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click on picture - shown is seat in Vatican of the false prophet
The Beast from the Earth = The biggest crime syndicate in the world - New Church, the New World Order's Mob Bankers
Apostate Vatican II versus Apostolic Catholicity - Vatican II is Apostate
Apostate Vatican II versus Apostolic Catholicity
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Who rules the Council of Seven
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Worshipper of Antichrist, ad Dajjal - click on picture
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Benediktos at the Dome of the Rock - click on picture
The Vaticanista
The Justice of God: TRANSNATIONAL ABSOLUTE CRIMINAL CORRUPTION
The Justice of God: Ratzinger, Council of apostasy, Watchful eyes of Social Justice
HSBC
The Justice of God: The Pagan-Gnostic tree of ecumenism
Below see the fruits of the Assisi consciousness (first put forward publicly by Antipope Paul VI in India by Praying Hindu prayers to Diabolic Hindu Idols of Satan) engendered by the Freemasonic Satanic Vatican II Apostasy.
2 I am the Lord thy God,.... 3 Thou shalt not have strange gods before me. - Exodus 20:2,3
Vatican II threw that commandment of God away as Vatican II threw away all worship of the True God as well.
“Hello
Pope! Welcome Pope!” Faiths and voices mix as Hindu, Moslem, Buddhist and
Christian jam Bombay
Dubbing himself “an apostle on the move,” Paul in 1964 had journeyed to theHoly Land —first
pontiff ever to make a pilgrimage to the home of Peter. His epochal trips
coincided with the Second Vatican Council,
one of whose pronouncements broke tradition by recognizing tenets found in
other world religions.
Nine journeys in seven years— to Asia,Africa , the United Nations, to countries where few even
knew who he was — bear out his pledge: “We will love those
who are near and those far from us. . . . We will love Catholics, we will love the dissidents. . . . We will love the time in which we live:
our culture, our science, our art, our sport, our world.” - end of excerpt from National Geographic.
There are five Antipopes since the V-2 new church of Satan crawled in and inhabited the shell of the Vatican at the 1958 Conclave and the V-2 False Council of 1962-1965: John 23, Paul 6, John Paul 1, John Paul 2 and Benedict 16. The Vatican is Babylon and has fallen - to have any part with it is damned by God forever.
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http://jp2m.blogspot.com/
http://jp2m.blogspot.com/search?q=%09John+Paul+II+the+Great+Deceiver+and+Bishop+Brom+of+San+Diego
Suffered Under Pontius Pilate
We believe in God, in Jesus Christ who "suffered under Pontius Pilate" in the 1st Century... and today, we believe in 12,000 American children who "suffered under John Paul II" in the 20th Century.
Christ suffered for 1 day in 33 A.D under the Governor Pontius Pilate ... the American children suffered for 26 years from 1978 to 2005 under the Pontiff John Paul II.
Christ was voluntarily silent for a few moments before Pilate but the 12,000 American boys and girls were autocratically suppressed by John Paul II for over a quarter of a Century.
A Thousand Beatings
Christ suffered a thousand beatings from the soldiers of Pontius Pilate and was crucified by them with his full knowledge and (indirect) political authorization; likewise, 12,000 American children suffered a thousand deaths from the years of sexual abuse by the pedophile priests of John Paul II with his full knowledge and (indirect) papal authorization (through his cover-up which a crime in the America).
Like carnage virus, "absolute power corrupts absolutely" and it mutates and repeats itself in history whether political or religious as proven by Pontius Pilate and John Paul II the Great: Both were "above the law", both were above the crimes they (indirectly) condoned and both washed their hands clean of the spectacular crimes happening before their eyes and thrones. Pontius Pilate sat on his throne as the Governor and John Paul II sat on his throne as the Pontiff.
The Difference between the Governor and the Pontiff
The main difference between Pontius Pilate and John Paul II is that JPII "crucified" 12,000 Christians, baptized followers of Christ ...and he was the Vicar of Christ. Go figure, the Vicar of Christ "crucifying" his own followers. "Crucifying" not with metal nails and metal hammers but with priestly flesh sodomy and clergy carnal sexual abuse. Not on adults but on the most vulnerable followers of Christ, the children, altar boys and little girls, seminarians and teenage girls.
Unlike Christ who suffered physical death within hours, the American little boys and girls suffered in an enduring "living holocaust" that did not result in physical death and burial but a "slow death" which continues to torture them mentally, physically and spiritually up to today. Many have committed suicide, many live silent lives of desperation and shame. And there is no justice in sight as Bishops like Brom of San Diego and Cardinal Mahony of Los Angeles deprive victims of compensation and justice .
'Saint' Pontius Pilate of the 20th Century
Today is April 2, a Holy Monday, the beginning of Holy Week when we remember Christ as he stood before Pontius Pilate who delivered him over to the people who yelled "Crucify him!" and he satisfied their wish and "allowed" his Crowning of Thorns and Crucifixion on Good Friday. Today, John Paul II's clone, Benedict XVI, also satisfies Catholics who yelled "Subito Santo" and crowns his papal successor with fast-tracked sainthood on his feast day: "Blessed" John Paul II the Great Leader of the heinous cover-up of thousands of pedophile priests in the most grievous crime against children in Catholic Church history.
John Paul II and Benedict XVI and the Cardinals and Bishops were all cohorts in crime and today, after 2 years have passed since John Paul II's 26 years papacy, they continue to ignore the pleas for justice of clergy abuse victims. Benedict XVI has not apologize to the American victims. Bishop Brom of San Diego just declared bankruptcy to avoid giving victims justice and their dues. Cardinal Mahony continue to hide documents and cover-up his pedophile priests in Los Angeles .
These victims suffer endlessly a "living Hell" of the torments of their sexual abuse from the JPIIPPA John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army. Everyday they die a thousand deaths from the "clean and holy hands" of John Paul II the Pontius Pilate of the 20th Century.
Yes, Mary, the Mother of Christ saw it all, the crucifixion of her Son and the modern day crucifixion and holocaust of these 12,000 American little boys and girls. As John Paul II kept saying Totus Tuus Marie, his papal tail grew longer with his cover-up of clergy sexual abuse.
Prophecy to Benedict XVI and the Vatican:
To Benedict XVI, the papal clone of John Paul II
To Cardinals and Bishops, John Paul II clones
To all John Paul II clones,cheerleaders and followers
Here is a 20th Century John-the-Baptist prophecy for all of you:
The Vatican will be reduced to rubbles like the Temple of Solomon as Christ said "not one stone will be left standing" (Mathew 24) because of the sins of priest-pedophilia covered up by John Paul II whom you are canonizing today. The pedophilia-holocaust of 12,000 American little boys and girls are crying to Heaven, and like Sodom, God will have to wipe out the Vatican and you in order to purify the Catholic Church .
Mathew 24:1-5
Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. "Do you see all these things?" he asked. "I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down."
As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"
Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many.
John Paul II the Great Deceiver and Bishop Brom of San Diego http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2007/02/john-paul-ii-great-deceiver-and-bishop.html
The John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army
http://jp2army.blogspot.com/
Reforming the Legal System to Truly Protect Children
Interview with legal expert Marci Hamilton
on the internet radio talk show, "Breaking the Conspiracy of Silence."
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Show Time 2:00 p.m. (PST) / 5:00 p.m. (EST)
Link here to listen --
http://www.ethicalife.com/showsegment.asp?id=156
The greatest Pope Deceiver is Pope John Paul II because he was able to cover-up the most heinous crime against thousands of children abused by his own Papal Pedophile-Priests Army within the Vatican and the Catholic Church for more than 26 years of his papacy... that's a quarter of a Century!
Well versed in the Bible and writer of countless encyclicals, homilies and speeches against communism and sins of all sorts, John Paul II was the CEO of his Bishops and together they were cohorts in the cover-up of the greatest crime against children in the history of the Catholic Church in the modern world.
When will Catholics ever learn? When will those "Ghetto Catholics" ever learn that true sainthood is not and cannot be declared by Pope Deceivers like Benedict XVI, John Paul II's papal clone, and therefore should NEVER call John Paul II a "saint" --- not in American soil nor by American lips.
Like any great leader, John Paul II the Great could not have done it alone. He succeeded in -- this greatest Catholic Deception of clergy sexual abuse cover-up -- together with his Cardinals and Bishops. A classic Bishop Deceiver is Robert Brom of San Diego. He himself is accused of sexual misconduct with a young seminarian in recent years.
Below are eight articles that help us understand this web of Catholic Deception unfolding right before our eyes:
1. Bishop Brom paying off the sex-suit against him, by John in DC, professional journalist
2. Bishop Brom's deceptive move of bankruptcy, by Marci Hamilton, a lawyer, staunch defender of clergy abuse victims
3. SNAP's statement on Bishop Brom's bankruptcy plan, by Mary Grant of Long Beach, SNAP Western Regional Director
4. Bishop Brom's Covering up a sexual-abuse crisis, by Mary Gail Frawley-O'Dea of the San Diego Tribune
5. Video of SNAP rally against the Diocese of San Diego
6. Pro-Bankruptcy and Pro-Bishop Brom, an article by J.F. Kelly, Jr., a retired Navy Captain and bank executive
7. Who is J.F. Kelly, Jr., by Sherlock (Holmes ala 21st Century), a lawyer
8. When S.D. diocese filed for bankruptcy, woman lost day in court over sex-abuse case that tore her family apart, By Mark Sauer, Union Tribune Staff Writer
San Diego Bishop who refused funeral for gay man settled high-priced sex suit
John in DC · 3/18/2005 07:41:00 PM ET
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/03/
Comments (40)
My oh my.
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The Bishop settled a sexual abuse lawsuit for $100,000, while claiming that an investigation proved his innocence. Yet, rather than use that rock-solid evidence to prove his innocence and clear his good name, and the good names of other high-ranking clergy, he and the other clergy chose to pay off the young man who accused them of forcing him to have sex with them.
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Yes, young man.
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Now, we have no way of knowing if Bishop Brom did or didn't in essence commit date rape on this young man. You'll have to look at the facts and try to decide that for yourself. But it is interesting, in the context of him refusing a funeral for a gay man.
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We report, you decide.
http://www.dallasnews.com/cgi-bin/bi/dallas/2002/
BISHOP ROBERT BROM
He is one of about a dozen U.S. bishops who have been accused of sexual misconduct in recent years. Catholic leaders in Minnesota, where Bishop Brom once headed the Diocese of Duluth, have paid a settlement to a former seminarian who alleged that he was coerced into sex.
A spokeswoman for the bishop recently told The Boston Globe that "minimal insurance" money was paid to the accuser, who agreed to retract his claim. Two archbishops who helped negotiate the deal in the mid-1990s said the man received roughly $100,000. The man alleged that in the 1980s, Bishop Brom and other high-ranking clergymen pressured him and other young men to have sex at a seminary in Winona, Minn. Bishop Brom has denied any sexual misconduct and has said that an investigation disproved what the former seminarian "thought he remembered."
In San Diego after Bishop Brom took over, questions arose about how his top aides handled the 1993 case of the Rev. Emmanuel Omemaga, who was accused of raping a 14-year-old girl after her grandfather's funeral, tying her to a bed and photographing her in bondage. The diocese has said it suspended the priest when it first learned of the accusation, then let him go home to the Philippines on vacation.
Police, meanwhile, began investigating and asked a priest who was one of the bishop's aides to alert them immediately upon Father Omemaga's return. "He agreed to do so" but instead waited five days, according to a police report. At that point, according to the report, the aide left a message saying that he had told the wanted man to call police and to consult an attorney. Father Omemaga vanished and remains the target of an arrest warrant. The aide has said he did everything he could do to bring his fellow priest to justice.
I did a little more digging on the good Bishop and found that whether or not he's a date rapists, he sure sounds like a liar.From the SD Union-Tribune, July 4, 2002 (via Lexis):
Less than three weeks after Bishop Robert Brom assured parishioners that no large settlements have been paid out in priest abuse cases since he took over 12 years ago, the Catholic diocese has acknowledged that a man who said he was molested as a boy received $250,000 in December.... Neither Brom nor Bernadeane Carr, the diocese's spokeswoman, would answer questions yesterday. "We don't have any further comments," Carr said.
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Marci Hamilton, a prominent lawyer points out the strategy of deception of Bishop Brom, "the moral bankruptcy of grasping for cover rather than genuine remorse."
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/hamilton/20070222.html
San Diego Bishop Robert Brom Uses the Threat of Bankruptcy to Push for a Settlement in Consolidated Clergy Child Abuse Cases:
How the Diocese Is Wrongly Trying to Triangulate A Simple Issue of Accountability
By MARCI HAMILTON Thursday, Feb. 22, 2007
On Sunday, February 18, Roman Catholic Bishop Robert Brom distributed leaflets to the San Diego faithful in the pews. In the leaflets, he tried to make the case that the San Diego Diocese could be forced into Chapter 11 bankruptcy because of the 143 consolidated clergy abuse cases against the diocese for the hierarchy's role in the cover up of child abuse. . The leaflets tried to cloud the simple issue that the plaintiffs' suits really raise -- whether the Diocese and its hierarchy will take responsibility for their wrongs to children.
If the bankruptcy were filed, this would be the fifth U.S. diocese to declare bankruptcy. However, in the other four jurisdictions - Tucson, AZ; Portland, OR; Spokane, WA; and Davenport, IA-- the declaration of intent to file came on the eve of trial. Here, however, the declaration has come over a week before the trials are scheduled to begin, on February 28. It is thus geared toward setting the tone and context of ongoing pre-trial settlement discussions (which Bishop Brom specifically mentions)- pressuring plaintiffs to settle lower in order to avoid the inevitable delays of a bankruptcy filing.
The Triangulation Strategy - and Why It's Deceptive
Here is how Bishop Brom summarized the problem:
"We are painfully aware that the victims of abuse have suffered, and we want to treat all of them fairly and equitably. At the same time, good stewardship demands that settlements not cripple the ability of the Church to accomplish its mission and ministries. Consequently, we must consider how best to fairly compensate the victims while at the same time not jeopardizing our overall mission. If this cannot be done through settlement negotiations, the diocese may be forced to file a Chapter 11 reorganization in bankruptcy court."
Once again the Catholic Church's hierarchy is trying to triangulate the problem. Note the Bishop's use of language: the victims "have suffered," but there is no admission of the hierarchy's role in causing their suffering. And the Church's responsibility, as Brom styles it, is "to treat [the victims] fairly and equitably" and "to fairly compensate the victims" - not to accept accountability for its own role. Brom thus describes the abuse victims as if they were someone else's victims who had somehow landed on the Diocese's doorstep, and now must be cared for out of the simple generosity of the diocese.
Brom should have taken full public responsibility for the hierarchy's active role in the creation of more child sex abuse victims. The key to understanding this, and the other pending cases in California and elsewhere, is that they are aimed at the hierarchy's illegal, immoral, and soulless cover up of the abuse and the harm that flows from the secrecy, not the abuse per se.
More insidiously, Brom pits the victims against the parishioners, as if they were somehow adversaries. Of course, this is far from true: The victims were children of past parishioners. And if they had not been brave enough to come forward, then current parishioners' children would continue to be at the same risk as they were. These are two groups joined in a commonality of interest, not two groups at loggerheads.
This triangulation strategy is particularly unpersuasive in the San Diego context. Remember this is San Diego, home to some of the most expensive real estate in the country, and the non-religious property holdings of the Diocese are extensive and valuable beyond most person's imaginations. If they were sold off to serve a fair settlement, it is simply not accurate to say, as Bishop Brom does, that the result would be to "cripple" the Diocese's "mission and ministries." Nor would parishes or schools be affected. Indeed, it is hard to believe anyone in the diocese would even notice the sale of a few of the "unusually diverse real estate holdings, including commercial projects, apartment buildings, condominium complexes and undeveloped land" mentioned in the San Diego Union-Tribune's scathing editorial of Feb. 20.
Would This Bankruptcy Filing Be In Good Faith, As Is Legally Required?
Would such a filing be in good faith, as required under bankruptcy law? There is good reason to think not.
In a previous column, I discussed the Portland Archdiocese's bankruptcy filing, and suggested that a bankruptcy filing that is meant solely to avoid tort liability, is not a proper use of the federal bankruptcy code. That is a perfect description here.
In San Diego, the Diocese does not need reorganization, so much as it wants reduced financial responsibility for the harm it participated in causing. It is transparent that the threat of bankruptcy is intended to force the settlement to move closer to the diocese's demands. This, then, is asset protection, pure and simple.
A bankruptcy threat has force - for several reasons. First, federal bankruptcy immediately stops the clock through the operation of the "automatic stay" of pending litigation. Thus, bankruptcy stalls any forward movement for victims who have already been suffering for years.
Second, no federal bankruptcy moves quickly; such a filing would guarantee more years for these plaintiffs in litigation. Many victims are fragile, and the threat of prolonging the litigation, which already has a four-year history, can be excruciating. These victims do not relish the public attention, though they take on the psychological burden in order to see justice done in some fashion.
For this reason, a bankruptcy filing by the Diocese not only should fail the legal "good faith" standard, but would also be morally reprehensible.
Why Parishioners Familiar with Bankruptcy Law Won't Buy Brom's Argument
Parishioners need to understand, too, that a Chapter 11 federal bankruptcy filing can be very expensive. It will require the diocese to add top-flight bankruptcy attorneys to its already large stable of attorneys, and to pay the attorneys fees of the creditors' lawyers as well (the plaintiffs would be "creditors" under a federal bankruptcy). The cost is going to "reorganize" the already financially healthy diocese.
Moreover, all a bankruptcy filing does is delay the inevitable. If Brom's argument to parishioners is that he has to file for bankruptcy to save money, parishioners need to know that whether he files for bankruptcy or not, he will eventually have to settle with the victims the hierarchy created.
In short, Brom can settle now and move on, or settle in the future and pay the steep cost of a federal bankruptcy. The San Diego diocese's vast holdings make it possible for Brom to choose either option and still come out at the end of the process in a strong financial position, which makes it clear that a bankruptcy is hardly justified here.
The Real Issue: Keeping the Truth from Inhabiting the Public Square
The leaflets' talk of finances, though, is really just a smokescreen, intended to divert the discussion away from what is most important for the public, the victims, and the parishioners -- the truth.
As noted above, the first trial is scheduled to start on Feb. 28. As a defendant, Brom, in all likelihood, would be called to the stand. In the courtroom, he -- like any other witness - would be forbidden from lying, and subject to cross-examination. When that happens, the hierarchy's closely held secrets and machinations will be revealed in the public square.
If the trials go forward, the actions that created the conditions for serial child abuse will become palpable and real, in all their ugly detail, for all to see. It is one thing to read of the stories in the newspaper, or to hear about them second-hand. It is another to hear them from the mouths of those who were in power and created the conditions for child predators to prey on children. The message will extend well beyond those leafleted last Sunday to the local and national community. Doubtless, the fear of that public spectacle is what moves the hierarchy to grab for any available delay, no matter the financial cost, the further toll taken on victims, or the moral bankruptcy of grasping for cover rather than genuine remorse.
What Do You Think? Message Boards
Marci A. Hamilton is the Paul R. Verkuil Chair in Public Law at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University. An archive of her columns on church/state issues - as well as other topics -- can be found on this site. Professor Hamilton's most recent work is God vs. the Gavel: Religion and the Rule of Law (Cambridge University Press 2005).
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SNAP Press Statement
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Statement regarding threatened San Diego bankruptcy
February 18, 2007
Statement by Mary Grant of Long Beach, SNAP Western Regional Director 626 419-2930 cell, SNAPnetwork.org
This is simply a shrewd public relations move by a bishop desperate to kept clergy sex crimes covered up.
Brom is terribly afraid of upcoming civil trials where he will have to disclose, under oath and in open court, how much he knew about and how little he did about predator priests.
Only four out of 196 dioceses have ever sought bankruptcy protection. Each did do on the eve of potentially embarrassing civil trial at which top church officials would be forced to admit they protected dangerous priests over innocent kids.
Threats of bankruptcy are designed to guilt trip victims and frighten Catholics so that testimony isn’t given, the truth isn’t exposed and the church isn’t held accountable.
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Links:
Current List OF BISHOPS WITH ABUSE ALLEGATIONS
San Diego – Bishop Robert Brom was accused of coercing a student into a sexual relationship at a seminary in Minnesota, where he once was rector and later ... www.sandiegosnap.org/BishopList.htm l
Catholic Bishops and Sex Abuse
BISHOP ROBERT BROM, He is one of about a dozen U.S. bishops who have been accused of sexual misconduct in recent years. Catholic leaders in Minnesota, ... www.bishop-accountability.org/resources/ resource-files/databases/DallasMorningNewsBishops.htm
Bishop Brom National Catholic Reporter - Find Articles
This letter is in response to the article "A people adrift in San Diego" (NCR, April 8) about Bishop Robert Brom's announcement to 98 parishes prohibiting
pages
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Bishop Drom presided over the first Mass of the John Paul II the Great University Chapel in San Diego......the Bishop Deceiver praising the Greatest Pope Deceiver!
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A Diocese in Bankruptcy
Covering up a sexual-abuse crisis
By Mary Gail Frawley-O'Dea
San Diego Tribune - March 2, 2007
Earlier this month, Bishop Robert Brom issued a “pastoral statement," warning San Diego Catholics that their diocese might declare bankruptcy. Perhaps Brom hoped that area Catholics would not realize that “pastoral" and “bankruptcy" are oxymoronic terms when discussing the sexual-abuse crisis in the Catholic Church.
What is a pastor? Theologian Richard McBrien says that pastors focus more on people than on rules, are guided by the wisdom of experience and respond to the needs of flesh and blood individuals. Bishop Brom's bankruptcy does not seem to fit the pastoral bill.
The people most in need of focus in this situation are the alleged survivors of sexual abuse by priests. Their church hurt them and their loved ones deeply; healing is long and difficult and can be derailed by additional stressors, especially those levied by the abuser or, in this case, the abusers' protectors.
In addition to financial settlements, and often in the end more important to survivors, is the release of documents that convey information about the depth and breadth of sexual abuse in a diocese. It is those documents that allow survivors to help other survivors validate past abuse and perhaps, for the first time, begin to heal.
We have seen that Bishop Brom, along with other bishops of America, will go to extreme measures in order to continue to keep documents about sexual abuse in their domains forever enshrouded in secrecy. Bankruptcy accomplishes that.
In the process, concern for those harmed by sexually abusive priests pales in comparison with an ecclesiastical insistence on preserved power and prestige. These men cling to legal rules and strategies, and implement the unspoken rules of clerical omerta. Where is the pastoral focus on people rather than rules here?
Much wisdom has been accumulated since the Catholic sexual-abuse crisis exploded into the public square in 2002. Unfortunately, most of it seems to have been gleaned by survivors and their advocates who truly have become sadder but wiser about the church's intention to stonewall their efforts to obtain social justice through the release of documents.
Bishops such as Brom are cunning, hunkering down in bunkers of bankruptcy maneuvers, engaging the legal opportunities to hide that which is dearest to them -- their secrets. They seem to have learned nothing about the value of honesty, openness and integrity in the last five years and have not, as a group, fulfilled the promises made at their seminal Dallas 2002 meeting -- vows to be transparent about sexual abuse.
In Dallas, they heard the voices of victims but, if they were moved, most recovered their equilibrium quickly. At the meeting right after Dallas and at every meeting of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops since, victims have been banned from speaking and from having direct contact with bishops. Where is the wisdom of experience with pain and suffering, betrayal and despair, harm done and healing sought here?
Flesh and blood individuals other than survivors also need pastoral care and integrity from their bishops. All Catholics need once and for all to know the truth, all the truth, about clerical exploitation of the young.
Catholics can forgive almost anything -- reconciliation is stamped into their DNA. Catholics know they have to confess all their sins to priests to obtain absolution. In turn, Catholics of San Diego and elsewhere must be told everything by their priests and bishops before they, as lay people, can grant absolution for the crimes committed against the young, and therefore against all Catholics.
And Catholics are not stupid. They know that if the Diocese of Portland paid more than $14 million in legal fees during its bankruptcy proceedings, bankruptcy is not about money. It is about secrets and about preserving secrets at any cost. Where is the response to the needs of flesh and blood individuals here?
When a diocese or a bishop has been morally bankrupt for a long time, financial bankruptcy may be just a blip on the ecclesiastical radar screen. But, for survivors and for all Catholics, another bankruptcy in a long series of betrayals still hurts.
Bishop Brom, we assume, has read the Gospels. He may want to reread Matthew 5:41: and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give them your cloak as well: and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Or, in San Diego, hand over the documents and reclaim a pastoral heart.
Frawley-O'Dea is the author of “Perversion of Power: Sexual Abuse in The Catholic Church" (Vanderbilt University Press, 2007).
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Victim's Group Rallies Against Catholic Diocese
Video: Watch Video
http://www.kfmb.com/stories/story.83256.html
Last Updated:
03-07-07 at 2:07PM
The Catholic Diocese of San Diego is due in court Wednesday, just a week after filing for bankruptcy protection against a string of lawsuits claiming abuse by priests.
It was just a week ago when Bishop Robert Brom announced he had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to put off going to trial in more than 140 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by priests.
Bishop Brom says the decision was made because any damages awarded early in a trial could deplete resources, leaving nothing for other victims.
San Diego is now the fifth diocese to choose the option.
In its bankruptcy petition, the diocese listed total assets of $200 million and debts of the same amount. The move would allow the diocese to restructure its financial affairs, giving a federal court authority to supervise expenses.
Lawyers for the alleged victims have criticized the bankruptcy filing, saying the diocese was dodging its legal responsibilities and preventing the full disclosure of the facts involving the sex abuse claims.
Many of the alleged victims are expected to rally Wednesday afternoon to march to bankruptcy court.
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PRO-Bankruptcy and Pro-Bishop Brom!
J.F. Kelly, Jr. is a retired Navy Captain and bank executive who writes on current events and military subjects. He is a resident of Coronado, California.
But find out who he really is -- after you read his article... below! You won't be surprised why he is siding with Bishop Brom instead of the poor victims
Bankruptcy And The Bishop
by J. F. Kelly, Jr. [writer]
FRIDAY 3/10/07
http://www.theonerepublic.com/archives
Plaintive lawyers for alleged victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests are in a furious tizzy over Bishop Robert Brom’s decision to file for Chapter 11 protection on behalf of the Diocese of San Diego. Variously described as a cop-out, an outrage and a cowardly act, one unhappy attorney characterized the decision as a cynical attempt to keep the truth from coming out. Another said that if he were a Catholic in San Diego, he’d be embarrassed.
Here’s a contrarian view. I’m a Catholic in the Diocese of San Diego. I am not embarrassed about being a Catholic. Indeed, I am proud of my religion and I support the Bishop’s decision. Moreover, I resent some of the vicious criticism being uttered against it, mostly by lawyers who appear motivated mainly by greed. I believe, furthermore, that there is a certain amount of excess hysteria being generated by activist advocates of alleged victims.
But first, let’s be clear on one thing. I am not an apologist for priests who were pedophiles or for bishops who covered up their despicable acts and reassigned them to other ministerial duties. Nor do I question that abuse was committed. As far as I’m concerned, castration would be appropriate for those who sexually abuse children. As for their superiors found guilty of any cover-up, I favor exiling them to the north coast of Alaska for the rest of their lives. Do I state my feelings on the seriousness of sexual abuse against children clearly enough?
All that said, I find it worthy of note that “victims” of sexual abuse half a century ago have just lately gotten around to emerging from the shadows to seek their fortunes, now that million dollar settlements and jury awards are in fashion and California has eliminated the statute of limitation. Let’s assume that they all actually did suffer abuse and were traumatized and filled with shame. What finally made them decide to come forward and sue if not a chance at a monetary windfall?
Still, I don’t want to trivialize the emotional damage they suffered and their entitlement to some kind of retribution. They were betrayed by their trusted priests who they probably believed to be incapable of wrongdoing. I believe that they should be made whole, if they can prove their allegations. I do not believe, however, that they should be made millionaires at the expense of the Catholic Church.
The diocese attempted to settle many of the 150 or so lawsuits brought against it. It became apparent that the demands would eventually exceed the financial resources of the diocese and its insurance coverage. Some claims would have been paid but others denied as liquid resources ran out. That would be grossly unfair to those victims who got little or nothing. Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection halts, for the time being at least, the individual cases from proceeding to trial. They will, instead, be consolidated under a bankruptcy judge who will sort things out. Individual settlements, however, will most likely be significantly lower than what a jury could award as punitive damages and therein, of course, lays the reason for the plaintiff lawyers’ indignation.
As everyone knows, punitive awards by juries have often lately exceeded the bounds of reasonableness and common sense. That’s especially true in highly emotional cases that have become causes celebres for activists, particularly when deep pockets are available to dip into. Recent settlements in abuse cases in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the Diocese of Orange County averaged $1.3 million and $1.11 million, respectively. Juries often award far more. But how do you set a price on emotional damage stemming from an event that may have happened decades ago? In many cases, the perpetrators are dead, witnesses are non-existent, unavailable or unreliable and then, of course, there is the unreliability of childhood memories to consider.
Judges tend to take a less emotional view than juries do. Most judges have heard it all before. Jurors are more easily shocked and typically more sympathetic and magnanimous toward victims.
This sordid business has been a huge tragedy for the Catholic Church and those guilty of sexual abuse or of knowingly allowing abusers to have contact with children should be severely punished. Public anger should be focused on them, not on the entire Church which includes its members. The Church and the great majority of its priests have been a strong force for good and a generous source of assistance to the poor and downtrodden. No one who truly cares for our community should want to see it irreparably damaged financially because of the crimes of a relatively small minority of its priests.
Bankruptcy was not a cop-out. It was a business decision that any organization might have made under similar circumstances. Venomous attacks against the Church as a whole are unfair but, I suppose, not surprising, coming as they do from the plaintiff lawyers who will likely now be denied the huge fees that overly-generous jury awards would have generated. CRO
copyright 2007 J. F. Kelly, Jr.
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WHO is the REAL J.F. Kelly Jr ?
March 10, 2007
J. F. Kelly Jr. is a retired US Navy Captain who served aboard the USS Gridley with none other than Senator John Kerry. To see his picture go to fvk.squarespace.com/display/ ShowJournal?moduleId=635278&categoryId=71934 - 52k he is the third one on the right opposite Kerry.
He is a Republican of the ultra conservative stripe, by the way I am an independent with conservative leanings. Kelly writes just about weekly on every manner of topic ( he's retired remember) in the conservative One Republic.Org on-line journal. Their site is http://www.theonerepublic.com/archives/
Basically he is a jerk. He goes by J. F. Kelly Jr. to hide out but I found him out as James F Kelly, Navy Captain ......
Coronado is an Island off the San Diego Coast right near the Naval base...really expensive $$$$$ digs....really expensive....
Sherlock
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How the San Diego Diocese Bankrutpcy affect victims' day in court.
When S.D. diocese filed for bankruptcy, woman lost day in court over sex-abuse case that tore her family apart
By Mark Sauer
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
March 11, 2007
OVERVIEW
Background: The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego is facing about 150 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by 60 priests from the 1950s to the '90s. Four cases were approaching trial when church officials filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Feb. 27, suspending the process. The first case, that of Nicki Rister, would have begun Feb. 28. Rister has alleged she was sexually abused as a teenager in 1972 by the Rev. Patrick O'Keeffe, then pastor of her church. O'Keeffe has since been removed from the priesthood. San Diego is the fifth U.S. Catholic diocese to seek bankruptcy protection in the face of numerous clergy sexual abuse lawsuits. The diocese and plaintiffs' attorneys were unable to reach a settlement over several years of mediation.
What's happening: Lawsuits ready for trial will wait while the bankruptcy proceedings play out in federal bankruptcy court. The diocese's liabilities and assets will be assessed. It could take a year or longer before decisions are made on payments to abuse victims and their attorneys.
Seeking Closure
He was tall, physically fit, with dark hair and blue eyes, a real charmer with an Irish accent. The high school girls nicknamed him “Father Hot Stuff.”
Nicki Rister said she was sexually abused in 1972 when she was 17 by the Rev. Patrick O'Keeffe. Her case against the San Diego diocese was hours from trial when it was suspended last month.
Read the rest of the article go to
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20070311-9999-lz1n11sauer.html
The John Paul II great cover-up of clergy sex scandal continues to brew in San Diego as Bishop Brom's top-notch lawyers (Opus Dei influenced) fight victims from getting their justice in court.
While the whole nation and the whole world watch -- we reveal it here first that the ultimate cover-upper of the priestly sex abuse scandal is the Opus Dei because they controlled John Paul II's 26 years papacy and now controls the Vatican and all the Conference of Catholic Bishops in the United States and all over the world.
Joaquin Navarro-Valls was the sole Secretary of John Paul II from the beginning of his papacy until his death. He was also Benedict XVI's Secretary until Monsignor Georg took over. See http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/ for details. And NO! the public papal secretary Jesuit Lombardi is only a fascade, a poor Jesuit with an Octopus Dei tentacle around his neck. The Opus Dei use him as a cheap shield so that they can continue with their cover up of other grave things within the Vatican. The Opus Dei is secretly preparing to take over the (Jesuit) Vatican Radio and will also begin the Vatican Television soon. The Opus Dei Holy Cross University in Rome has been preparing hundreds of communications students to take over and run these venues. Ripley's Believe it or not - has not seen anything like the Octopus Dei yet!
History has proven and will prove us right.
We report. You judge for yourself.
SAN DIEGO (CA)
KESQ
SAN DIEGO (AP) - A federal judge is ordering the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego to explain why its six-month-old bankruptcy proceedings should not be thrown out of court.
US Bankruptcy Judge Louse DeCarl Adler filed a tersely worded, six-page order today that said the church undervalued its real-estate holdings and failed to disclose facts about its financial transactions to the court. She also cited an independent audit that found individual parishes were hiding donations and other assets from the court.
A hearing on the issue is scheduled for September 6th in San Diego.
--------------
This is Judge Louise DeCarl Adler's order for the San Diego diocese to show cause why its bankruptcy case should not be dismissed.
www.signonsandiego.com
UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
THE ROMAN CATHOLIC
BISHOP OF SAN DIEGO, a
California corporation sole,
Debtor.
Case No. 07-00939-A11
ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE
WHY CASE SHOULD NOT
BE DISMISSED
51 13 0U5.S(a.C);. t11 U11.S2.( db .; 5 1 110 U5 .(Sa.)C .
Date: September 6,2007
Time: 10:OO a.m.
Dept.: Courtroom 2
T0: DEBTOR AND ITS COUNSEL; AND OTHERINTERESTED PARTIES AND
THEIR COUNSEL:
YOU AND EACH OF YOU are hereby notified that on September 6,2007, at
0:00 a.m. in Dept. 2 of the United States Bankruptcy Court, 325 West F Street, San
Diego, California, a hearing will be held on the Court's Order to Show Cause Why
Case Should Not Be Dismissed.
Grounds for the motion are as more fully set forth in the First Report of Expert
.. Todd Neilson, CPA, filed on July 30, 2007, its accompanying exhibits and
appendices (docket entry [hereafter "d.e."] #850, #853and #855); and the Schedules
md Statement of Financial Affairs ("SOFA") filed by the Diocese (d.e. #3, #281,
t282). Specifically, the Court cites the following:
. The Cash Management Order of the Court is not being followed:
a. The Handbook- Diocese of San Diego ("Handbook") is a detailed and
comprehensive guide for administration of the San Diego Diocese and its Parishes,
covering subjects such as structure of the Diocese, financial management policies of
he Diocese and Parishes, personnel policies, ministry, liturgy, etc. Parishes are not
abiding by the Handbook requirement that states:
Parishes are required to deposit with the diocese (i.e. in the
"Diocesan Bank") all parish funds including those
generated andlor held for the benefit of operations,
organizations, projects or programs over and above funds
needed for normal daily business. This policy also applies
to parochial schools and Diocesan high schools ...
(1) "Funds needed for normal daily business" is defined
as the normal operating expenses for a two-month period,
which for most parishes is approximately $50,000.
Expert's Report ("E.R.") p. 127:8-18; Appendix A (d.e. #855, Pt. 1, Adrnin.,
Parish, Section 1, p.38)
b. Parishes are not abiding by the Handbook requirement which states:
Parish related organizations should reconcile their bank
accounts on a timely basis and the reconciliation and bank
statements (or copies thereof) should be kept in the parish
office.
E.R., p. 138: 14-22; Appendix A (d.e.#855, pt. 3, p. 53)
c. Some Parishes are actively and deliberately hiding assets from the Diocese
Ir inappropriately designating donations as restricted to circumvent or evade the
lirection of the Diocese andlor the Court.
E.R., pp. 53-60; p. 158:7-28 and pp.159-162; p. 163:6-28, pp. 164-166.
/ 1
/ /
d. Post-petition, the Diocese has been lax, ineffective or indifferent to obtaining
compliance by Parishes with Handbook requirements. There is no evidence of
proactive conduct by Diocese to enforce the Handbook policies. There is an absence
of accounting controls or supervision by the Diocese over the Parishes. Accordingly,
it appears the financial controls and transparency normally required for entities in
llbankruptcy cannot be achieved.
pE.. R1.3, 8p:1. 33-62:5 1; 4p-2. 81,7 327:2:l3--82.{ .4p5. :177-231, p; . P7 44181:2-156-2. 7, p. 49: 1-12; p. 133:l-16;
I 2. The Diocese has failed to properly account for all of its property. Specifically,
a. Land held in the name of the Roman Catholic Bishop of San
Diego-regardless of whether it is claimed to be held in trust for Parishes-is not
accounted for on either the books of the Diocese or the books of the Parishes.
E.R. p. 109: 1-7.
b. Bank accounts have not been fully disclosed on the Diocese's bankruptcy
schedules, or the amended schedules which were filed pursuant to this Court's order
following the OSC.
E.R. p. 52:l-28; p. 136:15-28,p. 137,p. 138:l-11.
3. Diocese has persisted in reporting its assets at assessed valuation, rather than fair
market value as required by all debtors in bankruptcy proceedings. (d.e.. # 3; d.e.
#28 1).
4. Diocese failed to disclose material facts to the Court with respect to the operation
of its cash management system when it sought expedited approval to continue use of
this system in its First Day Motion, (d.e #. 9). Specifically,
/ / /
/ / /
- 3 -
a. Diocese failed to disclose that it had not created a segregated account for
parish funds on deposit but rather had commingled all funds in the Pastoral Center
4ain Checking Account (aMa the Diocesan Bank) on the date of filing the
ankruptcy petition.
E.R. pp. 76-79
b. Diocese failed to disclose that the Parish School Deposit & Loan ("PSDL")
'rust Checking Account did not exist on the petition date. Rather, the PSDL account
{as first created post-petition on or about March 23, 2007 and Parish monies then
wansferred to it. Previous to its creation and on the date of filing the bankruptcy, the
lonies of the Parishes were commingled and held in the Pastoral Center Main
checking Account. However, the Diocese represented in its SOFA and the
Declaration of Christopher Linscott affirmatively implied that the PSDL Trust
lhecking Account existed pre-petition and was not part of the normal cash
lanagement system of the Diocese.
E.R. pp. 23-24; pp. 80-83. Compare Linscott Reply Declaration filed April 6,
2007 (d.e. # 224), p. 5:8-28 and SOFA (d.e. # 3), pp. 55-59.
c. Diocese failed to disclose in any documents filed with this Court that prior
I filing its bankruptcy, it had represented to its auditors and in its audited financial statements provided to third parties that the Diocese owned the funds now deposited
1 the PSDL Trust without any restrictions or maintenance of the assets in trust.
E.R. p. 29:21-28, pp. 30-33, p. 34: 1-4; pp. 104-107.
/ /
11.
Applicable law:
11 U.S.C. $ 11 12(b)(l) provides in relevant part:
[Tlhe court shall convert a case under this chapter to a case under chapter
7 or dismiss a case under this chapter, whichever is in the best interests
of creditors and the estate, if movant establishes cause:
. . . . . . .
(4) For purposes of this subsection, the term "cause" includes-
(B) gross mismanagement of the estate;
......
(E) failure to comply with an order of the court;
(F) unexcused failure to satisfy timely any ... reporting requirement
established by this title or by any rule applicable to a case under
this chapter; ...
1 1 U. S.C. $ 305(a) provides in relevant part:
(a) The court, after notice and hearing, may dismiss a case under this
title, ... at any time if-
(1) the interests of creditors and the debtor would be better served by
such dismissal ....
11 U.S.C. tj 105(a) provides in relevant part:
The court may issue any order, process, or judgment that is necessary or
appropriate to carry out the provisions of this title. No provision of this
title providing for the raising of an issue by a party in interest shall be
construed to preclude the court from, sua sponte, taking any action or
making any determination necessary or appropriate to enforce or
implement court orders or rules, or to prevent an abuse of process.
111
Responses, if any, to this Order to Show Cause shall be filed and served or
interested parties no later than August 27,2007. Replies to Responses shall be filed
and served on interested parties no later than September 4,2007 at 12:OO p.m. (noon)
[&~JA&& LOUISE E CARL ADLER, Judge
ZAD 168
Revised July 19851
UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
3ase No. 07-00939-A1 1
3ase Name: THE ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
OF SAN DIEGO, et al.
CERTIFICATE OF MAILIP
The undersigned, a regularly appointed and qualified clerk in the Office of the United
States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of California, at San Diego, hereby certifies
hat a true copy of the attached document, to-wit:
ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE WHY CASE
SHOULD NOT BE DISMISSED
was enclosed in a stamped and sealed envelope and mailed to the following parties at their
nespective addresses listed below:
[SEE ATTACHED LIST]
The envelope(s) containing the above document was deposited in a regular
United States mail box in the City of San Diego in said district on August 10.2007.
a ,
3AD 168 ~ o # aL ondo
Zase No. 07-00939-A1 1
Iase Name: THE ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
OF SAN DIEGO, et al.
SUSAN G BOSWELL, ESQ
QUARLES & BRADLEY
ONE SOUTH CHURCH AVE STE 1700
TUCSON AZ 8570 1 - 162 1
GERALD P KENNEDY ESQ
PROCOPIO CORY HARGREAVES
& SAVITCH
530 B STREET STE 2100
SAN DIEGO CA 92 10 1
JICTOR VILAPLANA ESQ
102 WEST BROADWAY STE 2 100
SAN DIEGO CA 92 1 0 1
JAMES STANG ESQ
STANG & WEINTRAUB
10 100 SANTA MONICA BLVD
1 lTH FLOOR
LOS ANGELES CA 90067-4100
HAMID RAFATJOO ESQ
10 100 SANTA MONICA BLVD
SUITE 1 100
LOS ANGELES CA 90067
STEVEN KATZMAN ESQ
TIFFANY CARROLL ESQ
OFFICE OF THE U S TRUSTEE
402 WEST BROADWAY STE 600
SAN DIEGO CA 92 10 1
The greatest Pope Deceiver is Pope John Paul II because he was able to cover-up the most heinous crime against thousands of children abused by his own Papal Pedophile-Priests Army within the Vatican and the Catholic Church for more than 26 years of his papacy... that's a quarter of a Century!
Well versed in the Bible and writer of countless encyclicals, homilies and speeches against communism and sins of all sorts, John Paul II was the CEO of his Bishops and together they were cohorts in the cover-up of the greatest crime against children in the history of the Catholic Church in the modern world.
When will Catholics ever learn? When will those "Ghetto Catholics" ever learn that true sainthood is not and cannot be declared by Pope Deceivers like Benedict XVI, John Paul II's papal clone, and therefore should NEVER call John Paul II a "saint" --- not in American soil nor by American lips.
Like any great leader, John Paul II the Great could not have done it alone. He succeeded in -- this greatest Catholic Deception of clergy sexual abuse cover-up -- together with his Cardinals and Bishops. A classic Bishop Deceiver is Robert Brom of San Diego. He himself is accused of sexual misconduct with a young seminarian in recent years.
Below are eight articles that help us understand this web of Catholic Deception unfolding right before our eyes:
1. Bishop Brom paying off the sex-suit against him, by John in DC, professional journalist
2. Bishop Brom's deceptive move of bankruptcy, by Marci Hamilton, a lawyer, staunch defender of clergy abuse victims
3. SNAP's statement on Bishop Brom's bankruptcy plan, by Mary Grant of Long Beach, SNAP Western Regional Director
4. Bishop Brom's Covering up a sexual-abuse crisis, by Mary Gail Frawley-O'Dea of the San Diego Tribune
5. Video of SNAP rally against the Diocese of San Diego
6. Pro-Bankruptcy and Pro-Bishop Brom, an article by J.F. Kelly, Jr., a retired Navy Captain and bank executive
7. Who is J.F. Kelly, Jr., by Sherlock (Holmes ala 21st Century), a lawyer
8. When S.D. diocese filed for bankruptcy, woman lost day in court over sex-abuse case that tore her family apart, By Mark Sauer, Union Tribune Staff Writer
San Diego Bishop who refused funeral for gay man settled high-priced sex suit
John in DC · 3/18/2005 07:41:00 PM ET
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/03/
Comments (40)
My oh my.
.
The Bishop settled a sexual abuse lawsuit for $100,000, while claiming that an investigation proved his innocence. Yet, rather than use that rock-solid evidence to prove his innocence and clear his good name, and the good names of other high-ranking clergy, he and the other clergy chose to pay off the young man who accused them of forcing him to have sex with them.
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Yes, young man.
.
Now, we have no way of knowing if Bishop Brom did or didn't in essence commit date rape on this young man. You'll have to look at the facts and try to decide that for yourself. But it is interesting, in the context of him refusing a funeral for a gay man.
.
We report, you decide.
http://www.dallasnews.com/cgi-bin/bi/dallas/2002/
BISHOP ROBERT BROM
He is one of about a dozen U.S. bishops who have been accused of sexual misconduct in recent years. Catholic leaders in Minnesota, where Bishop Brom once headed the Diocese of Duluth, have paid a settlement to a former seminarian who alleged that he was coerced into sex.
A spokeswoman for the bishop recently told The Boston Globe that "minimal insurance" money was paid to the accuser, who agreed to retract his claim. Two archbishops who helped negotiate the deal in the mid-1990s said the man received roughly $100,000. The man alleged that in the 1980s, Bishop Brom and other high-ranking clergymen pressured him and other young men to have sex at a seminary in Winona, Minn. Bishop Brom has denied any sexual misconduct and has said that an investigation disproved what the former seminarian "thought he remembered."
In San Diego after Bishop Brom took over, questions arose about how his top aides handled the 1993 case of the Rev. Emmanuel Omemaga, who was accused of raping a 14-year-old girl after her grandfather's funeral, tying her to a bed and photographing her in bondage. The diocese has said it suspended the priest when it first learned of the accusation, then let him go home to the Philippines on vacation.
Police, meanwhile, began investigating and asked a priest who was one of the bishop's aides to alert them immediately upon Father Omemaga's return. "He agreed to do so" but instead waited five days, according to a police report. At that point, according to the report, the aide left a message saying that he had told the wanted man to call police and to consult an attorney. Father Omemaga vanished and remains the target of an arrest warrant. The aide has said he did everything he could do to bring his fellow priest to justice.
I did a little more digging on the good Bishop and found that whether or not he's a date rapists, he sure sounds like a liar.From the SD Union-Tribune, July 4, 2002 (via Lexis):
Less than three weeks after Bishop Robert Brom assured parishioners that no large settlements have been paid out in priest abuse cases since he took over 12 years ago, the Catholic diocese has acknowledged that a man who said he was molested as a boy received $250,000 in December.... Neither Brom nor Bernadeane Carr, the diocese's spokeswoman, would answer questions yesterday. "We don't have any further comments," Carr said.
------
Marci Hamilton, a prominent lawyer points out the strategy of deception of Bishop Brom, "the moral bankruptcy of grasping for cover rather than genuine remorse."
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/hamilton/20070222.html
San Diego Bishop Robert Brom Uses the Threat of Bankruptcy to Push for a Settlement in Consolidated Clergy Child Abuse Cases:
How the Diocese Is Wrongly Trying to Triangulate A Simple Issue of Accountability
By MARCI HAMILTON Thursday, Feb. 22, 2007
On Sunday, February 18, Roman Catholic Bishop Robert Brom distributed leaflets to the San Diego faithful in the pews. In the leaflets, he tried to make the case that the San Diego Diocese could be forced into Chapter 11 bankruptcy because of the 143 consolidated clergy abuse cases against the diocese for the hierarchy's role in the cover up of child abuse. . The leaflets tried to cloud the simple issue that the plaintiffs' suits really raise -- whether the Diocese and its hierarchy will take responsibility for their wrongs to children.
If the bankruptcy were filed, this would be the fifth U.S. diocese to declare bankruptcy. However, in the other four jurisdictions - Tucson, AZ; Portland, OR; Spokane, WA; and Davenport, IA-- the declaration of intent to file came on the eve of trial. Here, however, the declaration has come over a week before the trials are scheduled to begin, on February 28. It is thus geared toward setting the tone and context of ongoing pre-trial settlement discussions (which Bishop Brom specifically mentions)- pressuring plaintiffs to settle lower in order to avoid the inevitable delays of a bankruptcy filing.
The Triangulation Strategy - and Why It's Deceptive
Here is how Bishop Brom summarized the problem:
"We are painfully aware that the victims of abuse have suffered, and we want to treat all of them fairly and equitably. At the same time, good stewardship demands that settlements not cripple the ability of the Church to accomplish its mission and ministries. Consequently, we must consider how best to fairly compensate the victims while at the same time not jeopardizing our overall mission. If this cannot be done through settlement negotiations, the diocese may be forced to file a Chapter 11 reorganization in bankruptcy court."
Once again the Catholic Church's hierarchy is trying to triangulate the problem. Note the Bishop's use of language: the victims "have suffered," but there is no admission of the hierarchy's role in causing their suffering. And the Church's responsibility, as Brom styles it, is "to treat [the victims] fairly and equitably" and "to fairly compensate the victims" - not to accept accountability for its own role. Brom thus describes the abuse victims as if they were someone else's victims who had somehow landed on the Diocese's doorstep, and now must be cared for out of the simple generosity of the diocese.
Brom should have taken full public responsibility for the hierarchy's active role in the creation of more child sex abuse victims. The key to understanding this, and the other pending cases in California and elsewhere, is that they are aimed at the hierarchy's illegal, immoral, and soulless cover up of the abuse and the harm that flows from the secrecy, not the abuse per se.
More insidiously, Brom pits the victims against the parishioners, as if they were somehow adversaries. Of course, this is far from true: The victims were children of past parishioners. And if they had not been brave enough to come forward, then current parishioners' children would continue to be at the same risk as they were. These are two groups joined in a commonality of interest, not two groups at loggerheads.
This triangulation strategy is particularly unpersuasive in the San Diego context. Remember this is San Diego, home to some of the most expensive real estate in the country, and the non-religious property holdings of the Diocese are extensive and valuable beyond most person's imaginations. If they were sold off to serve a fair settlement, it is simply not accurate to say, as Bishop Brom does, that the result would be to "cripple" the Diocese's "mission and ministries." Nor would parishes or schools be affected. Indeed, it is hard to believe anyone in the diocese would even notice the sale of a few of the "unusually diverse real estate holdings, including commercial projects, apartment buildings, condominium complexes and undeveloped land" mentioned in the San Diego Union-Tribune's scathing editorial of Feb. 20.
Would This Bankruptcy Filing Be In Good Faith, As Is Legally Required?
Would such a filing be in good faith, as required under bankruptcy law? There is good reason to think not.
In a previous column, I discussed the Portland Archdiocese's bankruptcy filing, and suggested that a bankruptcy filing that is meant solely to avoid tort liability, is not a proper use of the federal bankruptcy code. That is a perfect description here.
In San Diego, the Diocese does not need reorganization, so much as it wants reduced financial responsibility for the harm it participated in causing. It is transparent that the threat of bankruptcy is intended to force the settlement to move closer to the diocese's demands. This, then, is asset protection, pure and simple.
A bankruptcy threat has force - for several reasons. First, federal bankruptcy immediately stops the clock through the operation of the "automatic stay" of pending litigation. Thus, bankruptcy stalls any forward movement for victims who have already been suffering for years.
Second, no federal bankruptcy moves quickly; such a filing would guarantee more years for these plaintiffs in litigation. Many victims are fragile, and the threat of prolonging the litigation, which already has a four-year history, can be excruciating. These victims do not relish the public attention, though they take on the psychological burden in order to see justice done in some fashion.
For this reason, a bankruptcy filing by the Diocese not only should fail the legal "good faith" standard, but would also be morally reprehensible.
Why Parishioners Familiar with Bankruptcy Law Won't Buy Brom's Argument
Parishioners need to understand, too, that a Chapter 11 federal bankruptcy filing can be very expensive. It will require the diocese to add top-flight bankruptcy attorneys to its already large stable of attorneys, and to pay the attorneys fees of the creditors' lawyers as well (the plaintiffs would be "creditors" under a federal bankruptcy). The cost is going to "reorganize" the already financially healthy diocese.
Moreover, all a bankruptcy filing does is delay the inevitable. If Brom's argument to parishioners is that he has to file for bankruptcy to save money, parishioners need to know that whether he files for bankruptcy or not, he will eventually have to settle with the victims the hierarchy created.
In short, Brom can settle now and move on, or settle in the future and pay the steep cost of a federal bankruptcy. The San Diego diocese's vast holdings make it possible for Brom to choose either option and still come out at the end of the process in a strong financial position, which makes it clear that a bankruptcy is hardly justified here.
The Real Issue: Keeping the Truth from Inhabiting the Public Square
The leaflets' talk of finances, though, is really just a smokescreen, intended to divert the discussion away from what is most important for the public, the victims, and the parishioners -- the truth.
As noted above, the first trial is scheduled to start on Feb. 28. As a defendant, Brom, in all likelihood, would be called to the stand. In the courtroom, he -- like any other witness - would be forbidden from lying, and subject to cross-examination. When that happens, the hierarchy's closely held secrets and machinations will be revealed in the public square.
If the trials go forward, the actions that created the conditions for serial child abuse will become palpable and real, in all their ugly detail, for all to see. It is one thing to read of the stories in the newspaper, or to hear about them second-hand. It is another to hear them from the mouths of those who were in power and created the conditions for child predators to prey on children. The message will extend well beyond those leafleted last Sunday to the local and national community. Doubtless, the fear of that public spectacle is what moves the hierarchy to grab for any available delay, no matter the financial cost, the further toll taken on victims, or the moral bankruptcy of grasping for cover rather than genuine remorse.
What Do You Think? Message Boards
Marci A. Hamilton is the Paul R. Verkuil Chair in Public Law at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University. An archive of her columns on church/state issues - as well as other topics -- can be found on this site. Professor Hamilton's most recent work is God vs. the Gavel: Religion and the Rule of Law (Cambridge University Press 2005).
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SNAP Press Statement
.
Statement regarding threatened San Diego bankruptcy
February 18, 2007
Statement by Mary Grant of Long Beach, SNAP Western Regional Director 626 419-2930 cell, SNAPnetwork.org
This is simply a shrewd public relations move by a bishop desperate to kept clergy sex crimes covered up.
Brom is terribly afraid of upcoming civil trials where he will have to disclose, under oath and in open court, how much he knew about and how little he did about predator priests.
Only four out of 196 dioceses have ever sought bankruptcy protection. Each did do on the eve of potentially embarrassing civil trial at which top church officials would be forced to admit they protected dangerous priests over innocent kids.
Threats of bankruptcy are designed to guilt trip victims and frighten Catholics so that testimony isn’t given, the truth isn’t exposed and the church isn’t held accountable.
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Links:
Current List OF BISHOPS WITH ABUSE ALLEGATIONS
San Diego – Bishop Robert Brom was accused of coercing a student into a sexual relationship at a seminary in Minnesota, where he once was rector and later ... www.sandiegosnap.org/BishopList.htm l
Catholic Bishops and Sex Abuse
BISHOP ROBERT BROM, He is one of about a dozen U.S. bishops who have been accused of sexual misconduct in recent years. Catholic leaders in Minnesota, ... www.bishop-accountability.org/resources/ resource-files/databases/DallasMorningNewsBishops.htm
Bishop Brom National Catholic Reporter - Find Articles
This letter is in response to the article "A people adrift in San Diego" (NCR, April 8) about Bishop Robert Brom's announcement to 98 parishes prohibiting
pages
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Bishop Drom presided over the first Mass of the John Paul II the Great University Chapel in San Diego......the Bishop Deceiver praising the Greatest Pope Deceiver!
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A Diocese in Bankruptcy
Covering up a sexual-abuse crisis
By Mary Gail Frawley-O'Dea
San Diego Tribune - March 2, 2007
Earlier this month, Bishop Robert Brom issued a “pastoral statement," warning San Diego Catholics that their diocese might declare bankruptcy. Perhaps Brom hoped that area Catholics would not realize that “pastoral" and “bankruptcy" are oxymoronic terms when discussing the sexual-abuse crisis in the Catholic Church.
What is a pastor? Theologian Richard McBrien says that pastors focus more on people than on rules, are guided by the wisdom of experience and respond to the needs of flesh and blood individuals. Bishop Brom's bankruptcy does not seem to fit the pastoral bill.
The people most in need of focus in this situation are the alleged survivors of sexual abuse by priests. Their church hurt them and their loved ones deeply; healing is long and difficult and can be derailed by additional stressors, especially those levied by the abuser or, in this case, the abusers' protectors.
In addition to financial settlements, and often in the end more important to survivors, is the release of documents that convey information about the depth and breadth of sexual abuse in a diocese. It is those documents that allow survivors to help other survivors validate past abuse and perhaps, for the first time, begin to heal.
We have seen that Bishop Brom, along with other bishops of America, will go to extreme measures in order to continue to keep documents about sexual abuse in their domains forever enshrouded in secrecy. Bankruptcy accomplishes that.
In the process, concern for those harmed by sexually abusive priests pales in comparison with an ecclesiastical insistence on preserved power and prestige. These men cling to legal rules and strategies, and implement the unspoken rules of clerical omerta. Where is the pastoral focus on people rather than rules here?
Much wisdom has been accumulated since the Catholic sexual-abuse crisis exploded into the public square in 2002. Unfortunately, most of it seems to have been gleaned by survivors and their advocates who truly have become sadder but wiser about the church's intention to stonewall their efforts to obtain social justice through the release of documents.
Bishops such as Brom are cunning, hunkering down in bunkers of bankruptcy maneuvers, engaging the legal opportunities to hide that which is dearest to them -- their secrets. They seem to have learned nothing about the value of honesty, openness and integrity in the last five years and have not, as a group, fulfilled the promises made at their seminal Dallas 2002 meeting -- vows to be transparent about sexual abuse.
In Dallas, they heard the voices of victims but, if they were moved, most recovered their equilibrium quickly. At the meeting right after Dallas and at every meeting of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops since, victims have been banned from speaking and from having direct contact with bishops. Where is the wisdom of experience with pain and suffering, betrayal and despair, harm done and healing sought here?
Flesh and blood individuals other than survivors also need pastoral care and integrity from their bishops. All Catholics need once and for all to know the truth, all the truth, about clerical exploitation of the young.
Catholics can forgive almost anything -- reconciliation is stamped into their DNA. Catholics know they have to confess all their sins to priests to obtain absolution. In turn, Catholics of San Diego and elsewhere must be told everything by their priests and bishops before they, as lay people, can grant absolution for the crimes committed against the young, and therefore against all Catholics.
And Catholics are not stupid. They know that if the Diocese of Portland paid more than $14 million in legal fees during its bankruptcy proceedings, bankruptcy is not about money. It is about secrets and about preserving secrets at any cost. Where is the response to the needs of flesh and blood individuals here?
When a diocese or a bishop has been morally bankrupt for a long time, financial bankruptcy may be just a blip on the ecclesiastical radar screen. But, for survivors and for all Catholics, another bankruptcy in a long series of betrayals still hurts.
Bishop Brom, we assume, has read the Gospels. He may want to reread Matthew 5:41: and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give them your cloak as well: and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Or, in San Diego, hand over the documents and reclaim a pastoral heart.
Frawley-O'Dea is the author of “Perversion of Power: Sexual Abuse in The Catholic Church" (Vanderbilt University Press, 2007).
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Victim's Group Rallies Against Catholic Diocese
Video: Watch Video
http://www.kfmb.com/stories/story.83256.html
Last Updated:
03-07-07 at 2:07PM
The Catholic Diocese of San Diego is due in court Wednesday, just a week after filing for bankruptcy protection against a string of lawsuits claiming abuse by priests.
It was just a week ago when Bishop Robert Brom announced he had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to put off going to trial in more than 140 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by priests.
Bishop Brom says the decision was made because any damages awarded early in a trial could deplete resources, leaving nothing for other victims.
San Diego is now the fifth diocese to choose the option.
In its bankruptcy petition, the diocese listed total assets of $200 million and debts of the same amount. The move would allow the diocese to restructure its financial affairs, giving a federal court authority to supervise expenses.
Lawyers for the alleged victims have criticized the bankruptcy filing, saying the diocese was dodging its legal responsibilities and preventing the full disclosure of the facts involving the sex abuse claims.
Many of the alleged victims are expected to rally Wednesday afternoon to march to bankruptcy court.
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PRO-Bankruptcy and Pro-Bishop Brom!
J.F. Kelly, Jr. is a retired Navy Captain and bank executive who writes on current events and military subjects. He is a resident of Coronado, California.
But find out who he really is -- after you read his article... below! You won't be surprised why he is siding with Bishop Brom instead of the poor victims
Bankruptcy And The Bishop
by J. F. Kelly, Jr. [writer]
FRIDAY 3/10/07
http://www.theonerepublic.com/archives
Plaintive lawyers for alleged victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests are in a furious tizzy over Bishop Robert Brom’s decision to file for Chapter 11 protection on behalf of the Diocese of San Diego. Variously described as a cop-out, an outrage and a cowardly act, one unhappy attorney characterized the decision as a cynical attempt to keep the truth from coming out. Another said that if he were a Catholic in San Diego, he’d be embarrassed.
Here’s a contrarian view. I’m a Catholic in the Diocese of San Diego. I am not embarrassed about being a Catholic. Indeed, I am proud of my religion and I support the Bishop’s decision. Moreover, I resent some of the vicious criticism being uttered against it, mostly by lawyers who appear motivated mainly by greed. I believe, furthermore, that there is a certain amount of excess hysteria being generated by activist advocates of alleged victims.
But first, let’s be clear on one thing. I am not an apologist for priests who were pedophiles or for bishops who covered up their despicable acts and reassigned them to other ministerial duties. Nor do I question that abuse was committed. As far as I’m concerned, castration would be appropriate for those who sexually abuse children. As for their superiors found guilty of any cover-up, I favor exiling them to the north coast of Alaska for the rest of their lives. Do I state my feelings on the seriousness of sexual abuse against children clearly enough?
All that said, I find it worthy of note that “victims” of sexual abuse half a century ago have just lately gotten around to emerging from the shadows to seek their fortunes, now that million dollar settlements and jury awards are in fashion and California has eliminated the statute of limitation. Let’s assume that they all actually did suffer abuse and were traumatized and filled with shame. What finally made them decide to come forward and sue if not a chance at a monetary windfall?
Still, I don’t want to trivialize the emotional damage they suffered and their entitlement to some kind of retribution. They were betrayed by their trusted priests who they probably believed to be incapable of wrongdoing. I believe that they should be made whole, if they can prove their allegations. I do not believe, however, that they should be made millionaires at the expense of the Catholic Church.
The diocese attempted to settle many of the 150 or so lawsuits brought against it. It became apparent that the demands would eventually exceed the financial resources of the diocese and its insurance coverage. Some claims would have been paid but others denied as liquid resources ran out. That would be grossly unfair to those victims who got little or nothing. Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection halts, for the time being at least, the individual cases from proceeding to trial. They will, instead, be consolidated under a bankruptcy judge who will sort things out. Individual settlements, however, will most likely be significantly lower than what a jury could award as punitive damages and therein, of course, lays the reason for the plaintiff lawyers’ indignation.
As everyone knows, punitive awards by juries have often lately exceeded the bounds of reasonableness and common sense. That’s especially true in highly emotional cases that have become causes celebres for activists, particularly when deep pockets are available to dip into. Recent settlements in abuse cases in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the Diocese of Orange County averaged $1.3 million and $1.11 million, respectively. Juries often award far more. But how do you set a price on emotional damage stemming from an event that may have happened decades ago? In many cases, the perpetrators are dead, witnesses are non-existent, unavailable or unreliable and then, of course, there is the unreliability of childhood memories to consider.
Judges tend to take a less emotional view than juries do. Most judges have heard it all before. Jurors are more easily shocked and typically more sympathetic and magnanimous toward victims.
This sordid business has been a huge tragedy for the Catholic Church and those guilty of sexual abuse or of knowingly allowing abusers to have contact with children should be severely punished. Public anger should be focused on them, not on the entire Church which includes its members. The Church and the great majority of its priests have been a strong force for good and a generous source of assistance to the poor and downtrodden. No one who truly cares for our community should want to see it irreparably damaged financially because of the crimes of a relatively small minority of its priests.
Bankruptcy was not a cop-out. It was a business decision that any organization might have made under similar circumstances. Venomous attacks against the Church as a whole are unfair but, I suppose, not surprising, coming as they do from the plaintiff lawyers who will likely now be denied the huge fees that overly-generous jury awards would have generated. CRO
copyright 2007 J. F. Kelly, Jr.
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WHO is the REAL J.F. Kelly Jr ?
March 10, 2007
J. F. Kelly Jr. is a retired US Navy Captain who served aboard the USS Gridley with none other than Senator John Kerry. To see his picture go to fvk.squarespace.com/display/ ShowJournal?moduleId=635278&categoryId=71934 - 52k he is the third one on the right opposite Kerry.
He is a Republican of the ultra conservative stripe, by the way I am an independent with conservative leanings. Kelly writes just about weekly on every manner of topic ( he's retired remember) in the conservative One Republic.Org on-line journal. Their site is http://www.theonerepublic.com/archives/
Basically he is a jerk. He goes by J. F. Kelly Jr. to hide out but I found him out as James F Kelly, Navy Captain ......
Coronado is an Island off the San Diego Coast right near the Naval base...really expensive $$$$$ digs....really expensive....
Sherlock
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How the San Diego Diocese Bankrutpcy affect victims' day in court.
When S.D. diocese filed for bankruptcy, woman lost day in court over sex-abuse case that tore her family apart
By Mark Sauer
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
March 11, 2007
OVERVIEW
Background: The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego is facing about 150 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by 60 priests from the 1950s to the '90s. Four cases were approaching trial when church officials filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Feb. 27, suspending the process. The first case, that of Nicki Rister, would have begun Feb. 28. Rister has alleged she was sexually abused as a teenager in 1972 by the Rev. Patrick O'Keeffe, then pastor of her church. O'Keeffe has since been removed from the priesthood. San Diego is the fifth U.S. Catholic diocese to seek bankruptcy protection in the face of numerous clergy sexual abuse lawsuits. The diocese and plaintiffs' attorneys were unable to reach a settlement over several years of mediation.
What's happening: Lawsuits ready for trial will wait while the bankruptcy proceedings play out in federal bankruptcy court. The diocese's liabilities and assets will be assessed. It could take a year or longer before decisions are made on payments to abuse victims and their attorneys.
Seeking Closure
He was tall, physically fit, with dark hair and blue eyes, a real charmer with an Irish accent. The high school girls nicknamed him “Father Hot Stuff.”
Nicki Rister said she was sexually abused in 1972 when she was 17 by the Rev. Patrick O'Keeffe. Her case against the San Diego diocese was hours from trial when it was suspended last month.
Read the rest of the article go to
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20070311-9999-lz1n11sauer.html
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As « Pontiff » for 26 years, John Paul II did absolutely nothing for them, and therefore, as a « Saint » he too CANNOT heal the thousands of victims of hishidden private papal army, the JPIIPPA John Paul II Pedophile Priests Armywww.jp2army.blogspot.com.
There are 5,148 priests in USA alone, and still counting as the Dioceses of San Diego and Los Angeles are reluctantly beginning to disclose their pedophile priests.
Compare the CRIMES and their VICTIMS in America
Victims - Attackers - Responsible Leaders
Pearl Harbor - 3,000 victims - 170 planes - Admiral Yamamoto
WTC & 9/11 attacks - 5,000 victims - 19 Muslims - Osama bin Laden
USA Priest Pedophilia - 12,000 victims - 5,148 priests - John Paul II
Only the victims, their parents, families and friends can see past the Swiss Guards, the public papal army numbering a fixed 100, and see through the endless impeccable papal spectacles that John Paul II was the CEO of Cohorts who committed the crime of cover-up of priest pedophilia. His papal cohorts are, namely, Benedict XVI, Cardinals and Bishops a.k.a. John Paul II clones. (www.pope-ratz.blogspot.com)
Ask the ones who waved the flag “Subito Santo” at his funeral if they had any relatives or friends who were victims of priest pedophilia. Ask the persons, the nuns and others who claim to have been healed of cancer “miraculously” by John Paul II, hence he should be canonized a saint as soon as possible. None of them had any relatives and friends who “suffered under” the 26 papacy of John Paul II that covered-up priest pedophilia - the most heinous crime against children in the history of the Catholic Church. (It depends which side are we on, the victims or the predators.)
In our Apostles Creed we declare that Christ “suffered under Pontius Pilate” who washed his hands off and had “nothing” to do with his Crucifixion -- today, faithful Catholics who defend John Paul II also say that his papal hands had “nothing” to do with the pedophile priests and their sexual abuses he covered-up…hence his papal hands are also washed clean like Pontius Pilate!
When (it is imminent) Benedict XVI will declare John Paul II a “saint” it will not be an "infallible act"; but how many Catholics know their canon law?
How many of the 1.2 billion Catholics believe that the Sacrament of Penance have already wiped out the pedophile priests' sins and therefore paying compensation to their victims is “not just” and unnecessary. All sins have been “forgiven” by the same hands of priests who committed them or by the Pope, the Bishops and Cardinals who covered-them up.
Most of all, how many Catholics believe that the relics of John Paul II can heal them and that he is really working miracles everywhere, in Poland, in Russia, etc.?
Let us foresee what will happen in America in the near future when, according to Catholic traditions, the relics of John Paul II will come here and be displayed for public viewing and touching like the relics of St. Therese of Lisieux.
St. Francis Xavier's incorrupt body was cut into pieces and sent all over the world. His whole arm is enshrined in Rome. His stomach is in Japan, etc. Let’s presume that if John Paul II’s body was found incorrupt, pieces of his flesh will also travel around the world. Imagine the survivors of those abused by priests, thousands of them will fall in line to go kneel and touch it – will they be healed - pronto??
Will a small flesh or relic of Pope John Paul II heal any victim's memories of YEARS of sexual abuse by his pedophile priests? Even if JPII healed some illnesses of some nun's Parkinson or other persons' cancer, will he able to heal even just ONE of these victims whom he refused to help when he was alive as Pope?
If these victims donned on one of his papal albs, will they suddenly “feel better” and “forget” their YEARS of priestly sexual abuse? After all the “miraculous healing” of John Paul II approved by the Vatican are “instantaneous and complete” – like the case of the nun suffering the same Parkinson disease who was suddenly healed by the Pope.
Let us not kid ourselves here. The priest pedophilia abuse is something John Paul II can NEVER NEVER HEAL… No amount of John Paul II relics and donning on his personal papal albs can heal the children who suffered this heinous crime under his papal watch for 26 years.
If Pope John Paul II (and Benedict XVI, his papal clone) did not care about the victims for 26 years, how on earth can a "saint" John Paul II the Great heal them now? If John Paul II did not listen to their pleas when he was alive, how can he listen to their prayers now?
John Paul II does not deserve to be called a “saint” by American children, not in this generation he left behind or future generations to come.
Let us never forget Pearl Harbor, the WTC & 9/11 attacks, the Priest Pedophilia of the 20th Century under John Paul II for it is said: Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
More importantly, let us keep our millions of American dollars here within our homeland and not send them to Rome to buy relics of John Paul II because those papal relics (statues and medals) have no powers. These papal spiritual trinkets and "Saint" John Paul II himself CANNOT heal physically, morally and spiritually the countless poor children who were victims of his 26 years papacy.
In the entire history of Christendom, John Paul II's papacy was the second longest and the only papacy marred by thousands of pedophile priests. How could such a heinous crime thrive under his 'infallible' papal watch? And now why should he be crowned with a saintly halo even if he used his real papal powers - to commit thecrime of cover-up of priest pedophilia for over a quarter of a century?
Posted on the feast of the Annunciation of Mary whose Son "suffered under Pontius Pilate" and whose thousands of Catholic children, 12,000 in USA, "suffered under John Paul II".
March 24, the anniversary of the martyrdom of Archbishop Romero
http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2006/11/john-paul-ii-and-oscar-arnulfo-romero.html
John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington in the mire --http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2006/08/john-paul-ii-cultural-center-in-mire.html
John Paul II Totus Tuus Marie fiasco--http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2006/12/john-paul-ii-totus-tuus-marie-fiasco.html
John Paul II the Great Deceiver and Bishop Brom of San Diego --http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2007/02/john-paul-ii-great-deceiver-and-bishop.html
As the Vicar of Christ, John Paul II had his eyes as the Holy See and his mouth as the Infallible Word (Autocratic Encyclicals,Papal Bulls, Papal Dictatorial Orders via the CDF Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith...) shut to the least and most vulnerable brethren of Christ, the children - those thousands of altar boys and little girls, 12,000 Americans, and still counting who were sexually abused by his JPIIPPA John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army.
John Paul II the Great Deceiver led the cover-up of the most heinous crime of priest pedophilia against children within the Catholic Church in the history of the modern world.
We must forever remember the CRIMES and their VICTIMS in America:
Pearl Harbor - 3,000 victims - 170 planes - Admiral Yamamoto
9/11 WTC - 5,000 victims - 19 Muslims attackers- Osama ben Laden
Priest Pedophilia - 12,000 victims - 5,149 Catholic priests attackers - John Paul II
Someday, we should build a museum and memorial in their honor in America. There is the Pearl Harbor Museum. Soon there will be the 9/11 & WTC Museum and Memorial......therefore there should also be the SNAP Museum and Memorial of American victims of JPIIPPA John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army.
A real saint would be able to smell sin as if it were a skunk from a mile away like John the Baptist saw and dared spell out the sin of Herod in public (Of course it cost him his head served on a platter). But John Paul II only covered-up the sin or skunk of priest pedophilia within the Vatican and the Catholic Church for over a quarter of a Century.(Of course his papal head will be crowned with the halo of canonization). And today, that stinking smell of priests sex abuse scandal has cost the American Church over a billion dollars, and still counting. As the CEO of the Catholic Church and the Catholic Bishops Conference, John Paul II should be held accountable for his cover-up, which is a crime, and posthumously, he should be condemned... and not canonized.
In the late 1980s a group of American Jesuit scholars founded the John Paul II Jesuit Symposium -- a biennial conference devoted to the teaching of John Paul II. http://www.ignatius.com/Magazines/hprweb/bk_koterski.htm
They have a book that adulate the Pope as if he were the "Word of God". http://www.amazon.com/Prophecy-Diplomacy-Doctrine-Jesuit-Symposium/dp/0823219755
Perhaps these Jesuits should spend more their time applying the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola and discerning -- how on earth - in the 26 years papacy of John Paul II - the second longest reigning Pope in the 2,000 years of Christendom -- did he miss out completely -- writing, teaching, and most of all, stopping the "worst evil" (his own papal word) - the priest pedophilia that was seething right under his holy eyes and holy nose. He was powerful as Pope, but the record shows, he did it his papal way, he did NOTHING for 26 years.
But instead of using the Spiritual Exercises, these Jesuits scholars in prominent American universities - are preaching John Paul II's teachings as if he was the Word of the Lord and feeding them to young students and Catholics worldwide. They are like cooks in a kitchen who keep stirring a huge pot of rotten skunk soup and feeding it to multitudes.
John Paul II kissed babies and children for his political photo-op. But papal action speaks louder than his words. While he kissed babies of rich parents who could afford to pay off the Cardinals to go near him, he literally abandoned the thousands of poor little boys and girls being sexually abused by his thousands of pedophile priests. (See his JPIIPPA John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army - www.jp2army.blogspot.com)
So these Jesuits are perpetuating John Paul II the Great Deceiver and his papal-cover-up of priest pedophilia in their biennial conference.
They are treating John Paul II as if he were he were the 'Word of the Lord' and the modern day Jeremiah.
Sherlock Holmes wrote this letter below to a priest recently and the questions and observations he poses can be addressed to the Jesuits as well and to the "Ghetto Catholics who pray, pay and obey".
Dear Fr. Paul,
Jeremiah: 1:4-5,17-19
"The word of the LORD came to me, saying: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you.
But do you gird your loins; stand up and tell them all that I command you. Be not crushed on their account, as though I would leave you crushed before them; for it is I this day who have made you a fortified city, a pillar of iron, a wall of brass, against the whole land: against Judah’s kings and princes, against its priests and people. They will fight against you but not prevail over you, for I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD."
I came away from listening to this first reading asking myself how it is that the USCCB chooses these passages…to which the ‘faithful’ drone in unison at the conclusion thereof….“This is the word of the Lord”.
I am struck by the mind numbing out-of-touch……out-of- reality….out of relationship context to one’s life these supposed words of the prophet (?) Jeremiah { thought to be 626 BCE, before the common era} have or perhaps fail to have when one thinks about what the USCCB is offering to its listeners through this reading.
Without being too crass I said to myself….‘garbage’.
How does one interpret these words?….. “it is I this day who have made you a fortified city, a pillar of iron, a wall of brass, against the whole land: against Judah’s kings and princes, against its priests and people. They will fight against you but not prevail over you, for I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD”.
I watch as they file in…some genuflect before entering the pew….others amble over to the statute of the “most sacred heart” kneel, take out a coin deposit it, light a stick from an existing votive then light another and bless themselves and momentarily later, retreating to a pew content or fulfilled I suppose that by depositing a coin, lighting a votive and kneeling before a statue whilst reciting some prayer and no doubt a plea as well, that this practise offers some measure of hope that their prayer and plea has somehow quasi-liturgically been faxed to the recipient.
Almost reminds me of the Hindu practise of Puja, where one chants prayers to the statue of a god or goddess, offering the deity a seat, washing its feet, and giving it water….even going so far as to bathe and clothe the image in new garments, embellished with ornaments, perfumes and flowers placed before it. Sometimes incense is burned, or a lighted lamp is waved in front of the deity. Foods such as cooked rice, fruit, butter, and sugar are offered. Family members bow before the image, and sip { similar to blessing (?) themselves with Holy (?) water } the water they have given the god, and receive a portion of cooked food. The food and water are now considered to have been blessed by the deity for the devotees.
Then, whence the Catholic service commences…. again in unison, the prayers are droned…and at the instance of the recitation of the Gospel virtually the entire assemblage makes a sign of the cross with the back of the thumb mindlessly….routinely on their foreheads, lips and heart, always the thumb and just as always the back thereof - further evidence of the spontaneous, instinctive almost involuntary nature of this gesture.
At the conclusion of the service they shuffle out….many dipping their fingers into the holy water for one last blessing…..all of it by the way, done in an seemingly unconscious repetitious manner that always makes me wonder about the whole process…from start to finish.
It reminds me of the “drill” that takes place daily on every dairy farm across this country…as the herd makes it way, in the same “pecking order” worked out among the animals, to the “milking parlor” twice daily, 12 hours apart…without being summoned, exactly at the same time each day without watches or clocks…consistently and regularly day in and day out….truly amazing to see….all without the prompting of a bell….the summoning call of a “herdsman” or any other contrivance….just plain simple unwitting, thoughtless, routine behavior….a regimen so ingrained that 7 days a week and 52 a year they make the journey from meadow to milking parlor twice at the very same time daily, save those who periodically are “dried up” before being “freshened again”….farm lingo.
I dare not share my opinions with fellow parishioners out of respect for their feelings and sensibilities. They are after all good people trying as best as one can to lead the Christian life within the context of their upbringing……the familiarity of the Catholic experience.
Indeed when invited to pray for my own intentions after “we pray to the Lord”…I often ask that my heart be not hardened…or that I be forgiven for my somber callousness.
Yet, through it all I keep coming back to desperate feeling of wondering when if ever the Council of Priests Federations will stand up and petition the Bishops to overhaul the liturgy of this staid Church….realizing at the same time the enormous conflicts that resulted with previous changes, English language supplanting the Latin mass, altar and priest reversed, sign of peace the advent of ‘altar girls’ etc.
Jeremiah is in my opinion not the Word of the Lord.
At best it is possibly a centuries old, oft altered interpretation of the Jewish religious experience from an area of the world where prophecy and religious fanaticism abound….from the earliest of times BCE, to the present day as one sees the orthodox believers swaying to and fro in front of the ‘wailing wall’ wearing one Tefillin or Phylactery on the forehead with another, the ‘shel yad’, strapped to the arm, each containing passages of the Torah.
The same can be said with many other parts of the ‘old testament ’….so why does the Church continue to trot out these meaningless, nonsensical pages of that BCE experience as relevant to the destiny of today’s believer’s seeking salvation within the context of the rejavascript:void(0)
Publishal world, not the world of prophecy and hokum?
LINKS:
JP2M John Paul II Millstone - http://jp2m.blogspot.com/
JPIIPPA John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army - http://jp2army.blogspot.com/
SNAP Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests - http://www.snapnetwork.org/
Bishops Accountability - http://www.bishop-accountability.org/
John Paul II the Great Deceiver and Bishop Brom of San Diego - http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2007/02/john-paul-ii-great-deceiver.html
John Paul II Totus Tuus Marie Fiasco - http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2006/12/john-paul-ii-totus-tuus-marie-fiasco.html
John Paul II and SNAP Anniversary
http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2007/01/john-paul-ii-and-snap-on-anniversary.html
Posted in honor of St.Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church
THE TRUTH AND NOT A LIE
click on picture - shown is seat in Vatican of the false prophet
THE SEAT OF THE FALSE PROPHET, THE VATICAN - CLICK ON PICTURE
The Beast from the Earth = The biggest crime syndicate in the world - New Church, the New World Order's Mob Bankers
Apostate Vatican II versus Apostolic Catholicity - Vatican II is Apostate
Apostate Vatican II versus Apostolic Catholicity
Who rules the Council of Seven
THE BLACK MASS IS THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION
click on picture
THE KINGS OF THE EARTH WILL GATHER TOGETHER AGAINST GOD ALMIGHTY AND HIS ANOINTED
click on picture
THE MARK OF THE BEAST LEADING TO THE ANTICHRIST IN THE REBUILT TEMPLE OF REMPHAN IN JERUSALEM
click on picture
18 TEMPLE BENEDICTIONS
Worshipper of Antichrist, ad Dajjal - click on picture
PLAGUES OF GOD COMING IN THE FUTURE UPON THE WHOLE EARTH
click on picture
VATICAN II IS DAMNED
click on picture
ANTIPOPE BENEDICTOS CURRENT ROTHSCHILD FALSE PROPHET FOR THE COMING ANTICHRIST
Benediktos at the Dome of the Rock - click on picture
The Vaticanista
The Justice of God: TRANSNATIONAL ABSOLUTE CRIMINAL CORRUPTION
The Justice of God: Ratzinger, Council of apostasy, Watchful eyes of Social Justice
HSBC
The Justice of God: The Pagan-Gnostic tree of ecumenism
Below see the fruits of the Assisi consciousness (first put forward publicly by Antipope Paul VI in India by Praying Hindu prayers to Diabolic Hindu Idols of Satan) engendered by the Freemasonic Satanic Vatican II Apostasy.
2 I am the Lord thy God,.... 3 Thou shalt not have strange gods before me. - Exodus 20:2,3
Vatican II threw that commandment of God away as Vatican II threw away all worship of the True God as well.
December 2
–December 5, 1964 – 38th International Eucharistic Congress in Bombay,
India – The first foray of the Vatican II
Abomination of Desolation blaspheming the True God and the Eucharist
that Jesus Christ gave to His Church. The Church does not belong to St. Peter
and certainly does not belong to Popes, and it most definitely has nothing to
do with Antipopes.
From the National Geographic coverage of the: December 2 –December 5, 1964 trip of Antipope Paul VI to the 38th
International Eucharistic Congress in Bombay ,
India
excerpt from National Geographic -  |
| Editor caption: Antipope Paul VI praying to Hindu demons, December 1964, in Bombay, India |
 |
| Editor caption: Adoring crowd of Satan worshiping Hindus applauding Antipope Paul VI's apostasy, December 1964, in Bombay, India |
Dubbing himself “an apostle on the move,” Paul in 1964 had journeyed to the
Nine journeys in seven years— to Asia,
There are five Antipopes since the V-2 new church of Satan crawled in and inhabited the shell of the Vatican at the 1958 Conclave and the V-2 False Council of 1962-1965: John 23, Paul 6, John Paul 1, John Paul 2 and Benedict 16. The Vatican is Babylon and has fallen - to have any part with it is damned by God forever.
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| John Paul II the Great Deceiver and Bishop Brom of San Diego John Paul II Millstone February 23, 2007 http://jp2m.blogspot.com/ The greatest Pope Deceiver is Pope John Paul II because he was able to cover-up the most heinous crime against thousands of children abused by his own Papal Pedophile-Priests Army within the Vatican and the Catholic Church for more than 26 years of his papacy... that's a quarter of a Century!
Well versed in the Bible and writer of countless encyclicals, homilies and speeches against communism and sins of all sorts, John Paul II was the CEO of his Bishops and together they were cohorts in the cover-up of the greatest crime against children in the history of the Catholic Church in the modern world.
. When will Catholics ever learn? When will those "Ghetto Catholics" ever learn that true sainthood is not and cannot be declared by Pope Deceivers like Benedict XVI, John Paul II's papal clone, and therefore should NEVER call John Paul II a "saint" --- not in American soil nor by American lips. . Like any great leader, John Paul II the Great could not have done it alone. He succeeded in -- this greatest Catholic Deception of clergy sexual abuse cover-up -- together with his Cardinals and Bishops. A classic Bishop Deceiver is Robert Brom of San Diego. He himself is accused of sexual misconduct with a young seminarian in recent years. . Below are eight articles that help us understand this web of Catholic Deception unfolding right before our eyes: 1. Bishop Brom paying off the sex-suit against him, by John in DC, professional journalist 2. Bishop Brom's deceptive move of bankruptcy, by Marci Hamilton, a lawyer, staunch defender of clergy abuse victims 3. SNAP's statement on Bishop Brom's bankruptcy plan, by Mary Grant of Long Beach, SNAP Western Regional Director 4. Bishop Brom's Covering up a sexual-abuse crisis, by Mary Gail Frawley-O'Dea of the San Diego Tribune 5. Video of SNAP rally against the Diocese of San Diego 6. Pro-Bankruptcy and Pro-Bishop Brom, an article by J.F. Kelly, Jr., a retired Navy Captain and bank executive 7. Who is J.F. Kelly, Jr., by Sherlock (Holmes ala 21st Century), a lawyer 8. How the bankruptcy affect victims' day in court, Mark Sauer Union-Tribune Staff Writer | |||||||
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution. | |||||||
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http://jp2m.blogspot.com/
http://jp2m.blogspot.com/search?q=%09John+Paul+II+the+Great+Deceiver+and+Bishop+Brom+of+San+Diego
MONDAY, APRIL 02, 2007
John Paul II the Great Pontius Pilate of the 20th Century
Suffered Under Pontius Pilate
We believe in God, in Jesus Christ who "suffered under Pontius Pilate" in the 1st Century... and today, we believe in 12,000 American children who "suffered under John Paul II" in the 20th Century.
Christ suffered for 1 day in 33 A.D under the Governor Pontius Pilate ... the American children suffered for 26 years from 1978 to 2005 under the Pontiff John Paul II.
Christ was voluntarily silent for a few moments before Pilate but the 12,000 American boys and girls were autocratically suppressed by John Paul II for over a quarter of a Century.
A Thousand Beatings
Christ suffered a thousand beatings from the soldiers of Pontius Pilate and was crucified by them with his full knowledge and (indirect) political authorization; likewise, 12,000 American children suffered a thousand deaths from the years of sexual abuse by the pedophile priests of John Paul II with his full knowledge and (indirect) papal authorization (through his cover-up which a crime in the America).
Like carnage virus, "absolute power corrupts absolutely" and it mutates and repeats itself in history whether political or religious as proven by Pontius Pilate and John Paul II the Great: Both were "above the law", both were above the crimes they (indirectly) condoned and both washed their hands clean of the spectacular crimes happening before their eyes and thrones. Pontius Pilate sat on his throne as the Governor and John Paul II sat on his throne as the Pontiff.
The Difference between the Governor and the Pontiff
The main difference between Pontius Pilate and John Paul II is that JPII "crucified" 12,000 Christians, baptized followers of Christ ...and he was the Vicar of Christ. Go figure, the Vicar of Christ "crucifying" his own followers. "Crucifying" not with metal nails and metal hammers but with priestly flesh sodomy and clergy carnal sexual abuse. Not on adults but on the most vulnerable followers of Christ, the children, altar boys and little girls, seminarians and teenage girls.
Unlike Christ who suffered physical death within hours, the American little boys and girls suffered in an enduring "living holocaust" that did not result in physical death and burial but a "slow death" which continues to torture them mentally, physically and spiritually up to today. Many have committed suicide, many live silent lives of desperation and shame. And there is no justice in sight as Bishops like Brom of San Diego and Cardinal Mahony of Los Angeles deprive victims of compensation and justice .
'Saint' Pontius Pilate of the 20th Century
Today is April 2, a Holy Monday, the beginning of Holy Week when we remember Christ as he stood before Pontius Pilate who delivered him over to the people who yelled "Crucify him!" and he satisfied their wish and "allowed" his Crowning of Thorns and Crucifixion on Good Friday. Today, John Paul II's clone, Benedict XVI, also satisfies Catholics who yelled "Subito Santo" and crowns his papal successor with fast-tracked sainthood on his feast day: "Blessed" John Paul II the Great Leader of the heinous cover-up of thousands of pedophile priests in the most grievous crime against children in Catholic Church history.
John Paul II and Benedict XVI and the Cardinals and Bishops were all cohorts in crime and today, after 2 years have passed since John Paul II's 26 years papacy, they continue to ignore the pleas for justice of clergy abuse victims. Benedict XVI has not apologize to the American victims. Bishop Brom of San Diego just declared bankruptcy to avoid giving victims justice and their dues. Cardinal Mahony continue to hide documents and cover-up his pedophile priests in Los Angeles .
These victims suffer endlessly a "living Hell" of the torments of their sexual abuse from the JPIIPPA John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army. Everyday they die a thousand deaths from the "clean and holy hands" of John Paul II the Pontius Pilate of the 20th Century.
Yes, Mary, the Mother of Christ saw it all, the crucifixion of her Son and the modern day crucifixion and holocaust of these 12,000 American little boys and girls. As John Paul II kept saying Totus Tuus Marie, his papal tail grew longer with his cover-up of clergy sexual abuse.
Prophecy to Benedict XVI and the Vatican:
To Benedict XVI, the papal clone of John Paul II
To Cardinals and Bishops, John Paul II clones
To all John Paul II clones,cheerleaders and followers
Here is a 20th Century John-the-Baptist prophecy for all of you:
The Vatican will be reduced to rubbles like the Temple of Solomon as Christ said "not one stone will be left standing" (Mathew 24) because of the sins of priest-pedophilia covered up by John Paul II whom you are canonizing today. The pedophilia-holocaust of 12,000 American little boys and girls are crying to Heaven, and like Sodom, God will have to wipe out the Vatican and you in order to purify the Catholic Church .
Mathew 24:1-5
Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. "Do you see all these things?" he asked. "I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down."
As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"
Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many.
John Paul II the Great Deceiver and Bishop Brom of San Diego http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2007/02/john-paul-ii-great-deceiver-and-bishop.html
The John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army
http://jp2army.blogspot.com/
Reforming the Legal System to Truly Protect Children
Interview with legal expert Marci Hamilton
on the internet radio talk show, "Breaking the Conspiracy of Silence."
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Show Time 2:00 p.m. (PST) / 5:00 p.m. (EST)
Link here to listen --
http://www.ethicalife.com/showsegment.asp?id=156
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2007
John Paul II the Great Deceiver and Bishop Brom of San Diego
The greatest Pope Deceiver is Pope John Paul II because he was able to cover-up the most heinous crime against thousands of children abused by his own Papal Pedophile-Priests Army within the Vatican and the Catholic Church for more than 26 years of his papacy... that's a quarter of a Century!
Well versed in the Bible and writer of countless encyclicals, homilies and speeches against communism and sins of all sorts, John Paul II was the CEO of his Bishops and together they were cohorts in the cover-up of the greatest crime against children in the history of the Catholic Church in the modern world.
When will Catholics ever learn? When will those "Ghetto Catholics" ever learn that true sainthood is not and cannot be declared by Pope Deceivers like Benedict XVI, John Paul II's papal clone, and therefore should NEVER call John Paul II a "saint" --- not in American soil nor by American lips.
Like any great leader, John Paul II the Great could not have done it alone. He succeeded in -- this greatest Catholic Deception of clergy sexual abuse cover-up -- together with his Cardinals and Bishops. A classic Bishop Deceiver is Robert Brom of San Diego. He himself is accused of sexual misconduct with a young seminarian in recent years.
Below are eight articles that help us understand this web of Catholic Deception unfolding right before our eyes:
1. Bishop Brom paying off the sex-suit against him, by John in DC, professional journalist
2. Bishop Brom's deceptive move of bankruptcy, by Marci Hamilton, a lawyer, staunch defender of clergy abuse victims
3. SNAP's statement on Bishop Brom's bankruptcy plan, by Mary Grant of Long Beach, SNAP Western Regional Director
4. Bishop Brom's Covering up a sexual-abuse crisis, by Mary Gail Frawley-O'Dea of the San Diego Tribune
5. Video of SNAP rally against the Diocese of San Diego
6. Pro-Bankruptcy and Pro-Bishop Brom, an article by J.F. Kelly, Jr., a retired Navy Captain and bank executive
7. Who is J.F. Kelly, Jr., by Sherlock (Holmes ala 21st Century), a lawyer
8. When S.D. diocese filed for bankruptcy, woman lost day in court over sex-abuse case that tore her family apart, By Mark Sauer, Union Tribune Staff Writer
San Diego Bishop who refused funeral for gay man settled high-priced sex suit
John in DC · 3/18/2005 07:41:00 PM ET
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/03/
Comments (40)
My oh my.
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The Bishop settled a sexual abuse lawsuit for $100,000, while claiming that an investigation proved his innocence. Yet, rather than use that rock-solid evidence to prove his innocence and clear his good name, and the good names of other high-ranking clergy, he and the other clergy chose to pay off the young man who accused them of forcing him to have sex with them.
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Yes, young man.
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Now, we have no way of knowing if Bishop Brom did or didn't in essence commit date rape on this young man. You'll have to look at the facts and try to decide that for yourself. But it is interesting, in the context of him refusing a funeral for a gay man.
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We report, you decide.
http://www.dallasnews.com/cgi-bin/bi/dallas/2002/
BISHOP ROBERT BROMHe is one of about a dozen U.S. bishops who have been accused of sexual misconduct in recent years. Catholic leaders in Minnesota, where Bishop Brom once headed the Diocese of Duluth, have paid a settlement to a former seminarian who alleged that he was coerced into sex.
A spokeswoman for the bishop recently told The Boston Globe that "minimal insurance" money was paid to the accuser, who agreed to retract his claim. Two archbishops who helped negotiate the deal in the mid-1990s said the man received roughly $100,000. The man alleged that in the 1980s, Bishop Brom and other high-ranking clergymen pressured him and other young men to have sex at a seminary in Winona, Minn. Bishop Brom has denied any sexual misconduct and has said that an investigation disproved what the former seminarian "thought he remembered."
In San Diego after Bishop Brom took over, questions arose about how his top aides handled the 1993 case of the Rev. Emmanuel Omemaga, who was accused of raping a 14-year-old girl after her grandfather's funeral, tying her to a bed and photographing her in bondage. The diocese has said it suspended the priest when it first learned of the accusation, then let him go home to the Philippines on vacation.
Police, meanwhile, began investigating and asked a priest who was one of the bishop's aides to alert them immediately upon Father Omemaga's return. "He agreed to do so" but instead waited five days, according to a police report. At that point, according to the report, the aide left a message saying that he had told the wanted man to call police and to consult an attorney. Father Omemaga vanished and remains the target of an arrest warrant. The aide has said he did everything he could do to bring his fellow priest to justice.
I did a little more digging on the good Bishop and found that whether or not he's a date rapists, he sure sounds like a liar.From the SD Union-Tribune, July 4, 2002 (via Lexis):
Less than three weeks after Bishop Robert Brom assured parishioners that no large settlements have been paid out in priest abuse cases since he took over 12 years ago, the Catholic diocese has acknowledged that a man who said he was molested as a boy received $250,000 in December.... Neither Brom nor Bernadeane Carr, the diocese's spokeswoman, would answer questions yesterday. "We don't have any further comments," Carr said.
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Marci Hamilton, a prominent lawyer points out the strategy of deception of Bishop Brom, "the moral bankruptcy of grasping for cover rather than genuine remorse."
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/hamilton/20070222.html
San Diego Bishop Robert Brom Uses the Threat of Bankruptcy to Push for a Settlement in Consolidated Clergy Child Abuse Cases:
How the Diocese Is Wrongly Trying to Triangulate A Simple Issue of Accountability
By MARCI HAMILTON Thursday, Feb. 22, 2007
On Sunday, February 18, Roman Catholic Bishop Robert Brom distributed leaflets to the San Diego faithful in the pews. In the leaflets, he tried to make the case that the San Diego Diocese could be forced into Chapter 11 bankruptcy because of the 143 consolidated clergy abuse cases against the diocese for the hierarchy's role in the cover up of child abuse. . The leaflets tried to cloud the simple issue that the plaintiffs' suits really raise -- whether the Diocese and its hierarchy will take responsibility for their wrongs to children.
If the bankruptcy were filed, this would be the fifth U.S. diocese to declare bankruptcy. However, in the other four jurisdictions - Tucson, AZ; Portland, OR; Spokane, WA; and Davenport, IA-- the declaration of intent to file came on the eve of trial. Here, however, the declaration has come over a week before the trials are scheduled to begin, on February 28. It is thus geared toward setting the tone and context of ongoing pre-trial settlement discussions (which Bishop Brom specifically mentions)- pressuring plaintiffs to settle lower in order to avoid the inevitable delays of a bankruptcy filing.
The Triangulation Strategy - and Why It's Deceptive
Here is how Bishop Brom summarized the problem:
"We are painfully aware that the victims of abuse have suffered, and we want to treat all of them fairly and equitably. At the same time, good stewardship demands that settlements not cripple the ability of the Church to accomplish its mission and ministries. Consequently, we must consider how best to fairly compensate the victims while at the same time not jeopardizing our overall mission. If this cannot be done through settlement negotiations, the diocese may be forced to file a Chapter 11 reorganization in bankruptcy court."
Once again the Catholic Church's hierarchy is trying to triangulate the problem. Note the Bishop's use of language: the victims "have suffered," but there is no admission of the hierarchy's role in causing their suffering. And the Church's responsibility, as Brom styles it, is "to treat [the victims] fairly and equitably" and "to fairly compensate the victims" - not to accept accountability for its own role. Brom thus describes the abuse victims as if they were someone else's victims who had somehow landed on the Diocese's doorstep, and now must be cared for out of the simple generosity of the diocese.
Brom should have taken full public responsibility for the hierarchy's active role in the creation of more child sex abuse victims. The key to understanding this, and the other pending cases in California and elsewhere, is that they are aimed at the hierarchy's illegal, immoral, and soulless cover up of the abuse and the harm that flows from the secrecy, not the abuse per se.
More insidiously, Brom pits the victims against the parishioners, as if they were somehow adversaries. Of course, this is far from true: The victims were children of past parishioners. And if they had not been brave enough to come forward, then current parishioners' children would continue to be at the same risk as they were. These are two groups joined in a commonality of interest, not two groups at loggerheads.
This triangulation strategy is particularly unpersuasive in the San Diego context. Remember this is San Diego, home to some of the most expensive real estate in the country, and the non-religious property holdings of the Diocese are extensive and valuable beyond most person's imaginations. If they were sold off to serve a fair settlement, it is simply not accurate to say, as Bishop Brom does, that the result would be to "cripple" the Diocese's "mission and ministries." Nor would parishes or schools be affected. Indeed, it is hard to believe anyone in the diocese would even notice the sale of a few of the "unusually diverse real estate holdings, including commercial projects, apartment buildings, condominium complexes and undeveloped land" mentioned in the San Diego Union-Tribune's scathing editorial of Feb. 20.
Would This Bankruptcy Filing Be In Good Faith, As Is Legally Required?
Would such a filing be in good faith, as required under bankruptcy law? There is good reason to think not.
In a previous column, I discussed the Portland Archdiocese's bankruptcy filing, and suggested that a bankruptcy filing that is meant solely to avoid tort liability, is not a proper use of the federal bankruptcy code. That is a perfect description here.
In San Diego, the Diocese does not need reorganization, so much as it wants reduced financial responsibility for the harm it participated in causing. It is transparent that the threat of bankruptcy is intended to force the settlement to move closer to the diocese's demands. This, then, is asset protection, pure and simple.
A bankruptcy threat has force - for several reasons. First, federal bankruptcy immediately stops the clock through the operation of the "automatic stay" of pending litigation. Thus, bankruptcy stalls any forward movement for victims who have already been suffering for years.
Second, no federal bankruptcy moves quickly; such a filing would guarantee more years for these plaintiffs in litigation. Many victims are fragile, and the threat of prolonging the litigation, which already has a four-year history, can be excruciating. These victims do not relish the public attention, though they take on the psychological burden in order to see justice done in some fashion.
For this reason, a bankruptcy filing by the Diocese not only should fail the legal "good faith" standard, but would also be morally reprehensible.
Why Parishioners Familiar with Bankruptcy Law Won't Buy Brom's Argument
Parishioners need to understand, too, that a Chapter 11 federal bankruptcy filing can be very expensive. It will require the diocese to add top-flight bankruptcy attorneys to its already large stable of attorneys, and to pay the attorneys fees of the creditors' lawyers as well (the plaintiffs would be "creditors" under a federal bankruptcy). The cost is going to "reorganize" the already financially healthy diocese.
Moreover, all a bankruptcy filing does is delay the inevitable. If Brom's argument to parishioners is that he has to file for bankruptcy to save money, parishioners need to know that whether he files for bankruptcy or not, he will eventually have to settle with the victims the hierarchy created.
In short, Brom can settle now and move on, or settle in the future and pay the steep cost of a federal bankruptcy. The San Diego diocese's vast holdings make it possible for Brom to choose either option and still come out at the end of the process in a strong financial position, which makes it clear that a bankruptcy is hardly justified here.
The Real Issue: Keeping the Truth from Inhabiting the Public Square
The leaflets' talk of finances, though, is really just a smokescreen, intended to divert the discussion away from what is most important for the public, the victims, and the parishioners -- the truth.
As noted above, the first trial is scheduled to start on Feb. 28. As a defendant, Brom, in all likelihood, would be called to the stand. In the courtroom, he -- like any other witness - would be forbidden from lying, and subject to cross-examination. When that happens, the hierarchy's closely held secrets and machinations will be revealed in the public square.
If the trials go forward, the actions that created the conditions for serial child abuse will become palpable and real, in all their ugly detail, for all to see. It is one thing to read of the stories in the newspaper, or to hear about them second-hand. It is another to hear them from the mouths of those who were in power and created the conditions for child predators to prey on children. The message will extend well beyond those leafleted last Sunday to the local and national community. Doubtless, the fear of that public spectacle is what moves the hierarchy to grab for any available delay, no matter the financial cost, the further toll taken on victims, or the moral bankruptcy of grasping for cover rather than genuine remorse.
What Do You Think? Message Boards
Marci A. Hamilton is the Paul R. Verkuil Chair in Public Law at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University. An archive of her columns on church/state issues - as well as other topics -- can be found on this site. Professor Hamilton's most recent work is God vs. the Gavel: Religion and the Rule of Law (Cambridge University Press 2005).
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SNAP Press Statement
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Statement regarding threatened San Diego bankruptcy
February 18, 2007
Statement by Mary Grant of Long Beach, SNAP Western Regional Director 626 419-2930 cell, SNAPnetwork.org
This is simply a shrewd public relations move by a bishop desperate to kept clergy sex crimes covered up.
Brom is terribly afraid of upcoming civil trials where he will have to disclose, under oath and in open court, how much he knew about and how little he did about predator priests.
Only four out of 196 dioceses have ever sought bankruptcy protection. Each did do on the eve of potentially embarrassing civil trial at which top church officials would be forced to admit they protected dangerous priests over innocent kids.
Threats of bankruptcy are designed to guilt trip victims and frighten Catholics so that testimony isn’t given, the truth isn’t exposed and the church isn’t held accountable.
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Links:
Current List OF BISHOPS WITH ABUSE ALLEGATIONS
San Diego – Bishop Robert Brom was accused of coercing a student into a sexual relationship at a seminary in Minnesota, where he once was rector and later ... www.sandiegosnap.org/BishopList.htm l
Catholic Bishops and Sex Abuse
BISHOP ROBERT BROM, He is one of about a dozen U.S. bishops who have been accused of sexual misconduct in recent years. Catholic leaders in Minnesota, ... www.bishop-accountability.org/resources/ resource-files/databases/DallasMorningNewsBishops.htm
Bishop Brom National Catholic Reporter - Find Articles
This letter is in response to the article "A people adrift in San Diego" (NCR, April 8) about Bishop Robert Brom's announcement to 98 parishes prohibiting
pages
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Bishop Drom presided over the first Mass of the John Paul II the Great University Chapel in San Diego......the Bishop Deceiver praising the Greatest Pope Deceiver!
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A Diocese in Bankruptcy
Covering up a sexual-abuse crisis
By Mary Gail Frawley-O'Dea
San Diego Tribune - March 2, 2007
Earlier this month, Bishop Robert Brom issued a “pastoral statement," warning San Diego Catholics that their diocese might declare bankruptcy. Perhaps Brom hoped that area Catholics would not realize that “pastoral" and “bankruptcy" are oxymoronic terms when discussing the sexual-abuse crisis in the Catholic Church.
What is a pastor? Theologian Richard McBrien says that pastors focus more on people than on rules, are guided by the wisdom of experience and respond to the needs of flesh and blood individuals. Bishop Brom's bankruptcy does not seem to fit the pastoral bill.
The people most in need of focus in this situation are the alleged survivors of sexual abuse by priests. Their church hurt them and their loved ones deeply; healing is long and difficult and can be derailed by additional stressors, especially those levied by the abuser or, in this case, the abusers' protectors.
In addition to financial settlements, and often in the end more important to survivors, is the release of documents that convey information about the depth and breadth of sexual abuse in a diocese. It is those documents that allow survivors to help other survivors validate past abuse and perhaps, for the first time, begin to heal.
We have seen that Bishop Brom, along with other bishops of America, will go to extreme measures in order to continue to keep documents about sexual abuse in their domains forever enshrouded in secrecy. Bankruptcy accomplishes that.
In the process, concern for those harmed by sexually abusive priests pales in comparison with an ecclesiastical insistence on preserved power and prestige. These men cling to legal rules and strategies, and implement the unspoken rules of clerical omerta. Where is the pastoral focus on people rather than rules here?
Much wisdom has been accumulated since the Catholic sexual-abuse crisis exploded into the public square in 2002. Unfortunately, most of it seems to have been gleaned by survivors and their advocates who truly have become sadder but wiser about the church's intention to stonewall their efforts to obtain social justice through the release of documents.
Bishops such as Brom are cunning, hunkering down in bunkers of bankruptcy maneuvers, engaging the legal opportunities to hide that which is dearest to them -- their secrets. They seem to have learned nothing about the value of honesty, openness and integrity in the last five years and have not, as a group, fulfilled the promises made at their seminal Dallas 2002 meeting -- vows to be transparent about sexual abuse.
In Dallas, they heard the voices of victims but, if they were moved, most recovered their equilibrium quickly. At the meeting right after Dallas and at every meeting of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops since, victims have been banned from speaking and from having direct contact with bishops. Where is the wisdom of experience with pain and suffering, betrayal and despair, harm done and healing sought here?
Flesh and blood individuals other than survivors also need pastoral care and integrity from their bishops. All Catholics need once and for all to know the truth, all the truth, about clerical exploitation of the young.
Catholics can forgive almost anything -- reconciliation is stamped into their DNA. Catholics know they have to confess all their sins to priests to obtain absolution. In turn, Catholics of San Diego and elsewhere must be told everything by their priests and bishops before they, as lay people, can grant absolution for the crimes committed against the young, and therefore against all Catholics.
And Catholics are not stupid. They know that if the Diocese of Portland paid more than $14 million in legal fees during its bankruptcy proceedings, bankruptcy is not about money. It is about secrets and about preserving secrets at any cost. Where is the response to the needs of flesh and blood individuals here?
When a diocese or a bishop has been morally bankrupt for a long time, financial bankruptcy may be just a blip on the ecclesiastical radar screen. But, for survivors and for all Catholics, another bankruptcy in a long series of betrayals still hurts.
Bishop Brom, we assume, has read the Gospels. He may want to reread Matthew 5:41: and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give them your cloak as well: and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Or, in San Diego, hand over the documents and reclaim a pastoral heart.
Frawley-O'Dea is the author of “Perversion of Power: Sexual Abuse in The Catholic Church" (Vanderbilt University Press, 2007).
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Victim's Group Rallies Against Catholic Diocese
Video: Watch Video
http://www.kfmb.com/stories/story.83256.html
Last Updated:
03-07-07 at 2:07PM
The Catholic Diocese of San Diego is due in court Wednesday, just a week after filing for bankruptcy protection against a string of lawsuits claiming abuse by priests.
It was just a week ago when Bishop Robert Brom announced he had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to put off going to trial in more than 140 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by priests.
Bishop Brom says the decision was made because any damages awarded early in a trial could deplete resources, leaving nothing for other victims.
San Diego is now the fifth diocese to choose the option.
In its bankruptcy petition, the diocese listed total assets of $200 million and debts of the same amount. The move would allow the diocese to restructure its financial affairs, giving a federal court authority to supervise expenses.
Lawyers for the alleged victims have criticized the bankruptcy filing, saying the diocese was dodging its legal responsibilities and preventing the full disclosure of the facts involving the sex abuse claims.
Many of the alleged victims are expected to rally Wednesday afternoon to march to bankruptcy court.
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PRO-Bankruptcy and Pro-Bishop Brom!
J.F. Kelly, Jr. is a retired Navy Captain and bank executive who writes on current events and military subjects. He is a resident of Coronado, California.
But find out who he really is -- after you read his article... below! You won't be surprised why he is siding with Bishop Brom instead of the poor victims
Bankruptcy And The Bishop
by J. F. Kelly, Jr. [writer]
FRIDAY 3/10/07
http://www.theonerepublic.com/archives
Plaintive lawyers for alleged victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests are in a furious tizzy over Bishop Robert Brom’s decision to file for Chapter 11 protection on behalf of the Diocese of San Diego. Variously described as a cop-out, an outrage and a cowardly act, one unhappy attorney characterized the decision as a cynical attempt to keep the truth from coming out. Another said that if he were a Catholic in San Diego, he’d be embarrassed.
Here’s a contrarian view. I’m a Catholic in the Diocese of San Diego. I am not embarrassed about being a Catholic. Indeed, I am proud of my religion and I support the Bishop’s decision. Moreover, I resent some of the vicious criticism being uttered against it, mostly by lawyers who appear motivated mainly by greed. I believe, furthermore, that there is a certain amount of excess hysteria being generated by activist advocates of alleged victims.
But first, let’s be clear on one thing. I am not an apologist for priests who were pedophiles or for bishops who covered up their despicable acts and reassigned them to other ministerial duties. Nor do I question that abuse was committed. As far as I’m concerned, castration would be appropriate for those who sexually abuse children. As for their superiors found guilty of any cover-up, I favor exiling them to the north coast of Alaska for the rest of their lives. Do I state my feelings on the seriousness of sexual abuse against children clearly enough?
All that said, I find it worthy of note that “victims” of sexual abuse half a century ago have just lately gotten around to emerging from the shadows to seek their fortunes, now that million dollar settlements and jury awards are in fashion and California has eliminated the statute of limitation. Let’s assume that they all actually did suffer abuse and were traumatized and filled with shame. What finally made them decide to come forward and sue if not a chance at a monetary windfall?
Still, I don’t want to trivialize the emotional damage they suffered and their entitlement to some kind of retribution. They were betrayed by their trusted priests who they probably believed to be incapable of wrongdoing. I believe that they should be made whole, if they can prove their allegations. I do not believe, however, that they should be made millionaires at the expense of the Catholic Church.
The diocese attempted to settle many of the 150 or so lawsuits brought against it. It became apparent that the demands would eventually exceed the financial resources of the diocese and its insurance coverage. Some claims would have been paid but others denied as liquid resources ran out. That would be grossly unfair to those victims who got little or nothing. Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection halts, for the time being at least, the individual cases from proceeding to trial. They will, instead, be consolidated under a bankruptcy judge who will sort things out. Individual settlements, however, will most likely be significantly lower than what a jury could award as punitive damages and therein, of course, lays the reason for the plaintiff lawyers’ indignation.
As everyone knows, punitive awards by juries have often lately exceeded the bounds of reasonableness and common sense. That’s especially true in highly emotional cases that have become causes celebres for activists, particularly when deep pockets are available to dip into. Recent settlements in abuse cases in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the Diocese of Orange County averaged $1.3 million and $1.11 million, respectively. Juries often award far more. But how do you set a price on emotional damage stemming from an event that may have happened decades ago? In many cases, the perpetrators are dead, witnesses are non-existent, unavailable or unreliable and then, of course, there is the unreliability of childhood memories to consider.
Judges tend to take a less emotional view than juries do. Most judges have heard it all before. Jurors are more easily shocked and typically more sympathetic and magnanimous toward victims.
This sordid business has been a huge tragedy for the Catholic Church and those guilty of sexual abuse or of knowingly allowing abusers to have contact with children should be severely punished. Public anger should be focused on them, not on the entire Church which includes its members. The Church and the great majority of its priests have been a strong force for good and a generous source of assistance to the poor and downtrodden. No one who truly cares for our community should want to see it irreparably damaged financially because of the crimes of a relatively small minority of its priests.
Bankruptcy was not a cop-out. It was a business decision that any organization might have made under similar circumstances. Venomous attacks against the Church as a whole are unfair but, I suppose, not surprising, coming as they do from the plaintiff lawyers who will likely now be denied the huge fees that overly-generous jury awards would have generated. CRO
copyright 2007 J. F. Kelly, Jr.
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WHO is the REAL J.F. Kelly Jr ?
March 10, 2007
J. F. Kelly Jr. is a retired US Navy Captain who served aboard the USS Gridley with none other than Senator John Kerry. To see his picture go to fvk.squarespace.com/display/ ShowJournal?moduleId=635278&categoryId=71934 - 52k he is the third one on the right opposite Kerry.
He is a Republican of the ultra conservative stripe, by the way I am an independent with conservative leanings. Kelly writes just about weekly on every manner of topic ( he's retired remember) in the conservative One Republic.Org on-line journal. Their site is http://www.theonerepublic.com/archives/
Basically he is a jerk. He goes by J. F. Kelly Jr. to hide out but I found him out as James F Kelly, Navy Captain ......
Coronado is an Island off the San Diego Coast right near the Naval base...really expensive $$$$$ digs....really expensive....
Sherlock
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How the San Diego Diocese Bankrutpcy affect victims' day in court.
When S.D. diocese filed for bankruptcy, woman lost day in court over sex-abuse case that tore her family apart
By Mark Sauer
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
March 11, 2007
OVERVIEW
Background: The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego is facing about 150 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by 60 priests from the 1950s to the '90s. Four cases were approaching trial when church officials filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Feb. 27, suspending the process. The first case, that of Nicki Rister, would have begun Feb. 28. Rister has alleged she was sexually abused as a teenager in 1972 by the Rev. Patrick O'Keeffe, then pastor of her church. O'Keeffe has since been removed from the priesthood. San Diego is the fifth U.S. Catholic diocese to seek bankruptcy protection in the face of numerous clergy sexual abuse lawsuits. The diocese and plaintiffs' attorneys were unable to reach a settlement over several years of mediation.
What's happening: Lawsuits ready for trial will wait while the bankruptcy proceedings play out in federal bankruptcy court. The diocese's liabilities and assets will be assessed. It could take a year or longer before decisions are made on payments to abuse victims and their attorneys.
Seeking Closure
He was tall, physically fit, with dark hair and blue eyes, a real charmer with an Irish accent. The high school girls nicknamed him “Father Hot Stuff.”
Nicki Rister said she was sexually abused in 1972 when she was 17 by the Rev. Patrick O'Keeffe. Her case against the San Diego diocese was hours from trial when it was suspended last month.
Read the rest of the article go to
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20070311-9999-lz1n11sauer.html
posted by Paris Arrow | Friday, February 23, 2007 
MONDAY, AUGUST 13, 2007
John Paul II and Bishop Brom brewing OD cover-up
While the whole nation and the whole world watch -- we reveal it here first that the ultimate cover-upper of the priestly sex abuse scandal is the Opus Dei because they controlled John Paul II's 26 years papacy and now controls the Vatican and all the Conference of Catholic Bishops in the United States and all over the world.
Joaquin Navarro-Valls was the sole Secretary of John Paul II from the beginning of his papacy until his death. He was also Benedict XVI's Secretary until Monsignor Georg took over. See http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/ for details. And NO! the public papal secretary Jesuit Lombardi is only a fascade, a poor Jesuit with an Octopus Dei tentacle around his neck. The Opus Dei use him as a cheap shield so that they can continue with their cover up of other grave things within the Vatican. The Opus Dei is secretly preparing to take over the (Jesuit) Vatican Radio and will also begin the Vatican Television soon. The Opus Dei Holy Cross University in Rome has been preparing hundreds of communications students to take over and run these venues. Ripley's Believe it or not - has not seen anything like the Octopus Dei yet!
History has proven and will prove us right.
We report. You judge for yourself.
SAN DIEGO (CA)
KESQ
SAN DIEGO (AP) - A federal judge is ordering the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego to explain why its six-month-old bankruptcy proceedings should not be thrown out of court.
US Bankruptcy Judge Louse DeCarl Adler filed a tersely worded, six-page order today that said the church undervalued its real-estate holdings and failed to disclose facts about its financial transactions to the court. She also cited an independent audit that found individual parishes were hiding donations and other assets from the court.
A hearing on the issue is scheduled for September 6th in San Diego.
--------------
This is Judge Louise DeCarl Adler's order for the San Diego diocese to show cause why its bankruptcy case should not be dismissed.
www.signonsandiego.com
UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
THE ROMAN CATHOLIC
BISHOP OF SAN DIEGO, a
California corporation sole,
Debtor.
Case No. 07-00939-A11
ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE
WHY CASE SHOULD NOT
BE DISMISSED
51 13 0U5.S(a.C);. t11 U11.S2.( db .; 5 1 110 U5 .(Sa.)C .
Date: September 6,2007
Time: 10:OO a.m.
Dept.: Courtroom 2
T0: DEBTOR AND ITS COUNSEL; AND OTHERINTERESTED PARTIES AND
THEIR COUNSEL:
YOU AND EACH OF YOU are hereby notified that on September 6,2007, at
0:00 a.m. in Dept. 2 of the United States Bankruptcy Court, 325 West F Street, San
Diego, California, a hearing will be held on the Court's Order to Show Cause Why
Case Should Not Be Dismissed.
Grounds for the motion are as more fully set forth in the First Report of Expert
.. Todd Neilson, CPA, filed on July 30, 2007, its accompanying exhibits and
appendices (docket entry [hereafter "d.e."] #850, #853and #855); and the Schedules
md Statement of Financial Affairs ("SOFA") filed by the Diocese (d.e. #3, #281,
t282). Specifically, the Court cites the following:
. The Cash Management Order of the Court is not being followed:
a. The Handbook- Diocese of San Diego ("Handbook") is a detailed and
comprehensive guide for administration of the San Diego Diocese and its Parishes,
covering subjects such as structure of the Diocese, financial management policies of
he Diocese and Parishes, personnel policies, ministry, liturgy, etc. Parishes are not
abiding by the Handbook requirement that states:
Parishes are required to deposit with the diocese (i.e. in the
"Diocesan Bank") all parish funds including those
generated andlor held for the benefit of operations,
organizations, projects or programs over and above funds
needed for normal daily business. This policy also applies
to parochial schools and Diocesan high schools ...
(1) "Funds needed for normal daily business" is defined
as the normal operating expenses for a two-month period,
which for most parishes is approximately $50,000.
Expert's Report ("E.R.") p. 127:8-18; Appendix A (d.e. #855, Pt. 1, Adrnin.,
Parish, Section 1, p.38)
b. Parishes are not abiding by the Handbook requirement which states:
Parish related organizations should reconcile their bank
accounts on a timely basis and the reconciliation and bank
statements (or copies thereof) should be kept in the parish
office.
E.R., p. 138: 14-22; Appendix A (d.e.#855, pt. 3, p. 53)
c. Some Parishes are actively and deliberately hiding assets from the Diocese
Ir inappropriately designating donations as restricted to circumvent or evade the
lirection of the Diocese andlor the Court.
E.R., pp. 53-60; p. 158:7-28 and pp.159-162; p. 163:6-28, pp. 164-166.
/ 1
/ /
d. Post-petition, the Diocese has been lax, ineffective or indifferent to obtaining
compliance by Parishes with Handbook requirements. There is no evidence of
proactive conduct by Diocese to enforce the Handbook policies. There is an absence
of accounting controls or supervision by the Diocese over the Parishes. Accordingly,
it appears the financial controls and transparency normally required for entities in
llbankruptcy cannot be achieved.
pE.. R1.3, 8p:1. 33-62:5 1; 4p-2. 81,7 327:2:l3--82.{ .4p5. :177-231, p; . P7 44181:2-156-2. 7, p. 49: 1-12; p. 133:l-16;
I 2. The Diocese has failed to properly account for all of its property. Specifically,
a. Land held in the name of the Roman Catholic Bishop of San
Diego-regardless of whether it is claimed to be held in trust for Parishes-is not
accounted for on either the books of the Diocese or the books of the Parishes.
E.R. p. 109: 1-7.
b. Bank accounts have not been fully disclosed on the Diocese's bankruptcy
schedules, or the amended schedules which were filed pursuant to this Court's order
following the OSC.
E.R. p. 52:l-28; p. 136:15-28,p. 137,p. 138:l-11.
3. Diocese has persisted in reporting its assets at assessed valuation, rather than fair
market value as required by all debtors in bankruptcy proceedings. (d.e.. # 3; d.e.
#28 1).
4. Diocese failed to disclose material facts to the Court with respect to the operation
of its cash management system when it sought expedited approval to continue use of
this system in its First Day Motion, (d.e #. 9). Specifically,
/ / /
/ / /
- 3 -
a. Diocese failed to disclose that it had not created a segregated account for
parish funds on deposit but rather had commingled all funds in the Pastoral Center
4ain Checking Account (aMa the Diocesan Bank) on the date of filing the
ankruptcy petition.
E.R. pp. 76-79
b. Diocese failed to disclose that the Parish School Deposit & Loan ("PSDL")
'rust Checking Account did not exist on the petition date. Rather, the PSDL account
{as first created post-petition on or about March 23, 2007 and Parish monies then
wansferred to it. Previous to its creation and on the date of filing the bankruptcy, the
lonies of the Parishes were commingled and held in the Pastoral Center Main
checking Account. However, the Diocese represented in its SOFA and the
Declaration of Christopher Linscott affirmatively implied that the PSDL Trust
lhecking Account existed pre-petition and was not part of the normal cash
lanagement system of the Diocese.
E.R. pp. 23-24; pp. 80-83. Compare Linscott Reply Declaration filed April 6,
2007 (d.e. # 224), p. 5:8-28 and SOFA (d.e. # 3), pp. 55-59.
c. Diocese failed to disclose in any documents filed with this Court that prior
I filing its bankruptcy, it had represented to its auditors and in its audited financial statements provided to third parties that the Diocese owned the funds now deposited
1 the PSDL Trust without any restrictions or maintenance of the assets in trust.
E.R. p. 29:21-28, pp. 30-33, p. 34: 1-4; pp. 104-107.
/ /
11.
Applicable law:
11 U.S.C. $ 11 12(b)(l) provides in relevant part:
[Tlhe court shall convert a case under this chapter to a case under chapter
7 or dismiss a case under this chapter, whichever is in the best interests
of creditors and the estate, if movant establishes cause:
. . . . . . .
(4) For purposes of this subsection, the term "cause" includes-
(B) gross mismanagement of the estate;
......
(E) failure to comply with an order of the court;
(F) unexcused failure to satisfy timely any ... reporting requirement
established by this title or by any rule applicable to a case under
this chapter; ...
1 1 U. S.C. $ 305(a) provides in relevant part:
(a) The court, after notice and hearing, may dismiss a case under this
title, ... at any time if-
(1) the interests of creditors and the debtor would be better served by
such dismissal ....
11 U.S.C. tj 105(a) provides in relevant part:
The court may issue any order, process, or judgment that is necessary or
appropriate to carry out the provisions of this title. No provision of this
title providing for the raising of an issue by a party in interest shall be
construed to preclude the court from, sua sponte, taking any action or
making any determination necessary or appropriate to enforce or
implement court orders or rules, or to prevent an abuse of process.
111
Responses, if any, to this Order to Show Cause shall be filed and served or
interested parties no later than August 27,2007. Replies to Responses shall be filed
and served on interested parties no later than September 4,2007 at 12:OO p.m. (noon)
[&~JA&& LOUISE E CARL ADLER, Judge
ZAD 168
Revised July 19851
UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
3ase No. 07-00939-A1 1
3ase Name: THE ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
OF SAN DIEGO, et al.
CERTIFICATE OF MAILIP
The undersigned, a regularly appointed and qualified clerk in the Office of the United
States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of California, at San Diego, hereby certifies
hat a true copy of the attached document, to-wit:
ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE WHY CASE
SHOULD NOT BE DISMISSED
was enclosed in a stamped and sealed envelope and mailed to the following parties at their
nespective addresses listed below:
[SEE ATTACHED LIST]
The envelope(s) containing the above document was deposited in a regular
United States mail box in the City of San Diego in said district on August 10.2007.
a ,
3AD 168 ~ o # aL ondo
Zase No. 07-00939-A1 1
Iase Name: THE ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
OF SAN DIEGO, et al.
SUSAN G BOSWELL, ESQ
QUARLES & BRADLEY
ONE SOUTH CHURCH AVE STE 1700
TUCSON AZ 8570 1 - 162 1
GERALD P KENNEDY ESQ
PROCOPIO CORY HARGREAVES
& SAVITCH
530 B STREET STE 2100
SAN DIEGO CA 92 10 1
JICTOR VILAPLANA ESQ
102 WEST BROADWAY STE 2 100
SAN DIEGO CA 92 1 0 1
JAMES STANG ESQ
STANG & WEINTRAUB
10 100 SANTA MONICA BLVD
1 lTH FLOOR
LOS ANGELES CA 90067-4100
HAMID RAFATJOO ESQ
10 100 SANTA MONICA BLVD
SUITE 1 100
LOS ANGELES CA 90067
STEVEN KATZMAN ESQ
TIFFANY CARROLL ESQ
OFFICE OF THE U S TRUSTEE
402 WEST BROADWAY STE 600
SAN DIEGO CA 92 10 1
The greatest Pope Deceiver is Pope John Paul II because he was able to cover-up the most heinous crime against thousands of children abused by his own Papal Pedophile-Priests Army within the Vatican and the Catholic Church for more than 26 years of his papacy... that's a quarter of a Century!
Well versed in the Bible and writer of countless encyclicals, homilies and speeches against communism and sins of all sorts, John Paul II was the CEO of his Bishops and together they were cohorts in the cover-up of the greatest crime against children in the history of the Catholic Church in the modern world.
When will Catholics ever learn? When will those "Ghetto Catholics" ever learn that true sainthood is not and cannot be declared by Pope Deceivers like Benedict XVI, John Paul II's papal clone, and therefore should NEVER call John Paul II a "saint" --- not in American soil nor by American lips.
Like any great leader, John Paul II the Great could not have done it alone. He succeeded in -- this greatest Catholic Deception of clergy sexual abuse cover-up -- together with his Cardinals and Bishops. A classic Bishop Deceiver is Robert Brom of San Diego. He himself is accused of sexual misconduct with a young seminarian in recent years.
Below are eight articles that help us understand this web of Catholic Deception unfolding right before our eyes:
1. Bishop Brom paying off the sex-suit against him, by John in DC, professional journalist
2. Bishop Brom's deceptive move of bankruptcy, by Marci Hamilton, a lawyer, staunch defender of clergy abuse victims
3. SNAP's statement on Bishop Brom's bankruptcy plan, by Mary Grant of Long Beach, SNAP Western Regional Director
4. Bishop Brom's Covering up a sexual-abuse crisis, by Mary Gail Frawley-O'Dea of the San Diego Tribune
5. Video of SNAP rally against the Diocese of San Diego
6. Pro-Bankruptcy and Pro-Bishop Brom, an article by J.F. Kelly, Jr., a retired Navy Captain and bank executive
7. Who is J.F. Kelly, Jr., by Sherlock (Holmes ala 21st Century), a lawyer
8. When S.D. diocese filed for bankruptcy, woman lost day in court over sex-abuse case that tore her family apart, By Mark Sauer, Union Tribune Staff Writer
San Diego Bishop who refused funeral for gay man settled high-priced sex suit
John in DC · 3/18/2005 07:41:00 PM ET
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/03/
Comments (40)
My oh my.
.
The Bishop settled a sexual abuse lawsuit for $100,000, while claiming that an investigation proved his innocence. Yet, rather than use that rock-solid evidence to prove his innocence and clear his good name, and the good names of other high-ranking clergy, he and the other clergy chose to pay off the young man who accused them of forcing him to have sex with them.
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Yes, young man.
.
Now, we have no way of knowing if Bishop Brom did or didn't in essence commit date rape on this young man. You'll have to look at the facts and try to decide that for yourself. But it is interesting, in the context of him refusing a funeral for a gay man.
.
We report, you decide.
http://www.dallasnews.com/cgi-bin/bi/dallas/2002/
BISHOP ROBERT BROMHe is one of about a dozen U.S. bishops who have been accused of sexual misconduct in recent years. Catholic leaders in Minnesota, where Bishop Brom once headed the Diocese of Duluth, have paid a settlement to a former seminarian who alleged that he was coerced into sex.
A spokeswoman for the bishop recently told The Boston Globe that "minimal insurance" money was paid to the accuser, who agreed to retract his claim. Two archbishops who helped negotiate the deal in the mid-1990s said the man received roughly $100,000. The man alleged that in the 1980s, Bishop Brom and other high-ranking clergymen pressured him and other young men to have sex at a seminary in Winona, Minn. Bishop Brom has denied any sexual misconduct and has said that an investigation disproved what the former seminarian "thought he remembered."
In San Diego after Bishop Brom took over, questions arose about how his top aides handled the 1993 case of the Rev. Emmanuel Omemaga, who was accused of raping a 14-year-old girl after her grandfather's funeral, tying her to a bed and photographing her in bondage. The diocese has said it suspended the priest when it first learned of the accusation, then let him go home to the Philippines on vacation.
Police, meanwhile, began investigating and asked a priest who was one of the bishop's aides to alert them immediately upon Father Omemaga's return. "He agreed to do so" but instead waited five days, according to a police report. At that point, according to the report, the aide left a message saying that he had told the wanted man to call police and to consult an attorney. Father Omemaga vanished and remains the target of an arrest warrant. The aide has said he did everything he could do to bring his fellow priest to justice.
I did a little more digging on the good Bishop and found that whether or not he's a date rapists, he sure sounds like a liar.From the SD Union-Tribune, July 4, 2002 (via Lexis):
Less than three weeks after Bishop Robert Brom assured parishioners that no large settlements have been paid out in priest abuse cases since he took over 12 years ago, the Catholic diocese has acknowledged that a man who said he was molested as a boy received $250,000 in December.... Neither Brom nor Bernadeane Carr, the diocese's spokeswoman, would answer questions yesterday. "We don't have any further comments," Carr said.
------
Marci Hamilton, a prominent lawyer points out the strategy of deception of Bishop Brom, "the moral bankruptcy of grasping for cover rather than genuine remorse."
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/hamilton/20070222.html
San Diego Bishop Robert Brom Uses the Threat of Bankruptcy to Push for a Settlement in Consolidated Clergy Child Abuse Cases:
How the Diocese Is Wrongly Trying to Triangulate A Simple Issue of Accountability
By MARCI HAMILTON Thursday, Feb. 22, 2007
On Sunday, February 18, Roman Catholic Bishop Robert Brom distributed leaflets to the San Diego faithful in the pews. In the leaflets, he tried to make the case that the San Diego Diocese could be forced into Chapter 11 bankruptcy because of the 143 consolidated clergy abuse cases against the diocese for the hierarchy's role in the cover up of child abuse. . The leaflets tried to cloud the simple issue that the plaintiffs' suits really raise -- whether the Diocese and its hierarchy will take responsibility for their wrongs to children.
If the bankruptcy were filed, this would be the fifth U.S. diocese to declare bankruptcy. However, in the other four jurisdictions - Tucson, AZ; Portland, OR; Spokane, WA; and Davenport, IA-- the declaration of intent to file came on the eve of trial. Here, however, the declaration has come over a week before the trials are scheduled to begin, on February 28. It is thus geared toward setting the tone and context of ongoing pre-trial settlement discussions (which Bishop Brom specifically mentions)- pressuring plaintiffs to settle lower in order to avoid the inevitable delays of a bankruptcy filing.
The Triangulation Strategy - and Why It's Deceptive
Here is how Bishop Brom summarized the problem:
"We are painfully aware that the victims of abuse have suffered, and we want to treat all of them fairly and equitably. At the same time, good stewardship demands that settlements not cripple the ability of the Church to accomplish its mission and ministries. Consequently, we must consider how best to fairly compensate the victims while at the same time not jeopardizing our overall mission. If this cannot be done through settlement negotiations, the diocese may be forced to file a Chapter 11 reorganization in bankruptcy court."
Once again the Catholic Church's hierarchy is trying to triangulate the problem. Note the Bishop's use of language: the victims "have suffered," but there is no admission of the hierarchy's role in causing their suffering. And the Church's responsibility, as Brom styles it, is "to treat [the victims] fairly and equitably" and "to fairly compensate the victims" - not to accept accountability for its own role. Brom thus describes the abuse victims as if they were someone else's victims who had somehow landed on the Diocese's doorstep, and now must be cared for out of the simple generosity of the diocese.
Brom should have taken full public responsibility for the hierarchy's active role in the creation of more child sex abuse victims. The key to understanding this, and the other pending cases in California and elsewhere, is that they are aimed at the hierarchy's illegal, immoral, and soulless cover up of the abuse and the harm that flows from the secrecy, not the abuse per se.
More insidiously, Brom pits the victims against the parishioners, as if they were somehow adversaries. Of course, this is far from true: The victims were children of past parishioners. And if they had not been brave enough to come forward, then current parishioners' children would continue to be at the same risk as they were. These are two groups joined in a commonality of interest, not two groups at loggerheads.
This triangulation strategy is particularly unpersuasive in the San Diego context. Remember this is San Diego, home to some of the most expensive real estate in the country, and the non-religious property holdings of the Diocese are extensive and valuable beyond most person's imaginations. If they were sold off to serve a fair settlement, it is simply not accurate to say, as Bishop Brom does, that the result would be to "cripple" the Diocese's "mission and ministries." Nor would parishes or schools be affected. Indeed, it is hard to believe anyone in the diocese would even notice the sale of a few of the "unusually diverse real estate holdings, including commercial projects, apartment buildings, condominium complexes and undeveloped land" mentioned in the San Diego Union-Tribune's scathing editorial of Feb. 20.
Would This Bankruptcy Filing Be In Good Faith, As Is Legally Required?
Would such a filing be in good faith, as required under bankruptcy law? There is good reason to think not.
In a previous column, I discussed the Portland Archdiocese's bankruptcy filing, and suggested that a bankruptcy filing that is meant solely to avoid tort liability, is not a proper use of the federal bankruptcy code. That is a perfect description here.
In San Diego, the Diocese does not need reorganization, so much as it wants reduced financial responsibility for the harm it participated in causing. It is transparent that the threat of bankruptcy is intended to force the settlement to move closer to the diocese's demands. This, then, is asset protection, pure and simple.
A bankruptcy threat has force - for several reasons. First, federal bankruptcy immediately stops the clock through the operation of the "automatic stay" of pending litigation. Thus, bankruptcy stalls any forward movement for victims who have already been suffering for years.
Second, no federal bankruptcy moves quickly; such a filing would guarantee more years for these plaintiffs in litigation. Many victims are fragile, and the threat of prolonging the litigation, which already has a four-year history, can be excruciating. These victims do not relish the public attention, though they take on the psychological burden in order to see justice done in some fashion.
For this reason, a bankruptcy filing by the Diocese not only should fail the legal "good faith" standard, but would also be morally reprehensible.
Why Parishioners Familiar with Bankruptcy Law Won't Buy Brom's Argument
Parishioners need to understand, too, that a Chapter 11 federal bankruptcy filing can be very expensive. It will require the diocese to add top-flight bankruptcy attorneys to its already large stable of attorneys, and to pay the attorneys fees of the creditors' lawyers as well (the plaintiffs would be "creditors" under a federal bankruptcy). The cost is going to "reorganize" the already financially healthy diocese.
Moreover, all a bankruptcy filing does is delay the inevitable. If Brom's argument to parishioners is that he has to file for bankruptcy to save money, parishioners need to know that whether he files for bankruptcy or not, he will eventually have to settle with the victims the hierarchy created.
In short, Brom can settle now and move on, or settle in the future and pay the steep cost of a federal bankruptcy. The San Diego diocese's vast holdings make it possible for Brom to choose either option and still come out at the end of the process in a strong financial position, which makes it clear that a bankruptcy is hardly justified here.
The Real Issue: Keeping the Truth from Inhabiting the Public Square
The leaflets' talk of finances, though, is really just a smokescreen, intended to divert the discussion away from what is most important for the public, the victims, and the parishioners -- the truth.
As noted above, the first trial is scheduled to start on Feb. 28. As a defendant, Brom, in all likelihood, would be called to the stand. In the courtroom, he -- like any other witness - would be forbidden from lying, and subject to cross-examination. When that happens, the hierarchy's closely held secrets and machinations will be revealed in the public square.
If the trials go forward, the actions that created the conditions for serial child abuse will become palpable and real, in all their ugly detail, for all to see. It is one thing to read of the stories in the newspaper, or to hear about them second-hand. It is another to hear them from the mouths of those who were in power and created the conditions for child predators to prey on children. The message will extend well beyond those leafleted last Sunday to the local and national community. Doubtless, the fear of that public spectacle is what moves the hierarchy to grab for any available delay, no matter the financial cost, the further toll taken on victims, or the moral bankruptcy of grasping for cover rather than genuine remorse.
What Do You Think? Message Boards
Marci A. Hamilton is the Paul R. Verkuil Chair in Public Law at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University. An archive of her columns on church/state issues - as well as other topics -- can be found on this site. Professor Hamilton's most recent work is God vs. the Gavel: Religion and the Rule of Law (Cambridge University Press 2005).
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SNAP Press Statement
.
Statement regarding threatened San Diego bankruptcy
February 18, 2007
Statement by Mary Grant of Long Beach, SNAP Western Regional Director 626 419-2930 cell, SNAPnetwork.org
This is simply a shrewd public relations move by a bishop desperate to kept clergy sex crimes covered up.
Brom is terribly afraid of upcoming civil trials where he will have to disclose, under oath and in open court, how much he knew about and how little he did about predator priests.
Only four out of 196 dioceses have ever sought bankruptcy protection. Each did do on the eve of potentially embarrassing civil trial at which top church officials would be forced to admit they protected dangerous priests over innocent kids.
Threats of bankruptcy are designed to guilt trip victims and frighten Catholics so that testimony isn’t given, the truth isn’t exposed and the church isn’t held accountable.
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Links:
Current List OF BISHOPS WITH ABUSE ALLEGATIONS
San Diego – Bishop Robert Brom was accused of coercing a student into a sexual relationship at a seminary in Minnesota, where he once was rector and later ... www.sandiegosnap.org/BishopList.htm l
Catholic Bishops and Sex Abuse
BISHOP ROBERT BROM, He is one of about a dozen U.S. bishops who have been accused of sexual misconduct in recent years. Catholic leaders in Minnesota, ... www.bishop-accountability.org/resources/ resource-files/databases/DallasMorningNewsBishops.htm
Bishop Brom National Catholic Reporter - Find Articles
This letter is in response to the article "A people adrift in San Diego" (NCR, April 8) about Bishop Robert Brom's announcement to 98 parishes prohibiting
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Bishop Drom presided over the first Mass of the John Paul II the Great University Chapel in San Diego......the Bishop Deceiver praising the Greatest Pope Deceiver!
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A Diocese in Bankruptcy
Covering up a sexual-abuse crisis
By Mary Gail Frawley-O'Dea
San Diego Tribune - March 2, 2007
Earlier this month, Bishop Robert Brom issued a “pastoral statement," warning San Diego Catholics that their diocese might declare bankruptcy. Perhaps Brom hoped that area Catholics would not realize that “pastoral" and “bankruptcy" are oxymoronic terms when discussing the sexual-abuse crisis in the Catholic Church.
What is a pastor? Theologian Richard McBrien says that pastors focus more on people than on rules, are guided by the wisdom of experience and respond to the needs of flesh and blood individuals. Bishop Brom's bankruptcy does not seem to fit the pastoral bill.
The people most in need of focus in this situation are the alleged survivors of sexual abuse by priests. Their church hurt them and their loved ones deeply; healing is long and difficult and can be derailed by additional stressors, especially those levied by the abuser or, in this case, the abusers' protectors.
In addition to financial settlements, and often in the end more important to survivors, is the release of documents that convey information about the depth and breadth of sexual abuse in a diocese. It is those documents that allow survivors to help other survivors validate past abuse and perhaps, for the first time, begin to heal.
We have seen that Bishop Brom, along with other bishops of America, will go to extreme measures in order to continue to keep documents about sexual abuse in their domains forever enshrouded in secrecy. Bankruptcy accomplishes that.
In the process, concern for those harmed by sexually abusive priests pales in comparison with an ecclesiastical insistence on preserved power and prestige. These men cling to legal rules and strategies, and implement the unspoken rules of clerical omerta. Where is the pastoral focus on people rather than rules here?
Much wisdom has been accumulated since the Catholic sexual-abuse crisis exploded into the public square in 2002. Unfortunately, most of it seems to have been gleaned by survivors and their advocates who truly have become sadder but wiser about the church's intention to stonewall their efforts to obtain social justice through the release of documents.
Bishops such as Brom are cunning, hunkering down in bunkers of bankruptcy maneuvers, engaging the legal opportunities to hide that which is dearest to them -- their secrets. They seem to have learned nothing about the value of honesty, openness and integrity in the last five years and have not, as a group, fulfilled the promises made at their seminal Dallas 2002 meeting -- vows to be transparent about sexual abuse.
In Dallas, they heard the voices of victims but, if they were moved, most recovered their equilibrium quickly. At the meeting right after Dallas and at every meeting of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops since, victims have been banned from speaking and from having direct contact with bishops. Where is the wisdom of experience with pain and suffering, betrayal and despair, harm done and healing sought here?
Flesh and blood individuals other than survivors also need pastoral care and integrity from their bishops. All Catholics need once and for all to know the truth, all the truth, about clerical exploitation of the young.
Catholics can forgive almost anything -- reconciliation is stamped into their DNA. Catholics know they have to confess all their sins to priests to obtain absolution. In turn, Catholics of San Diego and elsewhere must be told everything by their priests and bishops before they, as lay people, can grant absolution for the crimes committed against the young, and therefore against all Catholics.
And Catholics are not stupid. They know that if the Diocese of Portland paid more than $14 million in legal fees during its bankruptcy proceedings, bankruptcy is not about money. It is about secrets and about preserving secrets at any cost. Where is the response to the needs of flesh and blood individuals here?
When a diocese or a bishop has been morally bankrupt for a long time, financial bankruptcy may be just a blip on the ecclesiastical radar screen. But, for survivors and for all Catholics, another bankruptcy in a long series of betrayals still hurts.
Bishop Brom, we assume, has read the Gospels. He may want to reread Matthew 5:41: and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give them your cloak as well: and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Or, in San Diego, hand over the documents and reclaim a pastoral heart.
Frawley-O'Dea is the author of “Perversion of Power: Sexual Abuse in The Catholic Church" (Vanderbilt University Press, 2007).
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Victim's Group Rallies Against Catholic Diocese
Video: Watch Video
http://www.kfmb.com/stories/story.83256.html
Last Updated:
03-07-07 at 2:07PM
The Catholic Diocese of San Diego is due in court Wednesday, just a week after filing for bankruptcy protection against a string of lawsuits claiming abuse by priests.
It was just a week ago when Bishop Robert Brom announced he had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to put off going to trial in more than 140 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by priests.
Bishop Brom says the decision was made because any damages awarded early in a trial could deplete resources, leaving nothing for other victims.
San Diego is now the fifth diocese to choose the option.
In its bankruptcy petition, the diocese listed total assets of $200 million and debts of the same amount. The move would allow the diocese to restructure its financial affairs, giving a federal court authority to supervise expenses.
Lawyers for the alleged victims have criticized the bankruptcy filing, saying the diocese was dodging its legal responsibilities and preventing the full disclosure of the facts involving the sex abuse claims.
Many of the alleged victims are expected to rally Wednesday afternoon to march to bankruptcy court.
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PRO-Bankruptcy and Pro-Bishop Brom!
J.F. Kelly, Jr. is a retired Navy Captain and bank executive who writes on current events and military subjects. He is a resident of Coronado, California.
But find out who he really is -- after you read his article... below! You won't be surprised why he is siding with Bishop Brom instead of the poor victims
Bankruptcy And The Bishop
by J. F. Kelly, Jr. [writer]
FRIDAY 3/10/07
http://www.theonerepublic.com/archives
Plaintive lawyers for alleged victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests are in a furious tizzy over Bishop Robert Brom’s decision to file for Chapter 11 protection on behalf of the Diocese of San Diego. Variously described as a cop-out, an outrage and a cowardly act, one unhappy attorney characterized the decision as a cynical attempt to keep the truth from coming out. Another said that if he were a Catholic in San Diego, he’d be embarrassed.
Here’s a contrarian view. I’m a Catholic in the Diocese of San Diego. I am not embarrassed about being a Catholic. Indeed, I am proud of my religion and I support the Bishop’s decision. Moreover, I resent some of the vicious criticism being uttered against it, mostly by lawyers who appear motivated mainly by greed. I believe, furthermore, that there is a certain amount of excess hysteria being generated by activist advocates of alleged victims.
But first, let’s be clear on one thing. I am not an apologist for priests who were pedophiles or for bishops who covered up their despicable acts and reassigned them to other ministerial duties. Nor do I question that abuse was committed. As far as I’m concerned, castration would be appropriate for those who sexually abuse children. As for their superiors found guilty of any cover-up, I favor exiling them to the north coast of Alaska for the rest of their lives. Do I state my feelings on the seriousness of sexual abuse against children clearly enough?
All that said, I find it worthy of note that “victims” of sexual abuse half a century ago have just lately gotten around to emerging from the shadows to seek their fortunes, now that million dollar settlements and jury awards are in fashion and California has eliminated the statute of limitation. Let’s assume that they all actually did suffer abuse and were traumatized and filled with shame. What finally made them decide to come forward and sue if not a chance at a monetary windfall?
Still, I don’t want to trivialize the emotional damage they suffered and their entitlement to some kind of retribution. They were betrayed by their trusted priests who they probably believed to be incapable of wrongdoing. I believe that they should be made whole, if they can prove their allegations. I do not believe, however, that they should be made millionaires at the expense of the Catholic Church.
The diocese attempted to settle many of the 150 or so lawsuits brought against it. It became apparent that the demands would eventually exceed the financial resources of the diocese and its insurance coverage. Some claims would have been paid but others denied as liquid resources ran out. That would be grossly unfair to those victims who got little or nothing. Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection halts, for the time being at least, the individual cases from proceeding to trial. They will, instead, be consolidated under a bankruptcy judge who will sort things out. Individual settlements, however, will most likely be significantly lower than what a jury could award as punitive damages and therein, of course, lays the reason for the plaintiff lawyers’ indignation.
As everyone knows, punitive awards by juries have often lately exceeded the bounds of reasonableness and common sense. That’s especially true in highly emotional cases that have become causes celebres for activists, particularly when deep pockets are available to dip into. Recent settlements in abuse cases in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the Diocese of Orange County averaged $1.3 million and $1.11 million, respectively. Juries often award far more. But how do you set a price on emotional damage stemming from an event that may have happened decades ago? In many cases, the perpetrators are dead, witnesses are non-existent, unavailable or unreliable and then, of course, there is the unreliability of childhood memories to consider.
Judges tend to take a less emotional view than juries do. Most judges have heard it all before. Jurors are more easily shocked and typically more sympathetic and magnanimous toward victims.
This sordid business has been a huge tragedy for the Catholic Church and those guilty of sexual abuse or of knowingly allowing abusers to have contact with children should be severely punished. Public anger should be focused on them, not on the entire Church which includes its members. The Church and the great majority of its priests have been a strong force for good and a generous source of assistance to the poor and downtrodden. No one who truly cares for our community should want to see it irreparably damaged financially because of the crimes of a relatively small minority of its priests.
Bankruptcy was not a cop-out. It was a business decision that any organization might have made under similar circumstances. Venomous attacks against the Church as a whole are unfair but, I suppose, not surprising, coming as they do from the plaintiff lawyers who will likely now be denied the huge fees that overly-generous jury awards would have generated. CRO
copyright 2007 J. F. Kelly, Jr.
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WHO is the REAL J.F. Kelly Jr ?
March 10, 2007
J. F. Kelly Jr. is a retired US Navy Captain who served aboard the USS Gridley with none other than Senator John Kerry. To see his picture go to fvk.squarespace.com/display/ ShowJournal?moduleId=635278&categoryId=71934 - 52k he is the third one on the right opposite Kerry.
He is a Republican of the ultra conservative stripe, by the way I am an independent with conservative leanings. Kelly writes just about weekly on every manner of topic ( he's retired remember) in the conservative One Republic.Org on-line journal. Their site is http://www.theonerepublic.com/archives/
Basically he is a jerk. He goes by J. F. Kelly Jr. to hide out but I found him out as James F Kelly, Navy Captain ......
Coronado is an Island off the San Diego Coast right near the Naval base...really expensive $$$$$ digs....really expensive....
Sherlock
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How the San Diego Diocese Bankrutpcy affect victims' day in court.
When S.D. diocese filed for bankruptcy, woman lost day in court over sex-abuse case that tore her family apart
By Mark Sauer
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
March 11, 2007
OVERVIEW
Background: The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego is facing about 150 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by 60 priests from the 1950s to the '90s. Four cases were approaching trial when church officials filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Feb. 27, suspending the process. The first case, that of Nicki Rister, would have begun Feb. 28. Rister has alleged she was sexually abused as a teenager in 1972 by the Rev. Patrick O'Keeffe, then pastor of her church. O'Keeffe has since been removed from the priesthood. San Diego is the fifth U.S. Catholic diocese to seek bankruptcy protection in the face of numerous clergy sexual abuse lawsuits. The diocese and plaintiffs' attorneys were unable to reach a settlement over several years of mediation.
What's happening: Lawsuits ready for trial will wait while the bankruptcy proceedings play out in federal bankruptcy court. The diocese's liabilities and assets will be assessed. It could take a year or longer before decisions are made on payments to abuse victims and their attorneys.
Seeking Closure
He was tall, physically fit, with dark hair and blue eyes, a real charmer with an Irish accent. The high school girls nicknamed him “Father Hot Stuff.”
Nicki Rister said she was sexually abused in 1972 when she was 17 by the Rev. Patrick O'Keeffe. Her case against the San Diego diocese was hours from trial when it was suspended last month.
Read the rest of the article go to
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20070311-9999-lz1n11sauer.html
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SATURDAY, MARCH 24, 2007
"Saint" John Paul II CANNOT Heal Priest-Pedophilia Victims
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As « Pontiff » for 26 years, John Paul II did absolutely nothing for them, and therefore, as a « Saint » he too CANNOT heal the thousands of victims of hishidden private papal army, the JPIIPPA John Paul II Pedophile Priests Armywww.jp2army.blogspot.com.
There are 5,148 priests in USA alone, and still counting as the Dioceses of San Diego and Los Angeles are reluctantly beginning to disclose their pedophile priests.
Compare the CRIMES and their VICTIMS in America
Victims - Attackers - Responsible Leaders
Pearl Harbor - 3,000 victims - 170 planes - Admiral Yamamoto
WTC & 9/11 attacks - 5,000 victims - 19 Muslims - Osama bin Laden
USA Priest Pedophilia - 12,000 victims - 5,148 priests - John Paul II
Only the victims, their parents, families and friends can see past the Swiss Guards, the public papal army numbering a fixed 100, and see through the endless impeccable papal spectacles that John Paul II was the CEO of Cohorts who committed the crime of cover-up of priest pedophilia. His papal cohorts are, namely, Benedict XVI, Cardinals and Bishops a.k.a. John Paul II clones. (www.pope-ratz.blogspot.com)
Ask the ones who waved the flag “Subito Santo” at his funeral if they had any relatives or friends who were victims of priest pedophilia. Ask the persons, the nuns and others who claim to have been healed of cancer “miraculously” by John Paul II, hence he should be canonized a saint as soon as possible. None of them had any relatives and friends who “suffered under” the 26 papacy of John Paul II that covered-up priest pedophilia - the most heinous crime against children in the history of the Catholic Church. (It depends which side are we on, the victims or the predators.)
In our Apostles Creed we declare that Christ “suffered under Pontius Pilate” who washed his hands off and had “nothing” to do with his Crucifixion -- today, faithful Catholics who defend John Paul II also say that his papal hands had “nothing” to do with the pedophile priests and their sexual abuses he covered-up…hence his papal hands are also washed clean like Pontius Pilate!
When (it is imminent) Benedict XVI will declare John Paul II a “saint” it will not be an "infallible act"; but how many Catholics know their canon law?
How many of the 1.2 billion Catholics believe that the Sacrament of Penance have already wiped out the pedophile priests' sins and therefore paying compensation to their victims is “not just” and unnecessary. All sins have been “forgiven” by the same hands of priests who committed them or by the Pope, the Bishops and Cardinals who covered-them up.
Most of all, how many Catholics believe that the relics of John Paul II can heal them and that he is really working miracles everywhere, in Poland, in Russia, etc.?
Let us foresee what will happen in America in the near future when, according to Catholic traditions, the relics of John Paul II will come here and be displayed for public viewing and touching like the relics of St. Therese of Lisieux.
St. Francis Xavier's incorrupt body was cut into pieces and sent all over the world. His whole arm is enshrined in Rome. His stomach is in Japan, etc. Let’s presume that if John Paul II’s body was found incorrupt, pieces of his flesh will also travel around the world. Imagine the survivors of those abused by priests, thousands of them will fall in line to go kneel and touch it – will they be healed - pronto??
Will a small flesh or relic of Pope John Paul II heal any victim's memories of YEARS of sexual abuse by his pedophile priests? Even if JPII healed some illnesses of some nun's Parkinson or other persons' cancer, will he able to heal even just ONE of these victims whom he refused to help when he was alive as Pope?
If these victims donned on one of his papal albs, will they suddenly “feel better” and “forget” their YEARS of priestly sexual abuse? After all the “miraculous healing” of John Paul II approved by the Vatican are “instantaneous and complete” – like the case of the nun suffering the same Parkinson disease who was suddenly healed by the Pope.
Let us not kid ourselves here. The priest pedophilia abuse is something John Paul II can NEVER NEVER HEAL… No amount of John Paul II relics and donning on his personal papal albs can heal the children who suffered this heinous crime under his papal watch for 26 years.
If Pope John Paul II (and Benedict XVI, his papal clone) did not care about the victims for 26 years, how on earth can a "saint" John Paul II the Great heal them now? If John Paul II did not listen to their pleas when he was alive, how can he listen to their prayers now?
John Paul II does not deserve to be called a “saint” by American children, not in this generation he left behind or future generations to come.
Let us never forget Pearl Harbor, the WTC & 9/11 attacks, the Priest Pedophilia of the 20th Century under John Paul II for it is said: Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
More importantly, let us keep our millions of American dollars here within our homeland and not send them to Rome to buy relics of John Paul II because those papal relics (statues and medals) have no powers. These papal spiritual trinkets and "Saint" John Paul II himself CANNOT heal physically, morally and spiritually the countless poor children who were victims of his 26 years papacy.
In the entire history of Christendom, John Paul II's papacy was the second longest and the only papacy marred by thousands of pedophile priests. How could such a heinous crime thrive under his 'infallible' papal watch? And now why should he be crowned with a saintly halo even if he used his real papal powers - to commit thecrime of cover-up of priest pedophilia for over a quarter of a century?
Posted on the feast of the Annunciation of Mary whose Son "suffered under Pontius Pilate" and whose thousands of Catholic children, 12,000 in USA, "suffered under John Paul II".
March 24, the anniversary of the martyrdom of Archbishop Romero
http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2006/11/john-paul-ii-and-oscar-arnulfo-romero.html
John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington in the mire --http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2006/08/john-paul-ii-cultural-center-in-mire.html
John Paul II Totus Tuus Marie fiasco--http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2006/12/john-paul-ii-totus-tuus-marie-fiasco.html
John Paul II the Great Deceiver and Bishop Brom of San Diego --http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2007/02/john-paul-ii-great-deceiver-and-bishop.html
SUNDAY, MARCH 18, 2007
John Paul II is NOT the "Word of the Lord"
John Paul II the Great Deceiver led the cover-up of the most heinous crime of priest pedophilia against children within the Catholic Church in the history of the modern world.
We must forever remember the CRIMES and their VICTIMS in America:
Pearl Harbor - 3,000 victims - 170 planes - Admiral Yamamoto
9/11 WTC - 5,000 victims - 19 Muslims attackers- Osama ben Laden
Priest Pedophilia - 12,000 victims - 5,149 Catholic priests attackers - John Paul II
Someday, we should build a museum and memorial in their honor in America. There is the Pearl Harbor Museum. Soon there will be the 9/11 & WTC Museum and Memorial......therefore there should also be the SNAP Museum and Memorial of American victims of JPIIPPA John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army.
A real saint would be able to smell sin as if it were a skunk from a mile away like John the Baptist saw and dared spell out the sin of Herod in public (Of course it cost him his head served on a platter). But John Paul II only covered-up the sin or skunk of priest pedophilia within the Vatican and the Catholic Church for over a quarter of a Century.(Of course his papal head will be crowned with the halo of canonization). And today, that stinking smell of priests sex abuse scandal has cost the American Church over a billion dollars, and still counting. As the CEO of the Catholic Church and the Catholic Bishops Conference, John Paul II should be held accountable for his cover-up, which is a crime, and posthumously, he should be condemned... and not canonized.
In the late 1980s a group of American Jesuit scholars founded the John Paul II Jesuit Symposium -- a biennial conference devoted to the teaching of John Paul II. http://www.ignatius.com/Magazines/hprweb/bk_koterski.htm
They have a book that adulate the Pope as if he were the "Word of God". http://www.amazon.com/Prophecy-Diplomacy-Doctrine-Jesuit-Symposium/dp/0823219755
Perhaps these Jesuits should spend more their time applying the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola and discerning -- how on earth - in the 26 years papacy of John Paul II - the second longest reigning Pope in the 2,000 years of Christendom -- did he miss out completely -- writing, teaching, and most of all, stopping the "worst evil" (his own papal word) - the priest pedophilia that was seething right under his holy eyes and holy nose. He was powerful as Pope, but the record shows, he did it his papal way, he did NOTHING for 26 years.
But instead of using the Spiritual Exercises, these Jesuits scholars in prominent American universities - are preaching John Paul II's teachings as if he was the Word of the Lord and feeding them to young students and Catholics worldwide. They are like cooks in a kitchen who keep stirring a huge pot of rotten skunk soup and feeding it to multitudes.
John Paul II kissed babies and children for his political photo-op. But papal action speaks louder than his words. While he kissed babies of rich parents who could afford to pay off the Cardinals to go near him, he literally abandoned the thousands of poor little boys and girls being sexually abused by his thousands of pedophile priests. (See his JPIIPPA John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army - www.jp2army.blogspot.com)
So these Jesuits are perpetuating John Paul II the Great Deceiver and his papal-cover-up of priest pedophilia in their biennial conference.
They are treating John Paul II as if he were he were the 'Word of the Lord' and the modern day Jeremiah.
Sherlock Holmes wrote this letter below to a priest recently and the questions and observations he poses can be addressed to the Jesuits as well and to the "Ghetto Catholics who pray, pay and obey".
Dear Fr. Paul,
Jeremiah: 1:4-5,17-19
"The word of the LORD came to me, saying: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you.
But do you gird your loins; stand up and tell them all that I command you. Be not crushed on their account, as though I would leave you crushed before them; for it is I this day who have made you a fortified city, a pillar of iron, a wall of brass, against the whole land: against Judah’s kings and princes, against its priests and people. They will fight against you but not prevail over you, for I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD."
I came away from listening to this first reading asking myself how it is that the USCCB chooses these passages…to which the ‘faithful’ drone in unison at the conclusion thereof….“This is the word of the Lord”.
I am struck by the mind numbing out-of-touch……out-of- reality….out of relationship context to one’s life these supposed words of the prophet (?) Jeremiah { thought to be 626 BCE, before the common era} have or perhaps fail to have when one thinks about what the USCCB is offering to its listeners through this reading.
Without being too crass I said to myself….‘garbage’.
How does one interpret these words?….. “it is I this day who have made you a fortified city, a pillar of iron, a wall of brass, against the whole land: against Judah’s kings and princes, against its priests and people. They will fight against you but not prevail over you, for I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD”.
I watch as they file in…some genuflect before entering the pew….others amble over to the statute of the “most sacred heart” kneel, take out a coin deposit it, light a stick from an existing votive then light another and bless themselves and momentarily later, retreating to a pew content or fulfilled I suppose that by depositing a coin, lighting a votive and kneeling before a statue whilst reciting some prayer and no doubt a plea as well, that this practise offers some measure of hope that their prayer and plea has somehow quasi-liturgically been faxed to the recipient.
Almost reminds me of the Hindu practise of Puja, where one chants prayers to the statue of a god or goddess, offering the deity a seat, washing its feet, and giving it water….even going so far as to bathe and clothe the image in new garments, embellished with ornaments, perfumes and flowers placed before it. Sometimes incense is burned, or a lighted lamp is waved in front of the deity. Foods such as cooked rice, fruit, butter, and sugar are offered. Family members bow before the image, and sip { similar to blessing (?) themselves with Holy (?) water } the water they have given the god, and receive a portion of cooked food. The food and water are now considered to have been blessed by the deity for the devotees.
Then, whence the Catholic service commences…. again in unison, the prayers are droned…and at the instance of the recitation of the Gospel virtually the entire assemblage makes a sign of the cross with the back of the thumb mindlessly….routinely on their foreheads, lips and heart, always the thumb and just as always the back thereof - further evidence of the spontaneous, instinctive almost involuntary nature of this gesture.
At the conclusion of the service they shuffle out….many dipping their fingers into the holy water for one last blessing…..all of it by the way, done in an seemingly unconscious repetitious manner that always makes me wonder about the whole process…from start to finish.
It reminds me of the “drill” that takes place daily on every dairy farm across this country…as the herd makes it way, in the same “pecking order” worked out among the animals, to the “milking parlor” twice daily, 12 hours apart…without being summoned, exactly at the same time each day without watches or clocks…consistently and regularly day in and day out….truly amazing to see….all without the prompting of a bell….the summoning call of a “herdsman” or any other contrivance….just plain simple unwitting, thoughtless, routine behavior….a regimen so ingrained that 7 days a week and 52 a year they make the journey from meadow to milking parlor twice at the very same time daily, save those who periodically are “dried up” before being “freshened again”….farm lingo.
I dare not share my opinions with fellow parishioners out of respect for their feelings and sensibilities. They are after all good people trying as best as one can to lead the Christian life within the context of their upbringing……the familiarity of the Catholic experience.
Indeed when invited to pray for my own intentions after “we pray to the Lord”…I often ask that my heart be not hardened…or that I be forgiven for my somber callousness.
Yet, through it all I keep coming back to desperate feeling of wondering when if ever the Council of Priests Federations will stand up and petition the Bishops to overhaul the liturgy of this staid Church….realizing at the same time the enormous conflicts that resulted with previous changes, English language supplanting the Latin mass, altar and priest reversed, sign of peace the advent of ‘altar girls’ etc.
Jeremiah is in my opinion not the Word of the Lord.
At best it is possibly a centuries old, oft altered interpretation of the Jewish religious experience from an area of the world where prophecy and religious fanaticism abound….from the earliest of times BCE, to the present day as one sees the orthodox believers swaying to and fro in front of the ‘wailing wall’ wearing one Tefillin or Phylactery on the forehead with another, the ‘shel yad’, strapped to the arm, each containing passages of the Torah.
The same can be said with many other parts of the ‘old testament ’….so why does the Church continue to trot out these meaningless, nonsensical pages of that BCE experience as relevant to the destiny of today’s believer’s seeking salvation within the context of the rejavascript:void(0)
Publishal world, not the world of prophecy and hokum?
LINKS:
JP2M John Paul II Millstone - http://jp2m.blogspot.com/
JPIIPPA John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army - http://jp2army.blogspot.com/
SNAP Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests - http://www.snapnetwork.org/
Bishops Accountability - http://www.bishop-accountability.org/
John Paul II the Great Deceiver and Bishop Brom of San Diego - http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2007/02/john-paul-ii-great-deceiver.html
John Paul II Totus Tuus Marie Fiasco - http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2006/12/john-paul-ii-totus-tuus-marie-fiasco.html
John Paul II and SNAP Anniversary
http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2007/01/john-paul-ii-and-snap-on-anniversary.html
Posted in honor of St.Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church
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