Subject: Tod Brown

• Another Black Eye for Mater Dei

  The culture of pedophilia at Mater Dei High School has hit the big time. Today, The New York Times examines the rash of non-clerical sex-abuse cases involving the Catholic Church. Mentioned in the second paragraph was Joelle Casteix, a longtime advocate for sex-abuse survivors who was herself a victim of a choir teacher during the 1980s. "Court records indicate," Times reporter Bruce Lambert writes, "that several other staff members—including teachers, a counselor and a coach—also ab

  May 15, 2007

• Another Sex-Abuse Accusation Against Diocese of Orange

  It's now been over a month since the Weekly revealed that Diocese of Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown had a molestation allegation lodged against him in the past. We knew Brown wouldn't comment on the matter (we thought about confronting him yesterday, when he presided over the Confirmation of my brother and others at St. Boniface in Anaheim, but thought better of it), but what has shocked us is that neither the bleeding Los Angeles Times or Orange County Register ever hopped on the story. We understa

  May 26, 2007

• Breaking: OC Diocese Lawyers Seek to Seal Bishop Brown Deposition

  Over the weekend, attorneys with the firm of Manly, McGuire & Stewart deposed former Catholic Diocese of Orange Bishop Norman McFarland and current bishop Tod D. Brown as part of the firm's ongoing lawsuit against the Orange Diocese, Mater Dei High School, and former boy's basketball coach Jeff Andrade (click here for the Weekly's coverage of the lawsuit). Now, sources tell the Weekly that lawyers for the Orange diocese successfully convinced a judge to stop Brown's deposition midway through his

  September 11, 2007

• New PR Flack For OC Diocese, Same Idiocy

  Long-time observers of the Catholic Diocese of Orange pedo-priest scandal no doubt remember Father Joseph Fenton, the former director of communications who was an unrepentant asshole and didn't mind using sex-abuse survivors when convenient for Bishop Tod. D Brown. He's no longer the Orange diocese's PR flack; that dirty work now falls to one Ryan Lilyengren. And the man is earning whatever Brown pays him. On Thursday, after Brown's deposition for a civil lawsuit filed against former Mater Dei

  September 15, 2007

• Hilarious Quote of The Year Award Goes To...

  Peter Callahan, longtime attorney for the Catholic Diocese of Orange. Today, the Orange County Register plays catchup to the Los Angeles Times and interviews Scott Hicks, who claims Bishop Tod D. Brown abused him decades ago. Again, no mention of the fact that the Weekly broke this story six months ago. But we're straying from our point. In the Register piece, Callahan was asked to comment about Brown. Not only does Callahan label Hicks' allegation as an "attack," but he then offers this gem:

  September 30, 2007

• Register Fails to Reveal Relationship Between Loftus and Catholic Church

  Yesterday, Orange County Register crime reporter Rachanee Srisavasdi interviewed the man who claims Orange diocese Bishop Tod D. Brown abused him decades ago. Scott Hicks of Fresno claims that he suppressed the thoughts of abuse for years and recalled them only after therapy recovered those memories. Recovered memories are always a minefield of allegations, as anyone who remembers the McMartin preschool trials remember, so Srisavasdi quoted UC Irvine's Elizabeth Loftus on the validity of recover

  October 1, 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

• 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

• 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

• The Diocesan Spin Cycle Begins Anew

  Barely 24 hours have passed since the Orange diocese's press conference, and already Bishop Tod D. Brown's spinmasters are trying to make His Excellency better than he is. On the diocesan website is a story titled "BISHOP OF ORANGE APOLOGIZES TO YOUNG WOMEN," in which the following is revealed: Most Rev. Tod D. Brown, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Orange apologized personally to two of the four young women whose lawsuits naming the Diocese had been formally settled in Superior Court just moment

  October 10, 2007

• The Orange Diocese's Record-Breaking Streak

  This year's edition of our annual Scariest People issue includes two entries from the Catholic Diocese of Orange: lead sex-abuse lawyer Peter Callahan and Varsity Gold, the high-school fundraising outfit that hired and proudly employees statutory rapist (and former Mater Dei boys' assistant basketball coach) Jeff Andrade. With those two entries, the Orange diocese enters the Weekly's record books as the organization with the longest consecutive streak of appearances in Scariest. The previous ent

  October 29, 2007

• 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

• Stalinism, Sex Abuse and the Catholic Diocese of Orange

  Under the reign of Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown, the Catholic Diocese of Orange has lied, spun, hid, dismissed, excused, and ignored its shameful sex-abuse scandal--no surprise there. But never in my four years of reporting on the story have I ever encountered such a ridiculous action as the one I'm about to explain. Look closely at the picture to the left of this post. It's from the Orange diocese's new history of itself, which I reviewed this week. Pay special attention to the space between the

  June 2, 2008

• The Worst OC Catholic Molesting-Priest Apologists Are Mater Dei Monarchs And...

  Mexicans! Yesterday, Orange County Superior Court Judge Lance Jensen sentenced Luis Eduardo Ramirez, an Augustinian who was serving at Our Lady of the Pillar Catholic Church in SanTana, to 180 days in jail for attempting to molest a 17-year-old boy in an Anaheim motel. Ramirez plead guilty to taking the parishioner to the hotel, putting his head in his lap, and reaching up his shirt. This admission did not stop parishioners from getting angry at the conviction. "When the judge announced his d

  August 21, 2008

• a Peek at the Bishop's Past

  December 6, 2007

• 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

• The Latest Pedo-Priest Settlement: Denis Lyons (Again)

  Just got off the phone with V. James DeSimone, attorney for a man who says pedo-priest Denis Lyons molested him as a child during the 1990s. They have settled their civil suit against the Catholic Diocese of Orange for an undisclosed amount. "Our client is pleased with the settlement, and looks forward to working with the district attorney's office," to bring criminal charges against Lyons, who has cost Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown more than $4 million in civil settlements. No personnel files will

  February 27, 2009

• Why is The OC Hispanic Bar Association Hosting a Reception for a Pedo-Apologist Bishop?

  For the past two years, I've donated a signed copy of my book and a dinner date* with me to the Hispanic Bar Association of Orange County's annual fundraising dinner for auctioning purposes; in 2007, I was co-emcee of the event. But I'm afraid I will have to boycott this fine organization from now on; they're holding an April 2 reception for the newest Diocese of Orange Bishop, Cirilo Flores, next week at the Monticello-like First American Title Insurance offices in downtown SanTana alongside th

  March 19, 2009

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

  March 19, 2009

• [Scariest People 2008] The Sexorcist

  October 30, 2008

• Tod and Me

  December 27, 2007

• Fiddlin' in St. Augustine

  October 11, 2007

• Bad Moves

  September 27, 2007

• Christ Our Non-Saver

  July 29, 2004

• Nailed?

  April 26, 2007

• Gone Lenten

  March 31, 2005

• Shreddin'!

  March 24, 2005

• The "All-Spin" Zone

  January 13, 2005

• The Year In Keeping The Faith

  December 30, 2004

• Boy-Buggering Bingo!

  10 unlikely winners and losers in the Orange Diocese sodomy sweepstakes

  December 23, 2004

• A Millstone Around Their Necks

  December 2, 2004

• OC's Scariest People 2004

  October 28, 2004

• More Bang, Please

  October 14, 2004

• Let Them Eat Wafers

  September 23, 2004

• Letters

  September 16, 2004

• Lifestyles of the Rich and Pious

  A Tour of the Orange Dioceses Most Transubstantiastic Homes

  September 16, 2004

• Movin' on Up

  August 12, 2004

• Brown Out

  July 1, 2004

• Podex Maximus

  June 24, 2004

• Coming Clean

  February 3, 2000

• It's a Quick Read 39: Flash Mountain is Back Edition

  Orange County Register: This just in: No swine flu in OC yet. (Although there is at least one diseased swine.) . . . We've got us a quake swarm, a tropical quake storm. . . . OC Fire Authority defense of $28 million in overtime for firefighters creates a firestorm among 358 Reg online commenters (since Friday). . . . $1.35 million "great starter home" sold in Huntington Beach. . . . HEY, RUMMY! STOP SHOOTING MY HOUSE!! . . . Disneyland is eliminating the position that&nb

  April 27, 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

• Don't Forget O.C.'s Abusive Irish Catholic Priests!

  Lenihan, second from right, in a picture Brown StalinizedThe Catholic world is abuzz with the release of a 2,500-page report by an judge documenting decades of physical and sexual abuse suffered by children in Ireland's Papist-run institutions. The report's release is a sad confirmation of the thesis put out by author Joe Rigert in his excellent 2008 book An Irish Tragedy: How Sex Abuse by Irish Priests Helped Cripple the Catholic Church. He posited that Ireland's repressed sexuality created a c

  May 20, 2009

• Funniest Line of This Young Millennium!

  From yesterday's ordination of pedo-priest-protector Cirilo Flores as the latest auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Orange (of which we'll have more on Monday). Uttered by head Bishop Tod D. Brown, per the Orange County Register, a joke so hilarious it deserves bolding, italics, and underlining:"Bishops are the ones who speak truth in season and out of season."HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHASorry, where was I? Oh, yeah: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.Trut

  March 20, 2009

• I Owe an OC Register Reporter Lunch Because of a Pedo-Priest!

  Lyons mug shotBelieve it or not, I have a couple of friends who work for the Orange County Register. Won't name names lest they fall under corporate microscope, but I bet one of them that the District Attorney's Office would never criminally try Denis Lyons, the longtime Diocese of Orange pedo-priest who has cost Bishop Tod D. Brown more than $4 million.Best lunch I ever lost. Register reporter Rachanee Srisavasdi (not the person I will soon take out for good grub at a SanTana taco truck) report

  July 21, 2009

• Friday Film Funnies Fun: OC Diocese Priest Retreat!

  A tipster alerted us to the video below, which shows priests from the Diocese of Orange at the desert retreat I wrote about in May. Nothing too scandalous to note, but full confirmation of my argument: Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown, despite a vow of fiscal sanity following his see's $100 million sex-abuse settlement in 2005 and the cutback of numerous services affecting lay people (mostly students) as a result of his fumbling ways, doesn't care at all about the faithful and but will pinch no pennie

  July 10, 2009

• OC Diocese Priorities: Surfers and Facebook, Yes; Sex-Abuse Victims, No

  ​Priorities, priorities, priorities: The Catholic Diocese of Orange is already heavily promoting the Blessing of the Waves, an easy stab at a national feel-good story they began last year than involves surfers, priests, and prayer at Huntington Beach. "In Orange County our beaches are more than simple geography, they are the cultural and spiritual center of our community. It is important that we recognize this common element in all our lives, regardless of faith tradition," read the event's Fa

  September 2, 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

• Tod Brown Allowed Funeral of Pervert Bishop G. Patrick Ziemann at Holy Family Cathedral

  Ziemann: Inflicted Hell, now receiving it...​Sorry we're late to the party, but G. Patrick Ziemann--a teacher at Mater Dei during the early 1970s who went on to become an auxiliary bishop in Los Angeles and head bishop at the Diocese of Santa Rosa before resigning in disgrace for screwing up its finances and screwing a fellow priest--died late last month. Ziemann deserves a special spot in Hell, above Eleuterio Ramos but below founding Diocese of Orange Bishop William Johnson. The Archdiocese

  November 11, 2009