News Event – January 3, 2016 – LA priest admits abuse, Archdiocese misleads parishioners

CALIFORNIA
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on January 2, 2016

NEWS EVENT: Victims to leaflet mass attendees

LA Priest admits he repeatedly abused a child

But Catholic officials let him work in parishes

In 2014, they “quietly removed” him from LA church, misled parishioners about cause
And they insisted that incriminating documents be destroyed

Now, despite “zero tolerance” policy, he may be put back on the job

What:
As Catholics enter and leave mass, sex abuse victims and their supporters will hand out leaflets that show LA Catholic officials:
— quietly removed a priest in 2014 who admitted sexually abusing a child, and
— mislead parishioners about the priest’s crimes.
The fliers urge Catholics to demand that LA’s archbishop:
— reach out to families who were endangered and church-goers who were duped by LA Catholic officials, and
— publicly disclose everything they know about this sex abusing priest and all sex-offending clerics.

When:
Sunday, January 3 at 10:30 am

Where:
Outside of the LA Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, 555 W Temple St (at Hill), Los Angeles

Who:
Five to six adults who were sexually abused as children who are members of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org), the nation’s largest support group for people who have been sexually abused in religious or institutional settings.

Why:
A new page one Chicago Tribune story reveals that a former Los Angeles priest admitted to sexually abusing a seven-year-old. Local church officials kept LA Catholics in the dark about allegations, and then allowed him to work in another parish.

[Chicago Tribune]

Fr. Bruce Wellems acknowledges that when he was around 16, he repeatedly sexually assaulted a seven year old. Catholic church officials kept silent about Fr. Wellems’ admission for years and kept him on the job. Both actions, SNAP contends, violate an allegedly binding national abuse policy that mandates “zero tolerance” of abuse and “transparency” in abuse cases.

Until 2014, Fr. Wellems was a priest at the San Gabriel Mission. Then Los Angeles officials learned of the abuse reports. Although they sent him back to Chicago, LA Archbishop Jose Gomez and other church officials didn’t publicly disclose the allegations on their website, the parish website, or any other sources. They also misled parishioners, claiming that Fr. Wellems had not abused a child but faced allegations from a “consensual dating relationship.”

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.