Subject: John Urell

• The Annotated Bishop Brown Deposition

  Today, Orange County Superior Court Judge Gail Andler ruled that a Sept. 10 deposition of Catholic Diocese of Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown for the Jeff Andrade case be released to the public. As a public service announcement, the Weekly presents an annotated version after the jump with beaucoup hotlinks. Warning: the spin of Brown and diocesan attorney Peter Callahan will cause nausea worthy of Magic Mountain. And for much more background, read our Ex Cathedra and Andrade archives. Pg. 13: Brown

  September 13, 2007

• Stuck Inside of Memphis With the Catholic Blues Again

  Writing from Staxville, on the eve of delivering a lecture about ¡Ask a Mexican! at the University of Memphis... Yesterday, the law firm of Manly, McGuire & Stewart filed a contempt of court order against Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown, the latest salvo in the Jeff Andrade case. Manly and amigos are arguing that the Orange diocese purposefully whisked Monsignor John Urell to Canada to avoid finishing a deposition that he couldn't continue back in July after breaking down in tears. The diocese deni

  September 20, 2007

• Saying Howdy to John Urell in Canada

  As lawyers debate whether John Urell--the former point man for the Catholic Diocese of Orange in its sex-abuse fiasco--should return from Canada after failing to finish a deposition, a intrepid Canadian reporter decided to drop in on the monsignor. Mark Bonokoski of the Toronto Sun visited the Southdown Institute and asked if he could speak with Urell. Click here to find the results!

  September 25, 2007

• Subpoenas Sought for Urell, Urell’s Attorneys

  Links to come--am boarding a plane to El Paso... While OC Weekly cover boy Monsignor John Urell is in Canada to presumably get his rocks back in order, the Jeff Andrade matter trudges on. The latest twist: Urell’s lawyer is busy fighting a subpoena filed against the two of them filed by Newport Beach attorney John Manly. In a letter dated Sept. 25, Urell personal attorney Peter Hennessey tries to plead innocence and ignorance as to why he should be deposed. “I am not aware of any legitima

  September 28, 2007

• OC Blog Spins for Urell (And Spins and Spins...)

  Bear with us, gentle readers--this is a long post... Though the Weekly anointed Orange Juice as the county's best blog, even the Juicers would admit that the king of the county blogosphere is OC Blog, started and administrated by Jubal, the nom de plume of political consultant and longtime local Republican activist Matt Cunningham. Its politics are unapologetically center-right--it says so on the banner. But we had no idea that OC Blog would also evolve into a mouthpiece for the pedo-priest pro

  October 1, 2007

• Did John Urell Lie During his Deposition?

  October 3, 2007

• Diocesan Lawyers All of a Sudden Uppity

  For decades, the Catholic Diocese of Orange has dealt with survivors of its pedo-priests in secrecy--sealed settlements, claimed ignorance, and always, always, away from a jury. In none of the civil settlements that the Orange diocese signed off on were there any admission of guilt by the priest or diocesan lay employee charged with molestation. That's what makes the current strategy by longtime diocesan lawyer Peter Callahan so bizarre. Callahan has represented the Orange diocese on almost all

  October 3, 2007

• What the Hell is Bishop Brown Doing in St. Augustine?

  As the Catholic Diocese of Orange heads toward a potentially blockbuster civil trial, as diocesan PR flacks spin furiously, Bishop Tod D. Brown is in...St. Augustine, Florida?! Yep. His Excellency is there as part of the Joint Committee of Orthodox and Catholic Bishops. Now, we don't hold anything against our Orthodox brethren--Orange County Register columnist Steve Greenhut is Greek Orthodox--but surely there are more important things for Brown to take care of that a millennium-old schism, no?

  October 4, 2007

• A Critique of a Critique Criticizing My Bishop Brown Critique

  Google is great, really: a couple of random searches, and voila! You have a media critique. At least that's how Dave Pierre, author of The Media Report and a contributor to NewsBusters, operates with my recent LA Times opinion piece bashing Catholic Diocese of Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown. Under the headline, "Facts, Fairness Out the Window In LAT Op-Ed Attack On Calif. Bishop," Pierre proclaims that my article's premise that Bishop Brown's handling of the Orange diocese sex-abuse scandal is horri

  October 5, 2007

• Breaking: Orange Diocese Settles Andrade Case

  Scroll down for updates as they come... Just received word that the Catholic Diocese of Orange just settled a civil suit filed against it and former Mater Dei High School boys' basketball coach Jeff Andrade. Strange, considering diocesan lawyers were publicly proclaiming they were raring to start the trial. And isn't it convenient that they announce it on a Friday afternoon, just as the weekend starts and reporters are busy planning how to lose the weekend in a glass of Jack Daniels? Details as

  October 5, 2007

• Statement by John Manly on Settlement Against Orange Diocese

  Here's John Manly, the Newport Beach lawyer who represented four sex-abuse victims of employees with the Orange diocese, on the $6.885 million settlement announced this afternoon: Today, Bishop Tod Brown and the Diocese of Orange agreed, at the point of a legal gun and on the eve of trial, to settle four civil cases brought by women who were sexually abused as young girls between 1991 and 1999 by employees of the Diocese of Orange. Most of the abuse took place in the mid to late 1990s by sta

  October 5, 2007

• Tuesday's Headlines & Surprises: Dana's Selective Memory

  Can Bishop Brown Utter The Truth? Frank Mickadeit has an excellent column this morning on yesterday’s press conference by women who have been victimized at least three times--that would be: molested, ignored and then harassed--by Catholic Church officials. There will be more festivities today. This time Bishop Tod Brown (pictured) is set for a court contempt hearing in Orange County and if he decides to hold a press conference, The Mick has a few questions: If your Covenant With the Faithful

  October 9, 2007

• Urell Supporters Take Out Full-Page Ad in OC Register

  We rarely read past Page Four of the Orange County Register's front page, since anything beyond that is usually Macy's ads and rehashed Associated Press or Reuters blurbs. Indeed, we didn't read past page four this morning until an eagle-eyed reader (gracias, amigo) alerted us to a full-page ad taken out by a group calling themselves "Friends of Msgr. John." The ad in question was an "Open Letter in Support of Msgr. John Urell," the priest who for years handled sex-abuse complaints in the Cathol

  October 10, 2007

• "Friends of Monsignor John" Already Deletin'

  Scroll for updates after the jump... A support group for embattled Orange diocese Monsignor John Urell isn't even a day old, and already site administrators are deleting messages critical of Urell and his peers' handling of the diocese's sex-abuse scandal. You won't know this from reading their website, of course: they deleted the messages, silly! But this trusty reporter has three of them for you, after the jump:

  October 10, 2007

• Bishop Brown Too Nice for Once!

  On Oct. 9, Diocese of Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown issued a letter to the county's Catholics explaining his recent $6.685 million settlement with four sex-abuse victims of diocesan lay employees. He talked about apologizing to two of the victims (read a different account here), about how sex abuse is wrong, and all that jazz. Then His Excellency said the strangest thing about Mater Dei High School, where two of the settled cases occurred:

  October 12, 2007

• Showdown Between Sex-Abuse Survivors, Hanna Tonight

  It's hard to argue against survivors of Catholic sex abuse when the subject is the church's sex-abuse scandal, yet that's what Rancho Santiago Community College District board president John Hanna must do this afternoon. You'll recall that last week, the spin-friendly group Friends of Monsignor John posted an unredacted version of John Urell's July deposition in which the names of six molestation victims of Orange diocese priests and lay workers were revealed without their permission. Hanna is t

  October 15, 2007

• Jubal Speaks

  Nearly a week after posting an unredacted deposition revealing the names of six Orange diocese sex abuse victims, Friends of Monsignor John Urell webmaster Matt "Jubal" Cunningham posted a lengthy apology on his powerful, widely read OC Blog. Cunningham's mea culpa is rather extraordinary in that his previous commentaries about the Orange diocese sex-abuse scandal antagonized sex-abuse survivors and their supporters with his spin for Urell, the Orange diocese's former person in charge of investi

  October 19, 2007

• It's Dec. 10--Do You Know Where John Urell Is?

  Remember John Urell? Monsignor for the Catholic Diocese of Orange? Who covered up for pedophiles? Whose supporters continuously shot themselves in the foot? Who was whisked off to Canada to--take your pick--combat an "acute anxiety disorder" (according to the diocese) or to evade a deposition (says suing lawyers)? That guy? Well, it's December 10--and he should be back in town. So where is he?

  December 10, 2007

• Monsignor John Urell Speaks!

  About a week ago, we wondered whatever happened to Monsignor John Urell, the pastor of St. Norbert's Catholic Church in Orange and the longtime keeper of secrets in the Orange diocese sex-abuse scandal. Today, a St. Norbert's parishioner faxed us an update: Urell spoke to his flock this past weekend through the wonders of a church bulletin.* In it, Urell thanks his supporters for "the many notes that have come to me, usually just at the right time when encouragement was needed." The Orange Coun

  December 18, 2007

• Return of Urell, or Johnny B. Bad

  Hey, kids! Your favorite pedophile-tolerating, victim-ignoring, down-breaking Monsignor is back! Well, he may not be YOUR favorite. He's certainly Matt Cunningham's favorite. The Diocese of Orange announced this week that Msgr. John Urell is expected to return as pastor of St. Norbert Church in Orange sometime after Easter. Urell was discharged from a Canadian psychiatric facility earlier this week, after suffering a so-called anxiety attack on the witness stand back in October. From the Reg:

  March 4, 2008

• Separated at Birth: Msgr. John Urell and Sean Hannity

  Thanks to Bob Squalonero for the initial observation. There IS a strange resemblance btw. Monsignor John Urell and Faux News Commentator Sean Hannity. The squint, the eyebrows - even the hair is parted the same way. I've got goosebumps. At least I hope those are goosebumps. Any thoughts? On the picture, not the bumps.

  March 6, 2008

• Pedophile Protector Apologist of the Day...

  ...Is Patrick Redmond of Newport Beach! Today, the Orange County Register prints his letter blasting star columnist Frank Mickadeit for his supposed "umbilical fascination" with famed Catholic Church sex-abuse victim's attorney John Manly. The trigger for such a clever twist of words? A March 7 column Mickadeit wrote about the return of Monsignor John Urell, the longtime Catholic Diocese of Orange priest who lost it in a deposition regarding his pedophile-protecting past, in which he quoted a Ma

  March 12, 2008

• Our Sincerest Apologies to Catholic Readers...

  ...For denying you the pedophile-apologist stylings of Father Christopher Heath, priest at St. Edward the Confessor in Dana Point. A faithful reader turned us on to Heath's blog today, where he reveals that Monsignor John Urell is back after skipping out to Canada for half-a-year to deal with the anxiety brought on by his pedo-protecting ways. Rather, that's the truth: Heath's spin is Urell is "healing from the horrible stress of accusations and media attention." "Accusations and media attentio

  March 18, 2008

• KOCE Docu on OC Catholics Funded (Mostly) by Pedo-Spinners

  It's still to be seen what exactly will KOCE-TV Channel 50's much-hyped documentary about Orange County Catholic life will contain (how much you wanna bet not a peep about the pedophile priests that terrorized county parishes for a quarter century?), but the Weekly can report that most of its principal funders helped the Diocese of Orange spin its sex-abuse scandal in one way or another. The four sponsors listed for Matters of Faith (airing April 28th at 7 p.m.) are the law offices of Aitken, A

  April 16, 2008

• John Urell Leaving

  Monsignor John Urell, longtime pedophile protector in the Catholic Diocese of Orange, announced last week he's leaving St. Norbert's in Orange (where he currently serves as pastor) for St. Timothy in Laguna Niguel. In a letter he read to parishioners two weeks ago and reprinted in this past weekend's St. Norbert church bulletin, Urell gave no real explanation other than "I know it is time for me to go and use my talents and abilities in a new place and with a fresh start." Urell will now serve

  June 6, 2008

• Go Welcome John Urell at His New Parish This Sunday

  The last time we heard from Monsignor John Urell, he was busy having a nervous breakdown for his role in the rapes of innocents in the Diocese of Orange. Shortly after returning from six months of therapy in Canada, Urell announced to parishioners at St. Norbert in Orange that he was leaving to become the pastor at St. Timothy's in Laguna Niguel.Guess what? That happy day is this Sunday! Making a special appearance is Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown, who infamously let Urell scoot off to Canada befor

  December 4, 2008

• a Peek at the Bishop's Past

  December 6, 2007

• Meet OC's New Pedo-Apologizing Bishop, Same as the Old Pedo-Apologizing Bishop

  *Updated, with new info on the bottom...The Vatican announced today that the Rev. Cirilo Flores, currently at St. Anne's in SanTana, is now the new auxiliary bishop for the Diocese of Orange, replacing homo-hating pedo-apologist Jaime Soto. It's obviously an affirmative action hire, not only because Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown needs a token Latino alongside his token Vietnamese, Bishop Dominic Luong, but because His Excellency needs to please the pedo-apologists in his flock, a significant consti

  January 5, 2009

• KOCE Diocese of Orange Docu Blind To Reality

  One of my favorite channels is KOCE-TV Channel 50's OC Channel, available only on digital antennas (and have you changed your analog TV yet to satisfy the NWO?). It airs nothing but Orange County-related material--not just reruns of KOCE's Real Orange and Inside OC with Rick Reiff, but also weird infomercials and Chapman University-produced programs. But my favorite shows are OC-related documentaries--some years old, others not as much. I'll write about them as I see fit, but one deserves immedi

  January 19, 2009

• Where do OC's Pedo-Priest Apologists Love To Eat?

  From a trusted source:"So I'm eating at [fancy restaurant] recently and am about to leave, when who do I see but John Urell! He's waiting outside with a bunch of priests. They're dressed super-fancy in suits, laughing, and seemingly ready to have a good time."I realize a lot of you foodies don't bother with the real world of news, so a primer: John Urell is a Catholic priest that for years helped run interference for Diocese of Orange bishops when it came to the local sex-abuse scandal. He's abo

  January 19, 2009

• Board of Supes Invite Pedo-Priest Apologist To Give Invocation This Monday**

  What is it with the Orange County Board of Supervisors and their love of pedophile apologists? In 2006, Third District Supe Bill Campbell tried placing Monsignor John Urell, the right-hand man of Diocese of Orange bishops for a good decade of their sex-abuse scandal, on the county's human relations commission until molestation victims raised rightful holy hell. Now, an addendum to this Monday's BoS agenda currently lists Monsignor Lawrence Baird as giving the invocation at 9:30 in the morn.Baird

  January 10, 2009

• A Pedo-Apolgist's Best Pal: OC Supervisor Bill Campbell

  So it turns out icky Monsignor Lawrence Baird won't give the invocation at the Orange County Board of Supervisors meeting today after all as originally planned; Baird now says he has to give Mass at St. John Vianney Chapel on Balboa Island at 9:30 a.m., and isn't that as bullshit an excuse as you'll ever hear, especially given that Mass at the picturesque chapel is said on weekdays at 7:45 a.m.? Whatever; let Larry the Louse sink back into his depraved multimillion-dollar Balboa home. Besides, t

  January 13, 2009

• The Perverted Albert Lee Schildknecht, Admitted Teen Molester

  Amazing news: A music director for a Catholic institution will get penalized for abusing a teen, and the institution is not Mater Dei High! Albert Lee Schildknecht, former music director of St. Timothy Church in Laguna Niguel (current home of pedo-apologist John Urell) received probation last Friday for agreeing to plead guilty to molesting a 15-year-old in the late 1990s. It continues the Orange diocese's amazing, disgusting record of having seen only one of its employees go immediately to pris

  February 2, 2009

• [Versión En Español] ¿Dónde en el Mundo Está Edgardo Jiménez

  March 19, 2009

• John Urell Shown To Be Even More of an Asshole to Sex-Abuse Victims than First Thought

  Urell at the moment he went cuckooIn 1986, after the death of founding Diocese of Orange Bishop William Johnson, a young John Urell penned a moving tribute in the Los Angeles Times to the man whom set the diocese on its proud pedo-priest-protecting path. Urell--then the secretary to Johnson, now pastor at St. Timothy in Laguna Niguel, always comforter to the comforted--recalled how Johnson asked him to volunteer at a soup kitchen in Wilmington. "Bishop's point was that dignity must be restored a

  March 3, 2009

• John and Ken Go After Red County Blog (Again)

  *Originally posted on March 13; moved up by Gustavo 'cause the conversation is HOT!The hosts of KFI-AM 640 The John and Ken Show are ripping Orange County's right-tilted Red County blog once again. (You can listen here.) What set off the anti-tax crusaders--whose recent live Tax Revolt 2009 broadcast (pictured) drew 8,000 people to the Slidebar Café in downtown Fullerton--was a post by Assemblyman Paul Cook (R-Yucca Pie) shilling for Prop 1A.Like Cook, our Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger

  March 16, 2009

• A Priest the Diocese of Orange Admits Faced an Abuse Accusation Is Still in Ministry In Spain

  March 19, 2009

• Cirilo Flores Rarely Pursued Discipline of Molesting Priests While Serving on Important Church Board

  January 15, 2009

• Joelle Casteix Fights for Catholic Church Sex-Abuse Victims While Pursuing Her Own Abuser

  July 10, 2008

• ?Quien Es Mas Mafia?

  November 29, 2007

• Fiddlin' in St. Augustine

  October 11, 2007

• Letters

  "If Urell really were a shepherd for his flock, they—and not himself—would have been his main concern."
  

  October 4, 2007

• Bad Moves

  September 27, 2007

• The Wretched of the Wretches

  November 9, 2006

• Greenhut Praises Moxley, Blasts Carona's Disappeared Defenders

  While wondering where all the defenders of convicted and soon-to-be imprisoned ex-sheriff Mike Carona are now, Register editorial writer Steven Greenhut drops a couple shout outs to the coverage by the Weekly's R. Scott Moxley, the lone reporter uncovering the former top Orange County lawman's misdeeds from the beginning. Greenhut begins his post on his Orange Punch "liberty blog" (all the emphasises are his): I was reading theLiberalOC and found this interesting post in which the writer points

  May 1, 2009

• Keeper of St. Norbert Church Pedo-Priests Now Accused of Boy Rape Himself

  What is it about the pastors of St. Norbert Church in Orange and their predilection for protecting pedo-priests? The most recent example was Cirilo Flores, who is now an auxiliary bishop under Diocese of Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown; the most notorious example was John Urell, who famously cracked during a deposition digging into his days as the man in charge of "investigating" the pedophiles who terrorized county parishes for decades. I guess they just learned from their elders; after all, longtim

  June 29, 2009

• John Urell Gets Punked!!!

  John Urell, pastor to the powerful (see: Supervisor Bill Campbell, blog king Matt "Jubal" Cunningham), pedo-priest protector supreme, was the victim of a brilliant prank this past Sunday at St. Timothy in Laguna Niguel. Someone created the flyer above, which details at length Urell's role in the Diocese of Orange's sex-abuse scandal, and inserted it into nearly all the church bulletins after morning Mass. Even better, the same prankster slipped the flyer under the windshield of every car in St.

  July 2, 2009

• The Damning Documents

  December 15, 2005

• OC Diocese Convicted Perv Albert Lee Schildknecht Violated Probation, Served Jail Time

  Schildknecht​Finally! The Diocese of Orange has its third pervert to ever serve jail time for sexually abusing a minor: Albert Lee Schildknecht, a former choir directory at St. Timothy in Laguna Niguel (home to pedo-apologist supreme John Urell), who plead guilty earlier this year to two felony counts of oral copulation of a minor and one felony of sexual penetration with a foreign object of a minor but amazingly received a sentence of five years probation. The terms of the probation exp

  September 9, 2009

• Catholic Church Molestation Survivor Starts Non-Profit to Fight Sex Abuse

  Kroll: Wonder if John Urell Ever Apologized to Her for Being an Ass...​One of the main criticisms Catholic pedo-apologists have against the survivors that dare sue the Church in civil lawsuits boils down to this twisted logic: if the victims just care about exposing the truth, then why are they asking for money? Don't civil suits just show that they're really money-grubbers who wanted it as kids and teens?This is the official line of the Diocese of Orange, of Bishop Tod D. Brown and his slop b

  November 3, 2009