Subject: Roman Catholicism

• Pilfering Peter's Pence

  If you stuffed a few bucks into Salvation Army kettles this past holiday season, there's good news-- it's very likely your dollars (or coins, if you're a cheap bastard) found their way to wherever General Booth's soldiers intended they should go. The New York Times reports: The Salvation Army is widely considered exemplary among nonprofits in handling cash collections. The red buckets in which bell ringers collect donations are covered and locked, and all buckets must be returned to a central lo

  January 5, 2007

• Slack jawed, Hounddog, and Mr. Donohue (not) at the movies

  If there's one thing OC Weekly has in plentiful supply, it's Catholics of varying stripes-- devout, cafeteria, lapsed, vigorously lapsed, potential anti-pope-- with colorful and occasionally bizarre stories from their contacts with Holy Mother Church and its numerous franchises and subsidiaries. From nuns on a swimming pool-slide (an image from Steve Lowery's youth) to a priest who insisted that the Virgin Mary once stole his wallet while he was in a public restroom (a very devout fellow I knew

  January 24, 2007

• LAFF 2007: Westside Ain't the Best Side

  Friday at the fest was a little bit different -- all the interesting-looking films were playing at the Landmark Westside, that new fancy art-house 12-plex at the Westside Pavilion. Parking there is free, unlike in Westwood, where everything else is happening. The trade-off you make is that beer is not free. I tried a $12 Avant-Garde Ale at the theaters beer and wine bar -- it came in a big bottle and was worth $12. A bit French-tasting, so probably not recommended for Republicans. Likewise, the

  June 30, 2007

• LA Archdiocese Sex Abuse Settlement: The OC Connection

  The Los Angeles Times is rightfully concentrating on LA-area victims in its coverage of the LA Archdiocese's record-breaking Catholic Church sex-abuse settlement. What's not being covered, however, is the Orange County connection. Named in the settlement are 14 priests whom the Diocese of Orange doesn't list as local predators since they sinned while Orange County was part of the LA Archdiocese (the OC diocese wasn't founded until 1976). And the Diocese of Orange roll call also doesn't include o

  July 16, 2007

• Context-Free Reportering Courtesy of the Register

  It's always a guilty pleasure to see a new Orange County Register reporter--usually fresh from college--write a story in which the guy (or cute gal) has no clue about what's in his face. The latest example occurred today, in a piece by one Sean Emery, about the continued restoration of Mission San Juan Capistrano. Emery noted that Cardinal William Levada, Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine Faith in Rome, offered a blessing to the Mission's retablo in a Saturday Mass--but that's when the

  July 25, 2007

• Weekly Story on Bishop Brown Pedophile Allegation Proven Right

  Five months ago, OC Weekly's Gustavo Arellano broke the news that despite his promises of complete public accountability on the Catholic Church sex scandals, Bishop Tod Brown himself continued to hide accusations that he molested a 12-year-old boy in the 1960s. According to subsequent court transcripts, Orange diocese attorney Peter Callahan snorted that the Weekly's reporting couldn't be trusted because the paper is distributed at coffeehouses and carries massage ads*. Callahan predicted the "

  September 13, 2007

• Statutory Rapist Andrade And Pals Seek to Block Many Things

  A slew of in limine motions filed this past week by former Mater Dei High School boys' basketball coach/admitted statutory rapist Jeff Andrade and his former employers, the Catholic Diocese of Orange. Andrade's lawyers moved that any potential jury not hear "in any manner, either directly or indirectly, any reference to documentation, witness testimony and/or opinions that refer to any allegation that [Andrade] was criminally prosecuted or not criminally prosecuted as a result of his sexual rela

  September 25, 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

• 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

• Bishop Brown Still Doesn't Get It

  Pick up this newspaper this Thursday, when this reporter will have a more in-depth take on the Orange diocese's settling four more sex-abuse cases for about $7 million. In the meanwhile, allow your humble servant to rail about the latest foot-in-mouth case of Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown. Today, Associated Press reporter Gillian Flaccus filed a report from Newport Beach, where three of the four victims came forth to face the cameras. She also interviewed Brown, who's scheduled to appear in Orange

  October 8, 2007

• 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

• Orange Diocese Dimwit of the Month...

  **Updated, with new material at the bottom... ...Is actually the dimwit from last month: Father Christopher Heath of St. Edward the Confessor in Dana Point. To mark Pope Benedict XVI's meeting with the sex-abuse victims of his priests, Heath wrote a post on his blog where he made this off-hand but telling remark: It's a good story of healing and hope, but will never be enough for some who use this awful situation to justify their hatred for all things Catholic. Chris: Have you learned nothing

  April 21, 2008

• Bishop Brown Invites Pedo-Apologist Bishop to Deliver Red Mass Homily

  In a county where ostentatious pomp and circumstance is the rule of the day, few events are more despicable than the Red Mass, an annual event held by the Diocese of Orange where Bishop Tod D. Brown virtually guarantees no prosecution for his pedo-priests by honoring the entire legal system--judges, attorneys, and cops--in a night filled with uniforms. I've written about previous versions of this ceremony (but can't find the damn hyperlink right now...), but none will be as offensive as the one

  October 1, 2008

• Bishop John Steinbock is a Disgusting, Pedo-Priest-Loving, Hypocritical Sinner

  Greatest-Religion-Reporter-Ever William Lobdell alerted me to the story of Diocese of Fresno Bishop John Steinbock removing Father Geoffrey Farrow from the diocese and his salary and health benefits for speaking out against the gay-marriage-banning Proposition 8 and coming out as a homosexual. That alone is a dick move, but Steinbock's rationale is stunning: in a letter to Farrow, His Excellency wrote “Your statement contradicted the teaching of the Catholic Church and has brought scandal to y

  October 15, 2008

• Hate Pedo-Priests, Catholics? Then Don't Tithe This Sunday

  Had lunch at Norm's in SanTana yesterday with Tucson resident. Frank Douglas, who writes Voice from the Desert, a blog regarding the Catholic Church's sex-abuse scandal. He was in Southern California to hold a press conference regarding a new effort by the faithful to get the Church hierarchy out of the Medieval Ages and into the present: Send the Bishops a Message, which urges Catholics to not tithe this Sunday as a way of expressing their furor in having to bail out dioceses across the country

  November 11, 2008

• The Evilest Man in Southern California: Tod Tamberg, LA Archdiocese Spokeshole

  I've rarely covered the sex abuse scandal up the 5 Freeway at the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, because--hello!--LA is LA and Orange County is it. But a scummy incident that happened last Wednesday warrants the attention of all naranjeros and good Catholics.Then, sex-abuse survivors held a press conference outside the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, otherwise known as the Rog Mahal after Cardinal Roger Mahony. The survivors were there to talk about the news that the United States Dis

  February 4, 2009

• Did Denis Lyons' Attorney Inadvertently Admit His Client is a Pedophile?

  Yesterday, we wrote about how the Diocese of Orange is using a laughable argument to try and keep secret personnel files on pedo-priest Denis Lyons in a recent civil suit. Unsurprisingly, Lyons' lawyers also filed a brief for the same purpose using the same tactic of Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown: that any correspondence between Lyon and his superiors is confidential information protected by the United States Constitution because it's a religious belief. "For the Roman Catholic Church to be free to

  February 12, 2009

• Pope Benedict XVI to Give Papal Recognition to a Bunch of Orange Diocese Pedo-Apologists

  Who says Diocese of Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown doesn't take care of his lackeys? Actually, no one: anyone with half a brain (me, me!) knows this. Anyways, Brown sent out a letter to his priests two days ago announcing that "our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI has honored papal recognition, to those listed below for their outstanding service to the Church." The list is long, so we're only going to post the worst of the worst. The ceremony for their official installation, according to the letter, is

  February 12, 2009

• A Look at the Orange Diocese's Previous Head Aztlanistas

  Why is this man smiling?I wish I could say it is an April Fools' joke that the Orange County Hispanic Bar Association is going through with its reception for newly ordained Catholic Diocese of Orange Bishop Cirilo Flores despite him never quite getting around to denouncing or disciplining pedo-priests while serving on the diocese's clergy personnel board. At least the president-elect of the OC HBA, Carlos Colorado, has the guts to denounce the cover-up of the rapes of innocents, something that n

  April 1, 2009

• Fun With Nuns

  December 11, 2008

• The Catholic Diocese of Orange's History Book Is Pretty-and Pretty Pathetic

  May 29, 2008

• Jane C.R. Doe Speaks

  October 11, 2007

• For Christ's Sake

  February 11, 1999

• Nailed?

  April 26, 2007

• Great Moments in Orange County Adultery

  1978

  February 8, 2007

• The Wretched of the Wretches

  November 9, 2006

• Devils in Disguise

  A documentary portrait of a pedophile preist and his pious protectors

  November 2, 2006

• Gloria in Exclusion Deo

  October 12, 2006

• King of the County Pedophiles

  December 15, 2005

• The Sins of the Father

  May 26, 2005

• The "Sins" Of The Father

  May 19, 2005

• "Mexicans, just like Anglos, the ancient Greeks and the Jews who wrote the Old Testament, are equall

  May 5, 2005

• A Moral, Abject Failure When It Mattered

  April 7, 2005

• Deal of the Century

  March 31, 2005

• Diary of a Mad County

  March 3, 2005

• Letters

  December 2, 2004

• The Gospel According to the GOP

  October 28, 2004

• The Army of God

  August 12, 2004

• Dirty Money

  He may agree to pay millions to settle sex-abuse cases, but OC Bishop Brown will still win

  June 17, 2004

• Television Killed the Catholic Star

  March 4, 2004

• The Backlash Passion

  February 26, 2004

• Dirty Laundry

  August 21, 2003

• Peace Through War

  April 17, 2003

• Secrets and Lies

  February 6, 2003

• Coming Clean

  February 3, 2000

• 'Angels & Demons' Is Holy Crap, But Not Entirely Un-Fun

  May 14, 2009

• Reminder: Pedo-Priest Apologists to be Honored This Friday at Mission SJC

  Just a reminder to folks that this Friday evening, at Mission San Juan Capistrano's Basilica, Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown will bestow some of his nearest and dearest pedo-priest apologists with papal honors, a ceremony that proves Pope Benedict XVI is still clueless about too much and that Brown and his lackeys have no shame. Why don't those idiot Catholics who protested President Barack Obama's appearance at Notre Dame University protest that? Because it's the fault of the victims and liberals,

  May 18, 2009

• So-Called "Anaheim Priestess" a Big, Loony Fraud

  LeeThe American media is abuzz and aTwittering with reports about how an Anaheim woman who calls herself the Rev. Brenda Lee was removed from LAX this morning after she tried to give President Barack Obama a letter about her opposition to gay marriage. All reported she calls herself a Catholic priestess; the Orange County Register interviewed Lee, who said she's aligned with St. Julia Falconieri in Fullerton and that there's 60 such priestesses worldwide. None reported on what a harmful lunatic

  May 28, 2009

• What Do Pope, Larry Flynt, Mission Viejo Shoppers Have in Common?

  Media reports that as many as 16 actors and actresses in the adult entertainment industry recently tested positive for HIV have prompted new calls for legislation requiring condom use in all porn videos shot in California. Opponents to condom use include the multi-billion dollar adult entertainment industry, the Roman Catholic Church and visitors to The Shops in Mission Viejo. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) hosted a press conference, protest and rally Monday night in front of Larry Flynt's

  June 16, 2009

• King of the County Pedophiles

  December 15, 2005