuse by priests.

“John” at Religious Douchebags” has run these recent posts: Rev. Alejandro Flores Pleads Guilty – Pastor Daniel Vasquez Arrested For Molesting 30 Bo… – Pastor Timothy Parker Charged For Molestation – Pastor Malcolm Hoare On Trial For Molestation – Pastor Robert Riddle Pleads No Contest – Pastor Jennifer Michelle Brennan Convicted – Fugitive Priest May Be Extradited – Christine O’Donnell On Evolution with a name like “Religious Douchebags” you know it will tell the truth about pedophile priest crimes.

****
In a blog about Pastor Eddie Long, of Atlanta: Over and over again, we’ve heard about priests and protestant ministers who coerce victims into “sexual relationships” by positing that it is God’s will and using their holy book to facilitate and justify rape. This is one of many reasons I am desperately opposed to substituting faith-based initiatives for a federally mandated and funded social safety net. Yeah, sixty-seven layers of bureaucracy is a pain in the ass, but it also provides a level of oversight and accountability that going to your local neighborhood rectory doesn’t. And yeah, institutional offices and overworked employees can be cold and clinical, but they also don’t ply vulnerable people with coercive fairy tales…” Continue Reading Just Like Jesus Would Do at Shakesville Blog.

Cartoon of the Week… (Continue reading here posted Sept. 25, 2010, at City of Angels Blog by Kay Ebeling.)

Monsignor Peter Cheplic was “retired from active ministry” after four men reported he’d acted out with them as a pedophile when they were children.  The Newark Archdiocese assured Cheplic’s victims that Cheplic would “no longer present himself publicly as a priest,” in a letter that went out with their settlements (Scanned at this post at CofA, so you can click to enlarge and read). 

Cheplic’s most vocal victim, Joe Capozzi, went on to write and perform in For Pete’s Sake, which gets enthusiastic response from audiences around New York, and Cheplic’s victims were moving forward. Then Capozzi was surprised to find, under “Prayer for Priests & Vocations” last week, the name “Rev. Msgr. Peter A. Cheplic” right up there at the top in the right hand corner of the bulletin of St. Raphael’s Parish in Livingston, New Jersey. “A request for prayer for a priest that was credibly accused of sexual abuse by four men?” asks Capozzi.

asks Capozzi. The actor/ playwright fired off a letter to the Archdiocese of Newark, and cc’d a lot of people:

“I was informed that in the bulletin of September 5, 2010, there is a request for prayers for priests of the Archdiocese of Newark,” writes Capozzi. “This particular bulletin (left) requested prayers for “Rev. Msgr. Peter A. Cheplic.

“I was also informed by the Archdiocese of Newark’s attorney (Charles Carella) through my attorney that the church holds no responsibility for Cheplic’s name appearing in the bulletin. Only if Cheplic himself requested to have his name put in the bulletin asking for prayers for priests could he be held liable.

“I was informed by the Archdiocese of Newark that he can no longer function as a priest and could not be referred to by these titles since he was credibly accused and a settlement was made on the behalf of me and two other men he sexually abused.”

***********************************
At least start calling him Mr. not Reverend Cheplic.
***********************************

Joey’s email to Newark Archdiocese, continued:

“I also would appreciate a written explanation as to why Peter Cheplic was referred to in this manner,” continues Capozzi’s email.

“It is truly disturbing that the Archdiocese of Newark has truly learned NOTHING from their mistakes. I feel that I have been lied to and the terms of our settlement agreement have been broken. If this is a mistake then say that and print a public retraction in your bulletins.”

Gee, Joey, you think they will?

Of course the attorney for the Catholic Church also qualified his words when he wrote the letter for the Archdiocese of Newark to the crime victims about Cheplic’s:

“I provide this information as a courtesy and not in any way as part (or a condition) of the settlement of the above-referenced claims.” (CofA emphasis)

The Church through their attorneys did tell Capozzi:

“As part of the agreement, Mgr. Cheplic will not exercise his priestly ministry in a public way, nor will he represent the Church in any public way. He will not wear clerical dress in the Archdiocese or in any other diocese. He also will not present himself publicly as a priest.”

But there’s the old words out of the side of the mouth you can expect from a corporate attorney double speaking for his client. The information in the letter to Capozzi and two plaintiffs was a “courtesy” not any kind of commitment or part of their legal settlement.

Why anyone expects Catholic Church hierarchy to do in private what they say in public after the past two decades of felony sex crimes against children uncovered, I don’t understand.

*****************
‘I feel that I have been lied to and the terms of our settlement agreement have been broken. If this is a mistake then say that and print a public retraction in your bulletins.’
******************

Joey emailed:

“Again the church holds no responsibility for Cheplic’s actions or even the church’s. It is only the responsibility of the credibly accused priest.”

I’m wondering why priests removed from ministry because they perpetrated sexually on children are still held in high regard in these parishes?

Of course the parishioners rarely get the whole story.

JOE CAPOZZI: They are using the many loopholes that the church and their lawyers put into these settlement agreements. This is truly disturbing. So who is responsible for putting the names in a church bulletin? Who is responsible for seeing that a man who was credibly accused by 4 men of sexual abuse is not allowed to present himself as a priest?” Capozzi asks.

“It is amazing,” writes Capozzi, “there is no one to take responsibility. That’s why it’s necessary to keep speaking up. That list of priests in the church bulletin shows that Cheplic is clearly still recognized by the Archdiocese of Newark as a Monsignor in the Catholic Church.

“So what was my settlement for?

“What does the letter stating that Cheplic cannot present himself as clergy mean? Cheplic lost his qualification to use such titles, so I thought. Who is responsible for what’s printed in a church bulletin? If Cheplic is sick, then retract what was printed and ask for prayers for Mr. Peter Cheplic.”

*******************
‘I request that a printed public retraction be made through the Archdiocese of Newark and St. Raphael’s Parish.’
*********************

“In 1958, in Italy, at the age of 15, I was sexually assaulted by a Catholic priest,” writes Guest Author at City of Angels today, John Wojnowski.  His story continues:

The trauma was so extreme that the memory of the event was repressed for 39 years. Irreparably damaged, I lived a stunted, sad, insecure life to the age of 54 when, in 1997, a Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal in Texas, was the spark that jump-started the memory.

Wojnowski in front of Vatican Embassy in DC

On the 4th of August, 1997, I contacted the Catholic Church and was offered counseling. Analyzing the facts it became evident that this molestation was the crucial episode that altered negatively the course of my life and caused much suffering to me and to my family.  

On August 26th, 1997 I wrote my first letter to the Catholic Church ending with: “I welcome any interrogation by Church officials and experts because I am confident that my claim will only be strengthened.”

A Bishop replied asking for more details.

I wrote my second letter with all the information I remembered.

A month went by… no answer.

I wrote my third letter.

More months went by… no answer.

I was being ignored because evidently I had no legal recourse and the hierarchy “KNEW” that SHAME would keep me from going beyond writing letters.

But I could not give up.

The misery of a life of insecurity, my family’s suffering, the wasted potential of a stolen life cried for reparation.

I could not give up.

In 1998, I was not ready to go public about molestation or sexual abuse and at that point it was not really necessary: I made a large sign with a four feet tall question-mark and a small caption: “Bishop Lori, do you recognize this question-mark?” and stood in front of the Vatican embassy.

Quite promptly the bishop finally answered that unfortunately the “priest allegedly involved” died ten years earlier, so I had no case but the good bishop would pray for me and the Church would pay for the therapy.

Not quite enough for a cripple’s wasted life and a lifetime of sorrow.

The only recourse to obtain Justice was at the “Court of Public Opinion”.

In April 1998, a lone, shy, insecure, stuttering, anonymous old man appeared in front of the Vatican embassy in Washington holding a big sign:

MY LIFE WAS RUINED BY A CATHOLIC PEDOPHILE PRIEST

The breathtaking stupidity of the Catholic Church response makes me reluctant to use the term “evil” but the ferocity, ignorance, vulgarity, cowardice, infantilism, hypocrisy and malevolence experienced by this victim for the last twelve years are evidence of pathologies that plague this degenerate and disgraced institution.

**********
The Last 12 Years
***********

A sad old man, holding this big sign, often crying….(I was moved to tears when, from passing cars there were shows of support). The beginning was quite difficult, as I received all kinds of threats, insults and obscene gestures.

Daily, from passing cars people would yell:

LOSER!

….It was not easy.

One day a priest stopped by…. (Continue reading longer version of this post at City of Angels Blog by Kay Ebeling

Found during Discovery in the Clergy Cases of Southern California, a brochure telling U.S. Catholic bishops about Via Coeli in Jemez Springs, NM, was scanned here at City of Angels this weekend, while the Pope appeared in the UK saying he was surprised at the extent of pedophile priests crimes.  Priests with “psycho-sexual problems,” which often meant pedophilia and pederasty, went for decades to the Servants of the Paraclete treatment center in New Mexico promoted in this brochure. Other documents show that from 1949 to the mid-1980s “guest” priests, after completing therapy at Via Coeli, often remained as “members” of the religious order.

Their sexual problems “cured,” as the Servants came to believe was possible, the priests then went into nearby communities to conduct Masses, retreats, altar boy training…

In a cabinet at City of Angels was this stack of documents, given us by plaintiff attorneys in the Coordinated Clergy Cases (JCCP), filed in 2003 and settled in 2006-7 in California. CofA posted several of the documents in 2008, then put the stack away, until last week. Stay tuned for a LOT more about Servants of the Paraclete, upcoming at City of Angels Blog, as we go through more of these documents in weeks ahead, here is the brochure from c. 1957, found in the San Diego Bishop’s files (first two pages, entire brochure scanned with more pixels at City of Angels).

Read the remaining pages of the brochure, scanned with more pixels so you can click enlarge and read posted Saturday at City of Angels Blog by Kay Ebeling.

Posted by a tech challenged blogger Bill Maher Pope Joke re bringing him a bobby: Watch it here at City of Angels Blog this morning.  The Pope is concerned about his security, well, bring him a bobby or a …

BONUS: Archdiocese defense attorney gives the finger to reporter who covers pedophile priest crimes in L.A:   photo here where this story first ran at City of Angels Blog, September 15, 2010

***

“The primary defendant has worked out a settlement, which will release the Archdiocese,” Cardinal Roger Mahony’s defense attorney Lee Potts said in L.A. Superior Court Wednesday morning (Sept. 15, 2010). “It’s a global settlement that releases all the defendants,” Potts said.

Case #BC391894 involved “acts that took place from 1996 to 1999″ against a 14-year-old boy, and plaintiff attorneys were pursuing a deposition of Cardinal Roger Mahony when parties reporting reaching a settlement in this morning’s hearing, with Judge Emilie Elias.

Earlier this year, Potts had produced three Motions to Stay and Quash Deposition Re Cardinal Mahony and a “Person Most Knowledgeable,” in the Saul R case. June 2010, Plaintiff Attorney Dawn Smith, of The Cifarelli Law Firm in Santa Ana, fired back with opposition motions, continuing to pursue a deposition of the Cardinal.

Direct quotes from the Complaint

From 1st Amended Complaint
Case Number: BC391894

SAUL R VS THE ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHDIOCESE OF LOS ANGELES ET AL

Filing Date: 06/02/2008

Case Type: Other PI/PD/WD (General Jurisdiction)

Status: Consolidated 07/07/2008 with Coordinated Case(s): JCCP4286

The perpetrator is Brother Modesto Leon.

Plaintiff in Case No. BC391894 alleges that he was a victim of childhood sexual abuse by Brother Modesto Leon, a Roman Catholic Brother in the religious order Claretian missionaries.

For decades certain Roman Catholic Church personnel have sexually preyed upon the children under their leadership and or supervision. All the while, Defendants knew such vile practices were occurring, yet failed to take reasonable steps to ensure the safety of these children and to prevent the future acts of molestation.

Defendants’ despicable conduct has resulted in a legacy of pain and emotional devastation. This suit seeks compensation for sexual abuse.

Defendants use their position as religious instructors and counselors to gain the trust and confidence of sexual molestation victims. Thereafter, Defendants misrepresent, conceal, or fail to disclose information relating to the sexual misconduct of clergy members.

This suit seeks compensation relating to this breach of trust.

Plaintiff SAUL R brings this action as an individual.

These acts took place 1996-1999

*****
(These allegations took place three years after the one case identified at Bishop Accountability under L regarding Brother Modesto Leon.)
******

(More From the original complaint Case #BC391894:)

Plaintiff alleges that the abuse occurred between 1995 and 1996 while he was a participant in youth retreats at Camp Unity in the Angeles National Forest – founded, organized, and supervised by Brother Leon.

He alleges that Brother Leon was also the founder of Soledad Enrichment Action, Inc., and that the abuse allegedly occurred within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

The claims in the Complaint largely track the claims in the Master Complaint in the Coordinated Cases.

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

Another Defendant in Case #BC391894 is

Soledad Enrichment Center

A corporation that ran retreats, founded, organized, and supervised by Defendant

BROTHER MODESTO LEON.

The pedophile priest ran retreats at Camp Unity (Off Barley Flats Road on Mount Wilson in the mountains overlooking the San Gabriel Valley).
Back to document on Saul R.

These allegations are from 1996 to 1999

Saul R was age 14 to 16 birthday June 11, 1982

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

More direct quotes from Complaint Case #BC391894:

Plaintiffs allege that 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 defendant.

By so concealing, Defendants committed at least one act in furtherance of the conspiracy.

*****
END OF DIRECT QUOTES FROM COMPLAINT
*****

Posted by Kay Ebeling, Producer, City of Angels Blog covering the pedophile epidemic in the Catholic Church since January 2007

The number of pedophile priests found so far in the U.S. Catholic Church is “extrapolated” to be as high as 10,969 according to Bishop Accountabillity.org, and they are still counting.

The international numbers get higher as courts order release of documents in American and European dioceses. “The percentage of paedophile priests is 20 to 200 times higher than the incidence found in the secular population,” according to a report by Vania Lucia Gaito that City of Angels has published in today’s post.

Vania Lucia Gaito

Italian psychologist and journalist Gaito is known for her work with the blog Bispensiero to bypass mainstream media and broadcast the BBC documentary Sex Crimes and the Vatican with subtitles in Italy in 2007. When CofA received her report last summer, we realized it coincides with numbers released at Bishop Accountability July 1, 2010

“After the March 2009 release of audit documents by the New Hampshire AG, the names of 74 accused Manchester priests are known, or over 8.9% of the 831 diocesan priests, which extrapolates to 9,768 nationally. Covington diocese states that 9.6% of its priests have been accused, which extrapolates to 10,531 nationally. Over 10% of Providence RI priests have been accused, which extrapolates to over 10,969 nationally.”

BA founder and president Terry McKiernan writes: “When an independent assessment is done with true access, the percentage of accused priests is about 10 percent. That is a shocking number. No other profession has such a high percentage.” Read the updated numbers here at Bishop Accountabillity.

“To hand a child over to a clergyman means to expose him/her to a risk which is at least twenty times higher than that of handing him/her over to a teacher, to a neighbour, to a family friend,” writes Gaito from Italy. “In regard to what the Church wants you to believe; i.e., that the risk is the same, you only have to analyze the figures to realize that it is not true.”

Still parishioners prefer to believe the numbers they hear from the pulpit, as evidenced in a recent Denver Post editorial:

“The problem [of pedophile priests] is vastly different from that described so enthusiastically by the media, and most of the critical measures have already been taken. Based on the results of the John Jay Criminal Research Study conducted in New York in 2004, Jenkins summarizes that the documented evidence for clerical crime is far less extensive than is widely believed. Even in the overheated and litigious atmosphere following the Boston scandals, the Jay study reported no allegations against 24 priests out of every 25.…” Continue reading My brother, the priest in Denver Post.

And just days ago: Belgian bishops admit “errors,” say child abuse is societal problem as reported in Monsters and Critics

Here is the real story, from Italy:

What’s Unfair is Trying to Minimize the Problem

By Vania Lucia Gaito

The percentage of paedophiles amongst Catholic clergymen is 20 to 200 times higher than the percentage of paedophiles amongst the common people. To hand a child over to a clergyman means to expose him/her to a risk which is at least twenty times higher than that of handing him/her over to a teacher, to a neighbour, to a family friend.

In regard to what the Church wants you to believe, i.e. that the risk is the same, you only have to analyze the figures to realize that it is not true. In order to better understand, it is necessary to have a closer look at the figures, without being deceived by abstract numbers, that are not compared with others.

Pope Benedict XVI says that the Catholic Church has often come under “unfair and unfounded attacks” referring to the issue of paedophilia.

According to Monsignor Mariano Crociata, Secretary-General of the Italian Episcopal Conference, in the last ten years the the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has investigated about a hundred Italian priests, accused of sexual abuse with minors.

Monsignor Crociata has never provided details on the outcome of these proceedings, claiming that in Italy there is no need for a special committee from the Church to cope with cases of child molestation. Furthermore, nothing is known about that “hundred” pedophile priests the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith investigated: not even if there were a hundred priests, nor how many victims, nor how long the abuse continued. We don’t know if other priests or bishops knew about the crimes.

*****
The percentage of paedophiles amongst clergymen in Ireland is thirty times higher than the percentage of paedophiles amongst the common people
***************

So are “attacks” on the Church for its paedophilia really unfounded and unfair, as the Pope and his spokesmen say? When you examine the numbers, you realize the problem is very serious, much more serious than the Church presents.

A first question concerns the “hundred cases” mentioned by Monsignor Crociata. If you add up the number of cases of sexual abuse with minors perpetrated by Italian priests and reported by the press in the last ten years, you find that the cases of paedophilia and child pornography involve at least 172 priests. There are no two ways about it: either not all the priests accused have been investigated by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, or Monsignor Crociata is definitely too optimistic.

Understand the problem of clerical paedophilia is not a matter of statistics, but rather a matter of morality,

But if you do take a close look at the figures concerning other Countries you get an idea of the extent of the problem: 4,392 priests accused of paedophilia in the U.S.; 1,700 priests accused of sexual abuse on little children, orgies and use of drugs in Brazil; 107 priests and clergymen convicted in Australia of abuse with minors; 800 clergymen accused of more than 14,000 cases of abuses in Ireland. Plus, hundreds of cases in Holland, in Poland, in Croatia, in France, in England, in Alaska, in Mexico. Up to now, and only in the U.S., $3 billion has been paid in financial compensation. More than one billion for financial compensation has been asked by the survivors of Ireland’s industrial schools.

Thousands of victims.

Sometimes even very little children.

A careful analysis of the phenomenon of clerical paedophilia, commissioned by the American bishops to the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, known as the “John Jay Report,” determined that 4% of American priests have been charged with paedophilia. However, in September 2009 the archbishop Silvano Tomasi, Permanent Observer of Holy See to the United Nations in Geneva, minimized the problem claiming that “only 1.5%-5% of Catholic clergy was involved in child sex abuse.”

Small numbers?

Paltry percentage?

Not at all, if you compare these proportions to those of the secular population.

The percentage of paedophiles amongst Catholic clergymen is 20 to 200 times higher than the percentage of paedophiles amongst the common people.

*****
Should the percentage of paedophile priests be 1.5%, as suggested by Monsignor Tomasi, it would be twenty times higher than the incidence found in the secular population.
****************

To hand a child over to a clergyman means to expose him/her to a risk which is at least twenty times higher than that of handing him/her over to a teacher, to a neighbour, to a family friend. In regard to what the Church wants you to believe; i.e., that the risk is the same, you only have to analyze the figures to realize that it is not true. In order to better understand, it is necessary to have a closer look at the figures, without being deceived by abstract numbers, that are not compared with others.

In March 2010, spokesman for the Holy See, Federico Lombardi, claimed: “In Austria 17 abuse cases were found in Catholic institutions, while a good 510 abuse cases were found in other environments; therefore it would be as well to concern ourselves also with them and not to direct the searchlight only towards the Church.”

Lombardi makes it seem that the phenomenon of paedophilia in other environments should be considered more worrying: but is it really like this? Understanding that cases of paedophilia in other environments certainly do not justify child abuses perpetrated by priests, some easy calculations make you realize that the problem of paedophilia in the Catholic Church is not the little problem they portray it to be.

In practice:

In Austria, how does the number of paedophile priests in the total number of priests compare with “common paedophiles” in the overall Austrian population?

In all, there are about 6,700 Austrian clergymen from a population of a little less than three million four-hundred thousand Austrian males. If you compare the number of abuses to the reference population, 17 cases of paedophilia out of 6,700 priests and 510 cases of paedophilia out of 3,400,000 Austrian adult males, you realize that the percentage of paedophile clergymen – which seemed to be small –is instead very high.

Among Austrian priests the percentage of paedophiles is 0.26%, whereas among the secular population the percentage of paedophiles is 0.015%. As a consequence, actually the percentage of paedophiles among priests is equal to seventeen times the percentage of paedophiles in the secular popolation.

*****
The number of pedophiles among priests in Australia is 200 times the percentage of pedophiles in the secular population.
***************

You can draw the same conclusions if you examine the statistical data of Countries such as the U.S. According to the last annual report by the Children’s Bureau – the bureau of the U.S. Department of Health that deals with children and young people – in the U.S. there have been about 88,000 cases of sexual abuse with minors out of a population of 118 million adult males, a percentage of 0.075%.

Should the percentage of paedophile priests be 1.5%, as suggested by the most conservative estimate of Monsignor Tomasi, it would be twenty times higher than the incidence found in the secular population. The statistical data that the Church itself has been pouring out, in an attempt to play down the phenomenon, is instead extremely worrying.

The Irish numbers are even worse than American numbers as physical and emotional abuse combined with ill treatment, in addition to sexual abuses in Ireland Catholic schools, according to 14,000 victims in 2,500 testimonies.

In Ireland, it is difficult to establish the percentage of paedophiles among the population, since only 160 crimes of this kind are reported every year, whereas the anti-paedophilia organizations receive about 2,400 notifications per year, out of 1,7 million adult males.

Thus, the percentages among “common” Irish people fluctuate between 0.01% and 0.14%. The percentage of paedophiles amongst clergymen turns out to be at least thirty times higher than the percentage of paedophiles amongst the common people.

**********************
JOHN BROWN of Australia sends this:

Can you pick the real number of those sexually abused by Catholic clergy in Australia?

15,227 110,007 145,549 62,243 130,137 or 33,681

ANSWER: 130,137

Per John Brown of Australia read more here

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

Vania Lucia Gaito continued:

In Australia the percentage is almost identical to Austria: 107 priests convicted out of 3,800 priests – ordinary and diocesan – with an incidence of paedophiles of 2.82%.

As regards “common” paedophiles, Australia has a public database with names and pictures of the children sexual offenders and it gathers more than 1,200 names out of a population of 8.5 million adult males, with an incidence of paedophiles equal to 0.014%.

Therefore, in Australia, the percentage of paedophiles amongst priests would be 200 times higher than the one found in the general population.

In several Countries the number of reports and testimonies concerning sexual abuse perpetrated by priests has significantly increased as a result of the establishment of Government’s commissions of investigation, as in Ireland, or of independent commissions, as in the U.S. The possibility for the victims recognize the wrongs they suffered has driven thousands of people who had been abused by priests during their childhood to come out in the open and tell their tragic story.

Some American states established the so-called “one-year window” in order to allow victims to report abuses that would be prosecuted by state law, even if they had occurred decades before and were barred by statute.

Therefore, it is difficult to understand why Monsignor Crociata can claim that in Italy there is no need to establish a commission of investigation on clerical paedophilia. It is not clear why Italy should be considered an “oasis of happiness,” free from the scandal.

According to the data divulged by Archbishop Tomasi, and considering that in Italy there are about 35,000 diocesan priests, there could be 500 to 1750 priests involved in paedophilia cases. Not to mention the presence of other clergymen and ordinary priests, which would make these reasonable estimates increase.

***************
In Ireland the percentage of paedophiles amongst clergymen turns out to be at least thirty times higher than the percentage of paedophiles amongst the common people.
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But why in our Country (Italy) has the scandal not burst yet?

Victims are afraid that they won’t be believed and that the wrongs they have suffered won’t be recognized. Due to a sort of “sacred-ism,” the figure of the priest is considered to be above certain wickedness. Often, when a victim reports to the police, the public sides more with the accused rather than with the accuser.

Not to mention that, in legal quibbles of Italy, it is easy for the victims to see their abuser remaining unpunished, even after having reported him to the police and, perhaps, even after that the Law has prosecuted him.

From the percentages reported, it seems that in some countries the incidence of child sexual offenders in the population is higher than in others. Actually, this phenomenon is easy to explain: in the countries where the Law prosecutes the offence of sexual abuse with more engagement and effectiveness, reports and convictions are superior than those of other Countries where the same crime is not prosecuted with as much effectiveness.

In plain words: victims are more inclined to report to the police if they know that there is a concrete possibility to obtain justice.

But is the Italian situation really so different from the one of other Countries? Even if you assumed that the estimate of “a hundred” paedophile priests was true, as claimed by Monsignor Crociata, which is the percentage of paedophiles among Italian priests?

It’s only 0.29%, according to the Church.

On the contrary, the Caramella Buona, an anti-paedophile association that has recently joined criminal proceedings as a civil party seeking damages in the trial of Father Ruggero Conti, reveals that in Italy there are 1,322 people convicted of paedophila.

Out of a population of more than 20 million adult males, the percentage is 0.006%. the incidence of paedophilia among Italian priests turns out to be 48 times higher than the one found among common citizens. Furthermore, we’d better remember that it is very rare that a paedophile stops at one victim. Even “only” one hundred cases may mean thousands of victims.

What is unfair is not to make a devastating problem such as the one of paedophile priests publicly known.

What is unfair is trying to minimize the extent of that problem, to offend victims by talking of “idle chatter,”to insult those who have already been offended by abuse by minimizing figures, and to try to make people believe that the victim, in this dirty business, is the Church: that Church which has tried to make people believe that all abuses were “isolated cases,” the Church that had to be hauled up to Court before compensating victims, the Church that has ignored who has turned to it to get justice.

The Church that has preferred to keep on defending its possessions and its privileges rather than to deny itself, to take its own cross and follow that Christ who lives in any abused child.

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Vania Lucia Gaito, psychologist of Salerno source, collaborates with the blog Bispensiero which, in May 2007, broadcast the subtitled BBC documentary, SEX CRIMES AND VATICAN, in Italy. Video of Vania Lucia Gaito on Italian TV
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Posted by Kay Ebeling, Producer, City of Angels Blog
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Watch video of Gaito discussing her pedophile priest research on Italian TV Talk Show

(One more summer rerun: This post first ran August 7, 2007, at City of Angels 3. City of Angels Blog returns with all new stories Sept. 14, 2010.)

(”If anyone sues you and wants to take your tunic, let him have your coat also.” Jesus Christ, according to Matthew 5:40)

I walked into Department 20 at L.A. Superior Court this morning (August 7, 2007) and there was Plaintiff Liaison Attorney Tony DeMarco in the front row, his face beating red, articulating anger as his hearing began. In this one of 500-plus Coordinated Clergy Cases, plaintiffs have been trying to get documents from the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, Inc., for months, and in today’s hearing yet another new church attorney spoke before the judge: “Mr. DeMarco thinks the U.S. Province and Western Province are one and the same when in fact they’re two different entities and the Western Province was never served with a summons.”

Through his teeth, DeMarco said, “Now that I’m being educated about the Western Province I’ll serve them. We served the order in Washington DC in 2005 when this case was released.” The motion was granted. The attorney for the Oblates, just added to the team last week, says he will be cooperative, and all go through the motions of the issue being resolved.

I haven’t written a post in almost a week as, truth is, since July 16th (the L.A. Clergy Cases settlement announcement), I’ve been walking around with my mouth hanging open feeling, well, unsettled. Truth is I feel like the Catholic Church won a major victory in L.A., that the plaintiffs and even the judge just caved under the nonstop onslaught of motions and arguments coming from the 18-plus and counting law firms hired to fight the plaintiffs in these cases.

I don’t enjoy writing that I think the plaintiffs lost, but it seems like if I don’t write it, I can’t write anything else. So in my opinion, after covering the L.A. Clergy Cases 2007 as no other journalist has, Catholic Church money and power plowed everybody down. The Superior Court in L.A. just caved in to the Archdiocese and Cardinal Roger Mahony’s defense teams.

The Church won in L.A. by hiring enough lawyers to conduct a legal obstruction of justice. I watched in the weeks before what would have been the first trial in July 2007. Plaintiff attorneys came before the judge over and over asking for orders to compel defense witnesses to testify in deposition. The judge would grant the order and a few weeks later plaintiffs would be before the judge again, now saying they need an order to compel the witness to answer all the questions in the deposition, because his Catholic Church-paid attorney won’t allow him to answer.

In this case in court today, where DeMarco turned new shades of red, there would now be a new attorney from a new law firm before the judge representing defendant religious order.

New attorneys for the Catholic Church kept appearing all the time.

Being a new attorney he or she could say, gee, judge, I don’t know what he’s talking about, problems getting the defendant witness to answer? We’ll be glad to comply. Two months later the plaintiff attorney is before the judge again, now asking for a discovery referee because that defense hierarchy witness now has another lawyer and none of the questions are being answered.

I watched plaintiff attorney Katherine Freberg try one way after another for more than a year to get definitive answers out of L.A.’s Cardinal Roger Mahony to Interrogatories 1-8, and as the Caffoe and Hagenbach cases jury trials approached for which those interrogatory answers were needed, the judge seems to have accepted answers written by a Monsignor Gonzales instead of the Cardinal. What else could plaintiffs and the judge do but- cave? It was obvious the remote Roger Cardinal Mahony was never going to be forced into answering her questions.

One after another individual cases got struck and dismissed as members of the 18-plus law firms representing the Catholic Church and its religious orders began a buck passing routine. One chuch entity could pass responsibility to another and that one passed it to another, each found ways to use that very confusion- about which order or diocese was responsible for what- to get the cases dismissed.

We’re Not Denying You Were Molested by a Priest, but You Filed the Papers with the Wrong Order

Case Dismissed

We’re not denying that the molestation took place, reads several of the motions to quash and dismiss filed by the Catholic Church in Clergy Cases 2007. Archdiocese and Religious Order attorneys argue, Plaintiff served the subpoena on the wrong entity and by the time plaintiff realized we were hiding it over here, I mean, that summons should have been filed under a different entity, the Statute of Limitations had run out.

Good thing I go to a Scripture based Anger Management class, where I just saw this: in Matthew 5:40 quoting Jesus himself it says: “If anyone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your coat also.” And you know what you’ve gotta laugh. . .

I don’t know where in Scripture it says to hire as many attorneys as you can to not only keep the truth from coming out but to keep from even getting a stain on the tunic.

Now in 2007 the archdiocese has conveniently forgiven and reconciled with itself, by creating a miasma out of the clergy cases themselves.

It was four or five main plaintiff attorney firms running on their own resources, versus this never ending list of new law firms, one after the other, signing on as Catholic Church attorneys, one whole firm assigned to help out each individual order, each individual parish, hospital, school.

Continue reading longer version at City of Angels Blog posted Friday, September 10, 2010

Mahony Justice re Pedophile Priests: Outspend Plaintiffs as Only the Catholic Church Can, L.A. 2007 Revisited

In 1949, Servants of the Paraclete started a recovery center in the Southwest for priests with “psycho-sexual problems.” Soon Reverends in early recovery who were going through rehab in the center were serving as relief priests in nearby parishes. As a result, there appears to be an inordinately large number of pedophile priest-rape victims in that one remote state, New Mexico.

Nelson says he urinated on his perpetrator's California grave

Sons of Perdition, New Mexico in the Secret History of the Catholic Sex Scandal, by Jay Nelson, tracks the pedophile priest problem in the Catholic Church from the begining, outlining sex crime coverups from the first time the Church put up partitions in a Middle Ages Confessional, through several Vatican regimes, to New Mexico, known to some historians as “the dumping ground” for priests with sex problems. Early chapters of Nelson’s book delve into the Inquisition and its roots in current policies for priests who are sexual predators. We find out the Confessional had a unique perverse role in development of the problem.

Growing up in the dumping ground, author Nelson had personal experience with “out-patients” from Servants of the Paraclete. So when as an adult, Jay found himself part of a population of adult victims of pedophile priests, he realized, “God, fate, or chance put me in a unique position to recover a far larger story than just my own.” In the 1990s Jay edited The Missing Link, quarterly journal of The Linkup, one of the early recovery organizations for victims. Linkup broke up when founder Tom Economus died of cancer. Jay began writing books.

(Today’s post in long form at City of Angels adds scanned in pages from The Missing Link, quarterly of the Linkup networking group for pedophile priest victims in the 1990s, edited by Jay Nelson. Also in this post at City of Angels Blog are links to Servants of the Paraclete documents found in L.A. Clergy Cases Discovery 2003-2007, and first posted at CofA in June 2008.)

All through the 230-pages of Sons of Perdition you read facts that have never been published before, including the “unknown hand” of Benedict XVI in the handling of the crisis in the 1990s before he became today’s Pope.

City of Angels blog is running a short slightly rearranged excerpt from the book here today.

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EXCERPT:

Sons of Perdition: New Mexico in the Secret History of the Catholic Sex Scandal
By Jay Nelson
To this day, New Mexico’s isolation and indifference has made it attractive to sects of all kinds. Renegade Mormons, Bible-shaking fundamentalists, occultists of various flavors, even the suicidal Heaven’s Gate cult have all hidden out here at one time or another. The latest would be Messiah, Wayne Bent, was tried and convicted for lying naked with two female teen devotees in a supposed religious rite even as this book was written.
Founder Gerald Fitzgerald only sought for the Servants of the Paraclete to provide relief and refuge for troubled priests. Supposedly, providing a client with “psychosexual difficulties” for a ministry in the archdiocese or anywhere else as a “supply priest” was never anticipated at first, according to one of his successors. Such practices would have a toxic effect on the ministry.

Not to mention wrecking the lives of children, locally and elsewhere in the country, thus contributing much to the greatest crisis in the modern Church.

From Chapter X: A Refuge in the Heartland

Originally, Jemez Springs was the small pueblo of Giusewa, one of several inhabited by the Jemez people. The Franciscans started a mission there, San Jose de los Jemes, in the 1620s. In the early 1940s, Los Alamos on the opposite side of the mountains became the site of the greatest and most secretive operation of the entire Second World War, the Manhattan Project, which developed the first nuclear weapons. An entire hidden city quickly sprang up on the pine-covered plateaus extending out towards the Rio Grande. Only a single guard tower remains from that era.

The mountains shielded other visitors wanting to avoid attention. Al Capone had an occasional vacation spot hideaway near Jemez Springs. Then at the end of 1946, half a year before something strange fell from the sky down south near Roswell, a Catholic priest arrived in Jemez Springs from back East. Father Gerald M. C. Fitzgerald was on a mission. He, too, sought an isolated location with just the right facilities to launch his own secret project.

What Fitzgerald established in Jemez Canyon would be an abbey unlike any other. It would become a covert laboratory of the spirit. In a way, the holy monastery in the valley was like a strange reflection of the unholy atomic workshop on the hill across the mountains. For just as in Los Alamos, dangerous clandestine experiments would take place. Little thought would be given to their widespread toxic and irrevocable consequences. Powerful forces would be unleashed that would change the world.

Fitzgerald prayed his endeavor would be a divine blessing to the people. But in time, powerful forces beyond his control would unravel his tight restrictions

Continue Reading with Pictures at the Long Version of this post at City of Angels Blog posted this morning.

Posted by Kay Ebeling, The City of Angels is Everywhere…

Bonus: JN: I did, I pissed on his grave. I called up his brother to find out where Wilkinson was buried. It is in this little town near Soledad in California. 
I went out to the cemetery, found his grave and I pissed on it.