CALIFORNIA
Orange County Register
BY THERESA WALKER / STAFF WRITER
On the day that longtime Subway spokesman Jared Fogle admitted to having had sex with minors and possessing child pornography, Joelle Casteix’s phone started ringing before 5 a.m.
Media outlets seeking the perspective of a survivor of child sexual abuse knew to contact the 44-year-old mom in Newport Beach, known for her advocacy and incisive – sometimes blunt – commentary.
So as her husband and 9-year-old son slept, Casteix swung into action, talking to reporters over the next six hours.
That was last month. September is even busier for Casteix (pronounced cass-tix). She’s got a new book to promote. And Pope Francis will visit the United States, meaning she’ll be busy speaking out about the church and sexual abuse.
Casteix was victimized by a former choir director at Mater Dei High when she was a student at the Santa Ana school in the late 1980s.
She emerged in 2003 as one of the Catholic Church’s most outspoken critics during the height of the civil lawsuits filed against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange by victims of predators in the priesthood and the laity. …
PROTESTING THE POPE
Casteix – a photogenic brunette who likes to ski, enjoys a good glass of wine, and is training for a half-marathon – is heading to New York next week for the visit of Pope Francis. She’ll be joined by other critics of church action on clergy abuse.
She and other advocates say the Vatican continues to fall short of complete transparency and true zero tolerance in addressing the Catholic Church’s decades-long coverup of pedophile clergy abuse that left thousands of children victimized.
Casteix says her goal is to counter what she calls “the Francis effect.”
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