RoguePundit

What Went on at the Mount Angel Seminary?

About a year ago, I blogged a couple of times about a creepy situation that involved Juan Jose González Rios and the Mount Angel Seminary.  From this link...

González, 38, was arrested in Tieton [near Yakima WA] in March 2008 on a fugitive warrant charging him with viewing child pornography, a felony, while he was studying to be a Catholic priest in Oregon six years ago.

González spent about four years at Mount Angel Seminary in Mount Angel, Ore., but was dismissed in February 2003 after the seminary reported the pornography allegations to Mount Angel police.

After González left the seminary and returned to the Yakima diocese, Bishop Carlos Sevilla hired him for a part-time job at St. Peter Retreat Center in Cowiche [WA].

González subsequently became director there, remaining in that capacity until he was pulled over by police in Tieton for speeding in March 2008.

Yes, he had contact with children at the Retreat Center--evidently without incident.  The Bishop apologized for hiring him, though claims that he didn't know González ended up working with children.  But considering that the diocese had already had problems with priests sexually abusing children, what the heck was the Bishop thinking?  

González has always proclaimed his innocence.  His attorney, J.J. Sandlin, has said that González never intended to look at child porn.  From this link...

...Sandlin said González became highly distressed at the seminary because he allegedly witnessed inappropriate sexual behavior on the part of instructors and fellow students there.

The González family also alleges that he was a victim in his early 20s of sexual abuse by a Cowiche priest who has since left the state.

"Juan is a victim and a scapegoat," said his sister, Bertha González, saying that her brother told diocesan officials about the alleged abuse.

Here are a pair of links to subsequent articles on those claims. 

Wednesday, all criminal charges against González were dropped.  Returning to the original article...

González, who has a degree in psychology from Heritage University, has been doing farm work in the Upper Valley while awaiting the outcome of the legal charges.

Sandlin said on Wednesday that the dismissal is not the end of the legal road for González because he will be filing a civil lawsuit in federal court, alleging that his client had been victimized.

Sandlin declined to comment further but indicated that personnel in Catholic dioceses in Oregon and Yakima would be named in the litigation.

When González was arrested last year, he was living here on a religious visa which had expired in 2005 (he's originally from Jalisco, Mexico).  Both Oregon and ICE ($25,000 bond) were okay with him staying at his home in Tieton while awaiting trial.  Yet another interesting piece of an incomplete puzzle.

Supporting the Work of Pedophiles

Yesterday the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.  The Province, which is headquartered in Portland, serves Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington.  Unfortunately like at least one of Portland's mayors, some of the Jesuits have a history of preying upon the young (most recent blog here).  Starting with an article that quotes an investigator into the abuse...

“Between 1948-2001, the Fairbanks diocese had the highest rate of perpetrators in the priesthood of any diocese in America,” Wall said.

“This is why we have alleged for years that the Society of Jesus and the CBNA (Catholic Bishop of Northern Alaska) through the (Jesuit) father general purposely sent perpetrators to Alaska because the Native people would not complain.”

...

By the time all of the pending lawsuits are filed, Wall said they will number approximately 315 claimants and list 39 perpetrators which include nuns, lay deacons, Jesuits and other priests.

Operating in impoverished hamlets far from police agencies and reachable only by small aircraft, dogsleds and in some cases boats, and in a diocese where the bishop also was a Jesuit, those priests were the ultimate local authority, Roosa said.

“It was a pedophile’s paradise,” he said.

There were also sexual assaults of adult women (previous blog here) and lord knows what other unacceptable behavior.  Switching articles...

In 2007, the province announced a $50 million settlement between the Jesuits and more than 100 native Alaskans for cases of sexual abuse involving more than a dozen Jesuits posted in Alaska between 1961 and 1987. 

Last March, the Diocese of Fairbanks filed for bankruptcy protection saying it was unable to reach a financial settlement with 140 people who had filed about 150 claims against the diocese. After the diocese filed bankruptcy, the number of sex abuse claimants rose to 288.

...

In the bankruptcy petition, the Jesuits' Oregon province listed assets of less than $5 million and liabilities of nearly $62 million.

A statement from the Province said that it has paid over $25 million in settling 200+ claims, and that its insurers had paid an additional unspecified amount.  Insurers paid $45 million of the settlement for the Fairbanks Diocese.  Wonder if the insurers knew that they were potentially covering damages from pedophilia?  Anyway, from this link...

Ken Roosa, an Anchorage attorney representing alleged sexual abuse victims, told the News-Miner that the bankruptcy filing is “ultimately an acknowledgment of what we have been saying for years is true, that Alaska was used as a dumping ground for problem priests and by filing bankruptcy they can shut off once and for all the plaintiffs opportunity to gain discovery and get evidence of what was going on here.”

He claimed that the bankruptcy move protects the province from further investigation by barring access to Jesuit records.

Roosa also claimed that the Province didn't include all of its assets, like for instance Seattle and Gonzaga Universities.  Both university presidents quickly denied that their institutions were owned or operated by the Jesuits.  And of course the Province denies accusations of a dumping ground, a cover-up, etc.

Church Taxes

One of the reasons that official church membership in Germany is low is that it comes with a stiff tax, sometimes called a tithe.  A number of people who only occasionally attend church choose not to pay.  And then around the holidays...       

German politicians have said midnight mass on Christmas Eve should be reserved for people who have paid their church tax.

Thomas Volk, a senior member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats in the southern state of Baden-Württemberg, said many regular churchgoers were angry that they can't get a seat because of the onslaught on churches at Christmas.

How much money are we talking here?  From this link:

Taxpayers, whether Roman Catholic, Protestant or members of other tax-collecting communities, pay between 8% (in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg) and 9% (in the rest of the country) of their income tax to the church or other community to which they belong.

That comprises about 70 percent of church revenues.  Returning to the original article...

Germans have the right to opt out of paying tithes--by leaving their church.

So it upsets some tithe-paying religious folk to find their normally underpopulated churches crowded with people at the holidays. The head of the business-friendly Free Democrats in the Berlin city assembly gave support to Volk's proposal, telling Bild that members should be handed tickets to guarantee them a seat during a crowded service.

Germany isn't the only European nation which has a church tax.  

- Austria:  Church tax is compulsory in Austria and Catholics can be sued by the Church for not paying it. Anyone who wants to stop paying it has to declare in writing, at their local municipal council, that they are leaving the Church. They are then crossed off the Church registers and can no longer receive the sacraments. The tax amounts to about 1% of the income.

- Denmark:  All members of the Church of Denmark pay a church tax, which varies between municipalities. The tax is generally around 1% of the taxable income.

- Finland:  Members of state churches pay a church tax of between 1% and 2.25% of income, depending on the municipality. Church taxes are integrated into the common national taxation system.

- Sweden:  Until the year 2000, Sweden had a mandatory church tax to be paid if one did belong to the Church of Sweden which had been funneling about $500 million annually to the church. Because of change in legislation, the tax was withdrawn in year 2000. However, the Swedish government has agreed to continue collecting from individual taxpayers the annual payment that has always gone to the church. But now the tax will be an optional checkoff box on the tax return. The government will allocate the money collected to Catholic, Muslim, Jewish and other faiths as well as the Lutherans, with each taxpayer directing where his or her taxes should go.

- Switzerland:  There is no official state church in Switzerland; however, all the 26 cantons (states) financially support at least one of the three traditional denominations--Roman Catholic, Old Catholic, or Protestant--with funds collected through taxation. Each canton has its own regulations regarding the relationship between church and state. In some cantons, the church tax (up to 2.3%) is voluntary but in others an individual who chooses not to contribute to church tax may formally have to leave the church. In some cantons private companies are unable to avoid payment of the church tax.

Sweden's church tax, which varies by municipality, can be as much as 2%.

Desperately Blaming Others

If only the Catholic Church devoted as much effort to rooting out priests who rape and molest as it does to lamenting (and enabling) illegal immigration.      

US Roman Catholic bishops on Wednesday charged that immigration raids on US workplaces break up families and disrupt communities, without addressing the country's flawed immigration system.

"The humanitarian costs of these raids are immeasurable and unacceptable in a civilized society," Bishop John Wester, chairman of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops committee on migration, said.

Agriprocessors was raided by ICE back in May (previous blog here).  Here's a humanitarian issue that it took the raid to expose...though ICE wasn't looking for it. 

On Sept. 9, the State of Iowa charged Agriprocessors, the nation's largest kosher meat production plant, with more than 9,300 counts of child labor violations. The Orthodox Union quickly responded by threatening to withdraw its certification from the kosher meat processing plant within a few weeks unless the facility overhauls its management staff.

The misdemeanor counts added up because they're per child, per day.  Each comes with a max of 30 days in jail and a $640 fine.  The plant manager says the kids lied about their age.  Switching links...

The complaint filed by the Iowa attorney general's office said the violations involved 32 illegal-immigrant children under age 18, including seven who were younger than 16. Aside from handling dangerous equipment, the complaint says children were exposed to dangerous chemicals such as chlorine solutions and dry ice.

...

Sonia Parras Konrad, an attorney representing more than 20 of the children, said her clients were as young as 14 when they started working at the plant.

"We don't need to see any papers to see that someone is a child," she said. "This was not one mistake, two mistakes, three mistakes, but many, many mistakes."

Among the child labor violations were employing a child under age 18 in a meatpacking plant and employing a child under age 16 who operated power machinery or worked longer hours than permitted for someone that young.

In addition, the attorney general's office said, the company's records also show that employees were not paid for all overtime worked.

Here's the intro to a story about one of the kids.

Ana Cecilia Arguello’s immigration status tripped her up when federal officials raided the Agriprocessors Inc. meat-processing plant in Postville, Iowa.

She’s a Guatemalan citizen who used fake papers to get her $6.25-cent-an-hour job more than two years ago.

She was 15 years old.

Arguello told reporters from The Des Moines Register that she worked 12-hour shifts, six days a week weighing, labeling and sometimes boning chicken parts. Now 17, she has never attended school.

Iowa has accused the company of encouraging applicants to provide forged and falsified documents.  Children as young as 13 were working on the kill floor. 

Rumors of child labor law violations at the Agriprocessors plant have circulated for years in the town and around the industry.

The United Food and Commercial Workers Union tried to get ICE to delay the raid because it wanted to organize the plant.  There was demanding of favors from female workers, animal abuse, on and on and on.  Many people knew facets of the sordid story, but nobody took strong action until ICE raided the plant.  And the biggest complaint from a lot of folks is the heavy-handed enforcement.  That's a lot easier than taking a cold, hard look in the mirror.

What Did He View and Why?

Last month, a former Mt. Angel Seminary student--Juan González--was arrested during a traffic stop near Yakima WA.  Turns out he was wanted in Oregon on charges of viewing child pornography (previous blog here).  After counseling him on his problems at the seminary, the bishop at the Yakima Diocese hired him to work with adults at a retreat center.  The bishop claims he didn't know that González was eventually charged in Oregon or that he ended up providing religious instruction to children.

Soon, the accused will be back in Oregon to face the charges.

A fugitive warrant from Oregon for Juan Jose González Rios was dismissed in Yakima County Superior Court Tuesday, and the $80,000 bail requirement was waived.

In return, González, 37, agreed to appear June 5 in Marion County, Ore., for arraignment on the child pornography charges.

However, González was not released from the county jail Tuesday because he still faces a hearing on his immigration status with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

González, who emigrated from Jalisco, Mexico, more than 15 years ago, has been living here on a religious visa that expired in 2005.

His attorney, J.J. Sandlin, said González will travel to Tacoma for the immigration hearing sometime in the next week. If ICE allows bail, González could be released from jail and live with his family in Tieton until he has to appear in court in Oregon.

Oregon evidently trusts González.  For reasons still unknown, the Oregon warrant remains sealed.  Hmmm.

Sandlin has emphasized from the beginning that his client is innocent of all charges.

In an earlier interview, Sandlin said González became highly distressed at the seminary because he allegedly witnessed inappropriate sexual behavior on the part of instructors and fellow students there.

The González family also alleges that he was a victim in his early 20s of sexual abuse by a Cowiche priest who has since left the state.

"Juan is a victim and a scapegoat," said his sister, Bertha González, saying that her brother told diocesan officials about the alleged abuse.

And as we know, Sandlin also claims that his client never intended to look at kiddie porn and that "whatever he did was his attempt to get away from those people in the seminary."  Or as this coverage put it...

He says he's innocent, and that the diocese set him up.
His attorney JJ Sandlin won't say much on the status of those porn charges, except that he's on amicable terms with Marion county prosecutors.
He says... they're negotiating.

Curious.

Just an Isolated Episode...

Last month, a traffic stop near Yakima resulted in the arrest of a former seminary student.

Juan Jose Gonzalez, 37, of Cowiche is being held on $80,000 bail at the Yakima County Jail on a fugitive warrant issued in Marion County, Ore. He faces four charges of encouraging child sex abuse, a felony, according to Yakima County Superior Court records.

...

The allegations stem from when Gonzalez was a student at Mount Angel Seminary in Mount Angel, Ore. He was dismissed from the seminary in 2003, but Oregon authorities did not issue an arrest warrant until 2005.

We have yet to learn why the delay between his dismissal and the arrest warrant regarding child porn.   

Following that dismissal, Gonzalez went back home and sought work in the local diocese.  And wouldn't you know...

Bishop Carlos Sevilla said he hired Gonzalez in 2003 to work part-time at the St. Peter Retreat Center in Cowiche because he viewed the incident as an "isolated episode," and because the job involved administrative work and teaching religious education to adults only, not children. Gonzalez was hired as full-time retreat director later that summer.

"It was a serious error in judgment on my part to employ Mr. Gonzalez while he was under investigation," Sevilla said in a statement. "I have always been and continue to be deeply committed to keeping the church a safe place. I should not have hired the employee, regret my serious failure in good judgment in doing so, and take full responsibility for my actions."

A safe place for whom?  By 2003, the sex abuse scandals in the Catholic Church had been national headlines for awhile.  The Yakima Diocese has paid out $1.25 million regarding accusations involving seven priests.  Hopefully Gonzalez hasn't done anything to merit more settlements.   

"My client shall prove his innocence to all criminal charges, and he shall provide specific facts in a court of law that establishes his truthfulness and his innocence," said J.J. Sandlin, attorney for Gonzalez.

Sandlin said (Bishop) Sevilla was well aware of his client's history at the seminary, including his client's allegations of sexual misconduct by priests providing theological instruction there. Sevilla also knew Gonzalez has had contact with Catholic youth at the Cowiche retreat for several years.

Sevilla said the diocese only recently learned that Gonzalez had been providing some religious instruction to youth. An outside investigator will be hired to determine if there are any allegations of inappropriate conduct.

And switching links...

Gonzalez is innocent of the charges, Sandlin said. He said Gonzalez never intended to look at "kiddie porn," but he wouldn't elaborate beyond saying that Gonzalez was under duress at the Oregon seminary.

"Whatever he did was his attempt to get away from those people in the seminary," Sandlin said.

??

Sevilla acknowledged that he should have followed up on the 2003 letter from the Oregon seminary.

"I didn't even think about it again until he was imprisoned," Sevilla said Tuesday.

Irresponsible.  Returning to the first link... 

According to a statement from the diocese, Sevilla did not inform the pastors in the Cowiche parish about the allegations against Gonzalez. Sevilla also did not notify the diocese Lay Advisory Board, charged with advising the bishop about matters pertaining to the sexual abuse of minors.

...

Robert Fontana of Voice of the Faithful, a support group for church-abuse victims and priests and church members seeking changes in the diocese, said the latest case fits a pattern of secrecy surrounding the Yakima diocese.

Fontana served as director of evangelization for the diocese from 1991-2005, before resigning over complaints that the bishop was mishandling abuse and child pornography cases.

Sevilla has been the bishop at Yakima since '96.  At least he hasn't been promoted. 

Yet More Victims of Jesuit Priests

Last November, the Society of Jesus, Oregon Province paid $50 million to settle with 110 Alaska Natives who'd claimed they were sexually abused by Jesuit priests (previous blog here).  Unfortunately, there are several chapters in that sordid book.  Today, the order announced that it will pay $4.8 million to 16 victims in Eastern Washington.

The Jesuits operated St. Mary's Mission and School near Omak for more than 60 years until turning it over to the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in 1973. The tribes now operate the school as the Paschal Sherman Indian School.

The 15 women and one man claimed they were sexually abused by a school superior and a Jesuit worker in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The accusers were elementary school pupils at the time and are now in their 40s and 50s.

"I am profoundly sorry for the pain and suffering of these people, and for the violation of trust which they have felt," the Very Rev. John D. Whitney, head of the Oregon Province, said in a news release.

...

The accused abusers are still alive and living under supervision in Jesuit residences.

Wonder if they're living in the same assisted living facility as, for instance, Reverend James E. Jacobson?  He's the former long-time chaplain at the Oregon State Penitentiary who as we've learned had previously sexually assaulted seven women and fathered four children in rural Eskimo villages in Alaska (most recent blog here).  There are some creepy people living on the Gonzaga University campus.

Another Big Settlement for the Victims of Priests

Sadly, the sexual proclivities of Jesuit priests in Alaska have made ripe blogging fodder (examples here, here, and here).  A number of priests made native villages their perverted playgrounds.

Attorneys for more than a hundred people who say they were victims of abuse involving Jesuits in Alaska announced Sunday they have reached a $50 million settlement with the regional Jesuit province.

The 110 people, all Alaska Natives, said they were abused by 15 Jesuit priests, brothers or those supervised by Jesuits from about 1961 to 1987, said Ken Roosa, their Anchorage-based attorney.

Roosa said his clients ranged in age from about 5 to 16 when they were abused, and the abuse occurred in remote villages along the coast of Western Alaska and along the Yukon River.

"In some villages, it is difficult to find an adult who was not sexually violated by men who used religion and power" to abuse and silence the children, Roosa said in a statement. "For our clients, this settlement represents a long overdue acknowledgment of the truth of their stories of abuse."

Officials at the Society of Jesus, Oregon Province—the formal name of the Jesuits in the Northwest—would neither confirm nor deny the settlement Sunday, saying details had yet to be worked out.

Between the Province and the Archdiocese, imagine the manpower decisions that were being made by the Catholic hierarchies in Portland.

In the past several years, many cases have been filed against the Jesuits in the Northwest, and the province has considered filing for bankruptcy. It is not clear how Sunday's announcement would affect any bankruptcy decision.

Excluding the Sunday announcement, the Oregon Province—which includes Washington, Alaska, Oregon, Montana and Idaho—has spent about $16 million to settle claims with 61 victims against 41 priests since 2002.

...

Most of the cases filed against the Oregon Province have involved those serving in Alaska. For years, the Jesuits had sent priests to serve in remote Alaskan villages and some victims' attorneys have contended that Alaska was where Jesuit leaders sent troubled priests—a contention Whitney, head of the Oregon Province, has vehemently denied.

He also denies that Jesuit leadership ignored the abuse.  But with everything that's already come to light...   

Former Oregon Priest a Father of Four

In 2005, Father James Jacobson retired after 25 years as chaplain in residence at the Oregon State Penitentiary.  Shortly thereafter, DNA evidence showed that he had fathered two sons while a Jesuit priest in Alaska (previous blog here).  He had served in several Eskimo villages in remote parts of Alaska from the early '60s until 1976.

His sons (and the one surviving mother) filed a lawsuit against the Fairbanks diocese, seeking child support.  They claimed that the mothers (who were both married at the time) had been sexually assaulted and that the diocese knew of Jacobson's problems but destroyed the evidence.  A transcript of Jacobson's deposition, filed yesterday, was an eye-opener.

A retired Catholic priest accused of sexual assault has revealed startling new information about his behavior decades ago while in rural Alaska, including that he fathered four children, carried on sexual relations with seven village women, and visited prostitutes during trips to Anchorage and Fairbanks.

...

Jacobson said he frequented prostitutes in those cities when he was principal of the old Copper Valley School near Glennallen. That's a Jesuit boarding school that closed in 1971.

The women were street walkers and they'd usually go to a motel or his car, Jacobson said. He paid the prostitutes with church funds, he said.

"Well, it was the Jesuits' money. It was money that was given to me for, you know, the work I was doing," Jacobson testified.

Two of the seven women were teens.  And now we know why Jacobson retired from the Oregon State Penitentiary and relocated to a Jesuit assisted living facility for clergy on the Gonzaga University campus in Spokane...

DNA testing done in 2005 proved that Jacobson is the father of the two men now suing. When the results came back, the Oregon-based head of the region's Jesuits directed him to move into the retirement home in Washington, where he could be watched more closely, he said.

Jacobson testified that he didn't recall having sex with one of the women who had his child but didn't doubt that it happened, because of the test results. He disputed her assertion that he sexually assaulted her.

"I believe--I know that I didn't force her. I don't remember any particular time that I had a sexual relationship with her, but I'm positive I didn't force her or anybody else."

Cooke asked him how he could be so sure if he didn't even remember her.

"Just, I know my actions," Jacobson responded. Later, he added: "As far as my forcing any woman to have sex with me, I know I haven't, I didn't." 

By the way, the regional Jesuit headquarters--the Society of Jesus Oregon Province, is in Portland.  It oversees the order in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington.

He disclosed that he knew of two other children he had fathered in Alaska besides those in the lawsuit. One mother didn't keep the child, a boy. He wanted to help the other child, a daughter, and went to where the mother was living with her parents.

"And they asked me not to come around or not to bother them, or I'm not sure what the words were, but that was the idea, that they were embarrassed by me coming around," he testified.

The mothers' families would take care of the children, he said.

He said he didn't know he had fathered two other children until the DNA testing in 2005.

Cooke is the lawyer for the plaintiffs.  The two sons are suing for $325,000 and $270,000.  If that sounds beyond the reach of a humble priest (from this link)...

Among items he (the judge) will decide is whether the statute of limitations on bringing a lawsuit had expired and whether Jacobson's vow of poverty and transfer of earnings and other assets to his religious order, and its obligations to provide for him, can make it liable for unpaid child support.

Jacobson has turned his earnings over to the Society of Jesus Oregon Province, which covers Alaska, and attorneys for the order say it is not liable for a child support debt.

...

Since his children were born, Jacobson received more than $1.5 million in salary and pension, but it all went to the Jesuits, and neither he nor the religious order gave his children any money, the lawsuit says.

Jesuits priests take a vow of poverty...over $1.5 million!?!

This lawsuit is one of more than 80 filed against priests who served in the Fairbanks Catholic Diocese. 

Damage Control at the Diocese of Santa Rosa

Three-plus months after it happened, the bishop in Santa Rosa CA is finally apologizing for failing to take aggressive action (previous blog here) against a priest who'd admitted to sexually molesting children for years.  That gave the predator priest time and opportunity to flee (probably to Mexico); he still hasn't been found.  The written apology was distributed at Saturday and Sunday services throughout the Diocese of Santa Rosa, which includes the coastal counties from Sonoma through Del Norte (on the Oregon border) plus Lake County.

Catholic Bishop Daniel Walsh apologized to parishioners Saturday for his delay in reporting alleged sexual abuse by fugitive priest Xavier Ochoa.

In a one-page statement, Walsh said he had put "caution" before "doing the right thing."

"I made an error in judgment by waiting to report Rev. Ochoa's admission," Walsh wrote. "I should have acted immediately, and not delayed. For this I am deeply sorry."

Originally in response to a question on why he didn't contact the authorities sooner, Bishop Walsh claimed that, "It didn't even cross my mind. But when you're dealing with a crisis, you don't think about those things. I wanted to make sure that he didn't function as a priest, so he didn't have access to kids."  As I've noted previously, considering the sad recent history at the diocese when it comes to pedophile priests, such an excuse is ridiculous...the leadership there had to be well versed in the rules on how to respond to such situations.

In his statement, Walsh acknowledged that his public admission could bring criminal charges for violating state mandatory reporting laws for suspected child sexual abuse.

State law requires clergy members and others to report abuse "immediately or as soon as practicably possible by telephone" and to follow up by fax or e-mail within 36 hours.

"As the District Attorney reviews the actions of all involved in this horrible situation, my admission of failing to report the case immediately could cause me to be charged with a misdemeanor having a potential penalty of 6 months in jail and/or a $1,000 fine," wrote Walsh. "If I am found guilty for not taking immediate action, I will accept whatever punishment is imposed."

The Sonoma County District Attorney's Office has been investigating the situation and is considering filing such charges.  So, this isn't a brave admission, it's a simple statement of fact.

Walsh's statement came seven weeks after he issued a letter to parishioners -- his first public comment on the Ochoa allegations and his handling of the situation -- saying he had "acted in good faith and ... with reasonable speed to notify authorities."

The bishop has refused interview requests since the Ochoa controversy began, and a diocese spokeswoman said Saturday he would not be available to comment.

...

In what was titled "a candid message," Walsh lamented the damage caused to the church by his delayed reporting.

"We have made great strides in dealing with and combating sexual abuse by church personnel. I cannot let this hard work be spoiled by the actions of one bad priest," wrote Walsh. "And I will not allow my own error to interfere with the path we have taken, and on which we must remain, to create a church community in which we can take pride."

Walsh said he was compelled to admit his error for the sake of the church.

"With this letter," he wrote, "I am choosing to step forward and admit my mistake because not to do so would only compound my original inaction and further tarnish all of our shared efforts over the past six years, in working to eradicate sexual abuse in the Church."

It may be only one bad priest this time (we hope), but it sure looks like the leadership hasn't changed.  The Bishop's actions enabled the priest to hide, and since then Bishop has shied away from the press and public.  His "candid message" is very late, and unless the press coverage skipped over it, included nothing about the victims. 

Has the church really made great strides in combating sexual abuse?  If so, it shouldn't be so hard to tell.  Heavy sigh...

Update:  Turns out that a PR firm helped write the letter.