[See also other articles by Gustavo Arellano.]

Illustration by Kevin Tong

A priest from another land quickly becomes popular at a Latino-majority Catholic parish in the poor section of Orange County. He’s an alcoholic—been in rehab, visited the drunk tank—but church leaders do nothing. He molests a boy—and church leaders do nothing. Finally, John Law gets into the picture. There’s a mass outpouring of support from the pedo-priest’s parishioners even after he admits to fiddling with the kid. The court finds the priest guilty, then slaps him with a light sentence that outrages sex-abuse survivors but pleases the church hierarchy. This was Father Luis Eduardo Ramirez this year, Gerardo Tanilong in 2004, and, with minor variations, virtually every pedo-priest in the history of the Catholic Diocese of Orange. Could they all have been possessed by the ghost of Eleuterio Ramos—the most notorious child molester in Orange County history, a man whom bishops let run free and never spent a day in jail? Or is the evil more profound? Has the smoke of Satan entered Bishop Tod D. Brown to make him an eternal pedo-apologist? The power of Christ compels you to find out!Starring: Luis Eduardo Ramirez, Eleuterio Ramos and Tod D. Brown Special cameos by: Peter Callahan and Maria Schinderle

E-mail: GARELLANO@OCWEEKLY.COM