Roman Catholic Blog
September 29, 2007
http://romancatholicblog.typepad.com/roman_catholic_blog/2007/09/more-on-monsign.html
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In keeping with the fair and balanced policy of providing alternate perspectives on the ongoing Orange County abuse case...
Three from Gustavo Arellano of OC Weekly:
Bad Moves
Here are some quotes from pages three and four:
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According to the same priest personnel files, Urell's involvement with Pecharich is even more damning. In 1993, a woman told Urell that the priest had hugged her son strangely when Pecharich served at St. Bridget of Sweden in Van Nuys during the 1970s, and that other boys complained that Pecharich asked them to sleep in his bed. Urell told the woman her son would have to lodge the allegation in person. No meeting ever occurred, and Urell never asked Pecharich about the allegation.
The Orange diocese was already suspicious of Pecharich, since he had admitted to molesting a teen in 1983. But Urell wouldn't confront the priest until 1995, when another teenager complained that Pecharich hugged him too long. Nothing came of this meeting.
In a memo dated Aug. 17, 1996, Urell recounted his conversation with someone who claimed that Pecharich had grabbed his penis and slept nude with him when the two went camping in Wrightwood. Urell's notes quoted the victim as saying, "I'm glad to hear that [Pecharich] said yes—said he was sorry." Urell told the victim that Pecharich was undergoing therapy and that the Orange diocese had contacted Child Protective Services about Pecharich's transgression. The victim was "impressed, glad, happy [Pecharich] had admitted" and asked that Pecharich be removed from the priesthood.
Pecharich confessed to Urell that he was "emotionally involved" with this teen and promised to stay away. There is nothing in his personnel files, however, that suggests Urell ever contacted Child Protective services, or that Pecharich went through therapy. The priest was removed from the ministry in 2002, but not before Bishop Brown announced in a press release that "there have been no further instances of misconduct by Father Pecharich, nor any new accusations" since 1983.
There's one other case worth noting involving Urell. In 2001, Manly deposed him as part of a lawsuit filed by Ryan DiMaria (now an attorney in Manly's firm) alleging he was molested by Monsignor Michael Harris. Harris—the former principal at Mater Dei and Santa Margarita High Schools—was one of the most popular priests in Orange County history but had to resign in 1994 after he refused to undergo therapy for an attraction to teenage boys.
Urell told Manly that he was put in charge of following up on sex-abuse allegations lodged against Harris at the time of his resignation. But Urell merely asked Harris whom he should interview to second DiMaria's claims. He also confessed to attending a going-away party held for Harris by the Orange diocese and supporters. The host was Michael Pecharich.
"I guess some of the guys wanted to get together and say: 'It's over. You're leaving,'" Urell said in the 2001 deposition. "I can say now I believe it was inappropriate to go."
On July 27, Manly asked Urell about his dealings with Harris. Church lawyers wouldn't allow the monsignor to answer. Manly didn't mind.
"You know what?" Manly replied to no one in particular. "I'll just let the record speak for itself. I know what it was, and I know what he called [the dinner] last time. So we'll just leave it there."
Three minutes later, Urell cracked.
Subpoenas Sought For Urell, Urell's Attorneys
The Orange County Register's "Unspin To The Diocese's Sunday Spin" (which is really worth reading) is linked after the jump...
One from Frank Mikadeit of The Orange County Register: The Unspin To The Diocese's Sunday Spin
There is more than one way to deal with what is happening in the Diocese of Orange, but this is not one of them:
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My own thoughts:
Look, nobody has to believe that John Manly is a saint. That's never been my take on things. I'm sure John Manly wouldn't even claim to be a saint.
Some have said John Manly is primarily interested in money. I'm not sure if that's an accurate or fair judgment, especially when coming from people who don't want us to rush to judgment, but, let's pretend, for the sake of argument, that it's true.
So what?
Manly's motives don't alter the facts of the case one iota.
Look, whatever anyone thinks about this current case, or even Msgr. Urell, I don't think it's a stretch to say there is now, and has been for some time, corruption within the Diocese of Orange. The corruption is theological, liturgical, and moral. It has been detailed here on Roman Catholic Blog for some time now.
God loves His people so much that he purifies them, and I believe the Diocese of Orange is experiencing a purification right now.
Here are some examples of God's purifying actions:
The Flood
Sodom & Gomorrah
When the Hebrews came out of Egypt, God let them wander in the desert for forty years. He let older, more corrupt generations die out before allowing His chosen people to enter the Holy Land.
The Babylonian captivity, or Babylonian exile, is the name generally given to the deportation and exile of the Jews of the ancient Kingdom of Judah to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. The Jews had become corrupt, and God used the Babylonians – who were pagans – to punish His people. The Babylonian Captivity and the subsequent return to Israel were seen as one of the pivotal events in the drama between God and His people, Israel. Just as they had been predestined for, and saved from, slavery in Egypt, the Israelites were predestined to be punished by God through the Babylonians, and then saved once more.
When the Jewish leaders rejected Our Lord, pagan Rome became God's instrument of purification, as prophesied by Our Lord in the Twenty-Third Chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel:
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Then said Jesus to the crowds and to his disciples, "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat; so practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do; for they preach, but do not practice. They bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by men; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues, and salutations in the market places, and being called rabbi by men. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brethren. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called masters, for you have one master, the Christ. He who is greatest among you shall be your servant; whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
"But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because you shut the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither enter yourselves, nor allow those who would enter to go in.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you traverse sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.
"Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'If any one swears by the temple, it is nothing; but if any one swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.'
You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred?
And you say, 'If any one swears by the altar, it is nothing; but if any one swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.'
You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
So he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by everything on it; and he who swears by the temple, swears by it and by him who dwells in it; and he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith; these you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.
You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you cleanse the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of extortion and rapacity. You blind Pharisee! first cleanse the inside of the cup and of the plate, that the outside also may be clean.
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, saying, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.'
Thus you witness against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of innocent Abel to the blood of Zechari'ah the son of Barachi'ah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. Truly, I say to you, all this will come upon this generation.
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! Behold, your house is forsaken and desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'"
I believe that we too are being purified, and John Manly seems to be one of God's instruments.
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