ARTICLES
May 2002 ARTICLES
Contents © 2002
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.
Just Here for the Media Circus
KFI at the Chancery
By Charles A. Coulombe
It was a straightforward assignment. On Thursday, April 4, radio personalities John and Ken (kfi am 640) were going to broadcast live from the sidewalk outside the offices of the archdiocese at 3240 Wilshire Boulevard. Their topic was Cardinal Mahony's dealing with the child molestation problem among archdiocesan priests -- or more specifically, Mahony's removal of what had been given as "six to 12" priests from their ministry due to evidence of such activity in their pasts. Given that the cardinal had claimed to have had a "no tolerance" policy for such folk since 1988, this sudden revelation was a surprise; but his subsequent refusal to give any names, places, dates, or even exact numbers was disturbing. He followed up his refusal by claiming that the Los Angeles police department had all the names -- a claim the police department disputed. Ever on the lookout for scandal, John and Ken smelt blood. Thus the decision to broadcast live in front of the chancery and to invite those who claimed to have been molested to come and share their tales over the air.
John and Ken are a duo not noted for their subtlety nor for their grasp of complex issues beyond their own experience. Typical of their style was their dismissal of the Queen Mother on her death, "Who cares that some fat, old, ugly lady who never did anything died?"
A couple months back, John and Ken played a key role in forcing accused child molester, Judge Robert Kline of Orange County, into a runoff election. Given that Kline was under house arrest for his alleged crimes at the time of the election (a fact which would not have affected the outcome of the usually unopposed judicial race), the pair's work in publicizing the case may well have determined the outcome. Encouraged on that front, they have seemed to set their sights on bigger molestation prey.
At 3 p.m. a large crowd of people was bearing signs in front of the chancery office. Many of the self-described molestation victims were bitter about the Church, claiming to have lost all belief in her. Others were more thoughtful.
Out in force were members of SNAP, a victims' advocacy group. Its spokesman, Jim Falls, a lively, jovial thirty-something from Los Angeles, said: "We're all here to try to get the cardinal to stop the cover-up and release the names -- all the names of all the perpetrators throughout all the years. Then we want to know why he doesn't resign. He's been lying and covering up child molestation for probably 30 years. As you know, in Stockton, he perjured himself, saying he didn't know about a child molestation case that he actually transferred himself.
"I was born and raised Catholic in Southern California," continued Falls. "I went to St. Louise De Marillac, which is in West Covina. I was victimized for a number of years. It started in the 70s when I was about 15. This priest would come over to our house for dinner. Very outgoing, very gregarious guy. A pillar of the community. Everyone loved him. When you went to his Mass, it would be standing room only. He was very intelligent; no one suspected anything but the greatest things from this man.
"He started hugging me. He would take me back to his rectory where the priests lived and he would perform oral sex on me. This went on for a while. He would show up at my house. It was actually as if he were stalking me. Other people refer to it as if he were 'courting' me. He'd take me out to dinner, to a movie, then take me back to the rectory. I'd get home from school and I wouldn't want to see the man, but he would just show up. He'd call my parents and tell them he was going to pick me up and take me out. And they thought it'd be great because it would be better than me being out with my friends who were drinking....
"A lot of people ask me, 'Why didn't you say anything? Why didn't you come forward when you were younger?' But when you're young (and this was 20 some years ago) you don't go around telling your buddies that some priest is giving you that kind of attention. From there, it becomes a self-incriminating thing, like, 'Why am I letting this happen?' I imagine it 's a lot like a woman who goes on a date and is date-raped, and somehow feels partially responsible for what happens. There's a lot of guilt.
"This guy killed himself a while back: Father [Ted] Llanos -- you've probably heard about him. There are actually 28 victims who came forward on this one perpetrator. He's probably one of the worst serial rapists who ever came out of the L.A. archdiocese. And Cardinal Mahony's position is that it' s not his responsibility. There are a lot of people here who are victims of the same sick individual, and we got no justice. Their attorneys outmaneuvered our attorneys and used the statute of limitations against us."
Then there was Bob Scipioni, a self-described skeptic from Northridge, who said he was not a victim: "I'm just here for the media circus. I enjoy it. I'm a Catholic, but my argument is with the Lord. Why did the Lord even give a vocation to these people in the first place? That's my question. If the Lord is supposed to be up there running the Church, engineering all of these vocations and making sure the Church lasts until the end of time, then this is His fault as to why all of these people were given vocations. If these people were prone to homosexuality or pedophilia, they should never have been given a vocation.
"I'm one of the skeptics. I'm questioning organized religion. I was an altar boy, but I never got abused. Evidently there are all of these people who did, so I must be one of the lucky ones."
One well-dressed older gentleman, Jim Dunlap, came from Orange County to be at the event. He said his son had been molested by Llanos. "This has destroyed our family. I have five sons, ok? All of them hate the Church. They'll have nothing to do with it. They're at each other's throats. They are suspicious of my wife and I. And the finger-pointing that goes on is endless. You're not going to break that cycle. What that bastard sowed is being reaped today. I go to bed crying sometimes that I don't have five sons that are in a loving relationship with their mother and father. There was just one son abused, but when the rest found out, it destroyed them.
"I can't put on tape what I want Mahony to do. I wouldn't dare do that. He needs to recognize the damage he's done to these victims, these tragic, tragic young men whose lives are ruined. You can talk counseling till you're blue in the face, but you'll never erase the stigma that was put upon them. They've had knives put to their throats, broken bottles put to their faces, and they've been raped over and over again. You can't erase that in a lifetime. I still go to church -- every Sunday, sometimes daily. I love Jesus Christ, he's my Lord and my Savior, and I believe he instituted the true Church. But the garbage that has taken over the Church today needs to be cleaned out. A lot of these cardinals or these bishops need to resign or be thrown out. It's a travesty when you know what they're doing is evil.
"I know skeletons buried in these closets like you can't believe. I used to be a confidant for Cardinal Manning before he died. He was my friend on a first-name basis. I loved the man. And he assured me that this problem would be taken care of back when it first came up in 73. He absolutely stood in a kitchen of a rectory with his arms around me and said, 'I love you my brother, and I will take care of this problem.' The problem got taken care of all right. He [Llanos] went on to rape another 28-30 young men."
An elderly man, carrying a sign saying "mahony is a phony," identified himself as a former homosexual, although not a molestee. He declared that the problem was all the gays in the priesthood and seminary, who looked after their own. He went on to say that all of these goings-on were part of the great apostasy, and the Church would have to be purified.
During a break, I interviewed John and Ken. Asked what stood out in their minds about the whole affair, Ken declared: "their [the archdiocese's] obsession with secrecy, and total lack of care for the victims. They're acting just like a major corporation, like Enron." Did this affect their view of the Church? "No," John replied. "We were both raised Catholic, but I checked out of the Church a long time ago. The prehistoric rituals, the sexual obsessions -- nah, I don't care." What would they say to the cardinal directly? "Just show more concern for the victims, and less for your lousy image."
So things stood. But more was in the offing. Prior to the broadcast, private archdiocesan e-mails had been sent to the show's producer, Ray Lopez, from an unknown source. John and Ken began to read them over the air. Suddenly, a call came from the station. They had been presented with a cease-and-desist order from the archdiocese; John and Ken declared that they would stop reading the e-mail messages immediately while their lawyers scrambled to make sense out of the whole thing. More molestees were put on, and in between their testimonies, John and Ken would take turns berating the cardinal as a "charlatan" and "not a good man." They called for his resignation.
At five o'clock, the duo decamped to the nearby kfi studios to take calls. One of these was from a woman identified as "Bernadette," who said, "the cardinal says he takes full responsibility. But what does that mean? He'll do jail time, or resign? He should resign!"
At 10 p.m., attorneys for the archdiocese, kfi, and the Los Angeles Times met a judge in court to argue the case. The archdiocese claimed that the e-mails had been obtained illegally, and that they included privileged client-attorney communications, and were so marked. The advocates for the press retorted that, since they had no idea from where the e-mails had come, they were not obligated to keep them private. The judge agreed with them, and the e-mails were made public.
Available on kfi's website, the e-mail messages are most revealing about the atmosphere in the cardinal's inner circle. Readers of the Mission, mentioned in the e-mail messages, will be happy to know that they are considered "retro-Catholics" at the chancery. More important, however, is the cardinal's ceo-like response to the current problem. [See, in this issue, "I Don't Even Know What the Numbers Are Myself!"] An intriguing correspondent in the e-mail dialogue is Sister Judith Ann Murphy, of the Congregation of St. Joseph, the archdiocese's general counsel, whom Mahony, it seems, must cajole into doing his bidding. On Monday, March 25, she sent a note, labeled "8:00 am visit," to Monsignor Craig Cox, vicar for clergy, and Monsignor Richard Loomis, head of the Secretariat for Church Ministerial Services, who were to be interviewed by sheriff's deputies, William Bevins and Thomas McNeil. A copy was sent to Cardinal Mahony.
"Well, Men, here's the drill," writes "Sister Judy": "William Bevins to be known as Bill and Thomas McNeil to be known as Tom will be at the acc [Archdiocesan Catholic Center] at 8 am to interview Msgr. Cox and Msgr. Loomis. Badges are down at the mezz. level and instructions left was for them to call you Msgr. Cox when they arrive and you will direct them from there. Your extension is on the badges.
"I will leave the tape of the anon. call on your chair Msgr. Cox to be given to the Sheriffs. The addresses were faxed to Sergeant Boyett.
"As to the interview, remember Sergeant Joe Friday -- 'Only the facts sir, only the facts.' Listen to their questions and take your time answering. Do not volunteer information. This is not a session to be chatty. I am not sure if you will interviewed together or separate. I believe in the spirit of cooperation, therefore, I will not be present and besides 8 am is against my religion. You both will be fine.
"I'm afraid this investigation will take some time. I was asked when Easter vacation began, etc. If they decide to go the school route, I see no activity until April 8th. Sergeant Boyett interviewed a victim today for this case. The da's office is involved but a specific da has not been appointed. Sergeant Boyett said this is happening because the Sheriffs want to avoid mistakes. It will not be inappropriate to push for a speedy investigation at the end of the interview. The number 94 has them scrambling.
"At the end of the day, Sergeant Boyett left a long message on my audix which will be typed out tomorrow praising our cooperation and how happy the Captain is. I guess they figured out that honey works better than vinegar. All for now."
Given the cardinal's anger at the release of these memos, it is ironic that he is the only official quoted in the e-mails who shows any concern for the victims. In a note dated March 30, entitled, "Victims," Mahony recounts a meeting with several victims whom he is happy to report still love the Church. He then writes: "I am now thinking about beginning some type of Victims' Group that would be almost entirely spiritual. It would be headed by two folks: a Sister and a priest who would be skilled spiritual leaders. I have some names in mind.
"They would meet probably once a month; purely voluntary. No legal issues would be discussed, etc. This group, or groups, would be spiritual support groups, not therapy groups.
"I would like to announce some initiatives soon in April, and this would be one of them. I have a couple more in mind, and will share those with you shortly."
Save for complaints about the difficulties of Holy Week, this was the only spiritual message in the whole correspondence.
The day after the outdoor broadcast, a Fresno woman declared that Cardinal Mahony had molested her back in 1970. In the event, it turned out that she was a paranoid schizophrenic and had made the same charge against a number of people, including her mother. Fresno police investigators in mid April cleared Mahony of the charge.