ORANGE (CA)
Los Angeles Times
October 18, 2023
By Gustavo Arellano
You’re not supposed to speak ill of the dead, so that explains the hosannas swirling around for Bishop Tod D. Brown.
The former head of the Catholic Diocese of Orange died Sunday at age 86 from lymphoma. Obituaries — including in this paper — noted his role in purchasing the former Crystal Cathedral in 2011 to make it a new base for Orange County’s 1.3 million Catholics. Online testimonials from the faithful praised his passion for Christ, his humor and his collaborative approach in leading a sprawling, multicultural diocese.
They also touched on Brown’s role in the sex abuse scandal that has permanently scarred the Catholic Church.
In 2004, as the bishop faced dozens of civil lawsuits filed by people who claimed that diocesan employees — priests, principals, lay teachers, school counselors —had sexually abused them over the past six decades, he published the Covenant With the Faithful. This was a set of promises posted in every parish that stated, in part, “We will be open, honest and forthright in our public statements to the media, and consistent and transparent in our communications with the Catholics of our Diocese.”
A year later, the diocese settled 90 lawsuits for $100 million, also releasing documents that proved most of the sex abuse allegations and the complicity of church officials in covering them up. At the time, it was the largest such payout in the history of the Catholic Church in the U.S., but it has since been — sadly — eclipsed many times over.
The Orange diocese website characterizes Brown’s moves during that era as “groundbreaking” and “unprecedented.” Brown, for his part, thought of himself as brave.
“I decided to settle because I was very concerned about the victims,” he told Orange County Catholic, the Orange diocese’s official publication, in 2021, claiming that other bishops criticized his actions. “I made the decision in the context of prayer and consultation, and I have no regrets whatsoever. I believe I made the right decision.”
Spare me these hosannas. Congratulating Brown is like congratulating someone for towing their car after wrapping it around a pole.