OC's Scariest People 2004
Finishing at No. 2 is Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown; Diocesan General Counsel Maria Schinderle Sneaks in at No. 20

By Gustavo Arellano
Orange County Weekly
October 28, 2004

[See also other articles by Gustavo Arellano.]

[Excerpts]

2. BISHOP TOD D. BROWN

This year, Brown purchased a $1.2 million home in a gated Santa Ana community to replace his current $1.2 million pad and pushed forth plans to build the $100 million Christ Our Savior Cathedral up the street from South Coast Plaza. All the while, His Excellency refuses to settle sex-abuse cases, make public documents that sex-abuse survivors claim will show church complicity in their rapes, and meet sex-abuse survivors. Brown’s most cardinal sin, however, was the January hiring of a New York-based PR firm for about $350,000 to spin his pedo-lies. MITIGATING FACTOR: Can—and does—absolve himself.

20. MARIA SCHINDERLE

As diocesan general counsel, Schinderle is the main brick in Bishop Brown’s stonewalling of the sex-abuse lawsuits against the diocese. Workers at diocesan headquarters in Orange’s Marywood Center tell the Weekly that Schinderle operates “a reign of terror” and “uses spies, private investigators and any other means that get at people” to keep dissidents in line. Latest victim: Father Joe Fenton, former diocesan spokesman whom Schinderle supposedly booted in early October for not keeping the media hounds at bay. MITIGATING FACTOR: Workers’ constant humming of How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria is charming.

GARELLANO@OCWEEKLY.COM