FREMONT (CA)
The Argus
Greg BULLOUGH
FATHER Gerry Moran's house is haunted.
Behind its tidy suburban facade, Fremont's Holy Spirit parish harbors the specter of horrible deeds done there a generation ago.
The innocence of dozens of young girls, stolen by a sexual predator priest, hangs in the air like ghosts with unfinished spiritual business.
It was taken from them by Vincent Ignatius Breen, the pastor from 1953 to 1982.
Moran took over two years after Breen resigned to escape prosecution in a headline-making sex-abuse scandal.
Breen went down in history as one of the most notorious sex abusers in a diocese and a city that have both had more than their share.
Oakland Bishop Allen Vigneron will perform a sort of exorcism, in the form of an apology service, tonight.