CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly
by GUSTAVO ARELLANO
For years, Catholic Diocese of Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown ignored the pleas of sex-abuse victims who wanted His Eminence to release priest personnel files. The victims claimed those documents would prove church leaders knew about the pedophiles under their watch for decades but did nothing or—worse—shuffled them around. A Los Angeles Superior Court judge finally ordered Brown to release the personnel files in May, and the accusations of cover-up became fact.
At more than 1,000 pages, the personnel file on Father Eleuterio Ramos is the largest of any of the files released for a child-molesting Orange County priest. Page after page reveals how almost every major leader in the Orange diocese—from Bishop William Johnson to Bishop Michael Driscoll to Bishop John T. Steinbock to Bishop Norman McFarland to Bishop Jaime Soto—had a part in the Ramos scandal. Here are the highlights:
•Undated memo written by Michael Driscoll—then vicar general for the Orange diocese, now bishop of the Diocese of Boise—notes “obscene words—gestures. Bad judgment. Immature acts. Offered boys drinks (alcoholic). Boys out late at night.”
•Undated, anonymous memo states, “Movies, drinking. Boys from Placentia offered drink.”