IT is the autumn of 2003, and I am sitting with my wife and teenage son at a large table that is groaning with plates of Mexican food and soft drinks and wine. We’re celebrating my sister’s anniversary, and like most Mexican parties in Los Angeles, a member of a religious order is in attendance to share in the family’s joy. This time, it’s a nun whom I’ve known since I was a student at St. Thomas the Apostle grammar school. I am no longer Catholic, but I admire this tough, compassionate woman who dedicated herself to educating the children of my predominantly working-class Latino neighb…
News & Events
The release of thousands of pages of church files showing how Cardinal Roger M. Mahony and other top Los Angeles Archdiocese officials dealt with priest molestation cases has generated outrage and anguish at parishes across Southern California. But for victims of abuse, there is also the pain of learning details of how top church leaders tried to cover up the scandal. Matt Severson says that as a boy, he was abused by Father Michael Baker. Severson was a plaintiff in the record civil settlement over church abuse a few years ago. The release of the files has him reliving what happened decades…
Joseph Pina remained employed by the L.A. school district for more than a decade despite warnings about his sexual history, according to interviews and records.
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A former priest allegedly named in the Los Angeles Archdiocese Catholic church sex abuse scandal may be employed by the Los Angeles Unified School District, CBS2 has learned. In documents released by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles last week, CBS2’s Louisa Hodge reports that 129 pages outline Joseph D. Piña’s alleged sexual abuse of a young girl years ago. After the alleged abuse came to light, Hodge reports that Piña was sent to a psychiatrist for evaluation in which he told one therapist he saw his sexual relationship as a “boyfriend-girlfriend relationship.” Foll…
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles released 12,000 pages of internal files last Thursday on priests accused of sexually abusing children, saying that it was finally abiding by a settlement it signed with victims six years ago to make the painful history public. But it now appears that the files the church released with much fanfare are incomplete and many are unaccounted for, according to the abuse victims’ lawyers. In addition, on many documents the names of church supervisors informed of abuse allegations were redacted by the archdiocese, in apparent violation of a judge’s o…
Much like the layers of an onion which make you cry more with each successive layer, the convictions of Father Charles Englehardt, an Oblate of St. Francis DeSales priest, and Bernard Shero, a lay teacher, expose a painful and tangled conspiracy of abuse and silence that was previously covered by a thin veneer. Independent orders of priests like the Oblates of St. Francis DeSales often operate in multiple jurisdictions and multiple dioceses allowing their perpetrators increased access to children and increased mobility to thwart public detection. With multiple assignments working w…
A trove of confidential church files detailing how the Los Angeles archdiocese dealt with priests accused of molestation must be released “as soon as possible” and include the names of Cardinal Roger Mahony and his aides, a judge ruled Thursday. In a written order, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Emilie H. Elias gave the church a Feb. 22 deadline to turn over about 30,000 pages of internal memos, psychiatric reports, Vatican correspondence and other documents. “Let’s just get it done,” Elias said in court Thursday. Her order brought to a close five and a half years of legal wranglin…
The archdiocese of Los Angeles learned in the late 1970s that one of its priests had sexually assaulted a 16-year-old boy so violently that he was left bleeding and “in a state of shock.” The priest said he was too drunk to remember what happened and officials took no further action. But two decades later, word reached Cardinal Roger M. Mahony that the same priest was molesting again and improperly performing the sacrament of confession on his victim. The archdiocese sprang to action: It dispatched investigators, interviewed a raft of witnesses and discussed the harshest of all church penalti…
While better late than never as the saying goes, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles today continued to preserve its own reputation at all costs. Simultaneous to releasing 12,000 damning documents that illustrate decades of concealment, cover up and deliberate, reckless disregard for the safety of children in the Archdiocese, the Archdiocese made public the resignation of Bishop Curry and Cardinal Mahony from any public ministry. After fighting in court against the release of these documents for over six years, it is incredibly disingenuous of the Archdiocese to now make news of the…
Earlier this month, a state judge ordered the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles to include the names of church leaders who mishandled sex-abuse claims when it finally releases scores of confidential priest files as part of a 2007 settlement. Yet despite that court order, the archdiocese has continued to act as if the rules don’t apply to it. This week, the church resubmitted a proposal that would have redacted the names of top church leaders from the documents and only provided the names of those officials in a generic cover sheet attached to the priest’s file. The church’s actions we…
Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez announced Thursday that Cardinal Roger Mahony would have a reduced role in the church and that Santa Barbara Bishop Thomas J. Curry has stepped down from that job amid recent revelations over their handling of the priest abuse scandal in the 1980s. “Effective immediately, I have informed Cardinal Mahony that he will no longer have any administrative or public duties. Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Curry has also publicly apologized for his decisions while serving as Vicar for Clergy. I have accepted his request to be relieved of his responsibility as the Regiona…
Yesterday stands as another great moment in the child protection movement and the search for justice for survivors of clergy sexual abuse. A Philadelphia jury convicted Rev. Charles Engelhardt, a priest, and Bernard Shero, a teacher, on several counts arising from the childhood sexual abuse of a 24-year old man. Both men now face more than a decade in prison. This important moment comes on the heels of the June conviction of Monsignor William Lynn, former Secretary for Clergy in the Archdiocese, for felony child endangerment, stemming from his role in moving predator priests …
SAN FRANCISCO – A California man is suing a regional Boy Scouts council, alleging he was sexually abused by his scout leader more than 30 years ago. Coast Guard veteran Mark Dietrich filed the lawsuit Wednesday in Solano County Superior Court claiming the scoutmaster of his Vacaville-based troop frequently molested him between 1978 and 1981. The suit claims that Boy Scouts officials at the local and regional level knew the scoutmaster had inappropriate contact with other boys. Deitrich’s lawyer, Irwin Zalkin, would not provide further details. Neither the Boy Scouts’ Golden Empire Cou…
LOS ANGELES — The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles has said the names of church leaders who made key decisions on how to deal with cases of sexual abuse by priests will not be blacked out in some 30,000 soon-to-be-released pages of confidential personnel files. The names of any bishops, vicars for clergy and supervisory parish priests will be included in all the documents and they will be turned over to lawyers for abuse victims soon, archdiocese attorney Michael Hennigan said Wednesday. Vicars for clergy are responsible for priestly discipline and often made significant decis…
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Jerry Sandusky lost a bid for a new trial Wednesday when a judge rejected his argument that his lawyers were not given enough time to prepare for the three-week proceeding that ended with a 45-count guilty verdict. Judge John Cleland’s 27-page order said lawyers for the former Penn State assistant football coach conceded that their post-trial review turned up no material that would have changed their trial strategy. “I do not think it can be said that either of the defendant’s trial counsel failed to test the prosecution’s case in a meaningful manner,” Cleland wrote. “…