Violation of the Covenant Deposition Reveals Allegations of Sexual Molestation against Bishop Tod Brown. Alleged Victim Comes Forward, California Catholic Daily, September 19, 2007

Violation of the Covenant?
Deposition Reveals Allegations of Sexual Molestation against Bishop Tod Brown. Alleged Victim Comes Forward

California Catholic Daily
September 19, 2007

http://www.calcatholic.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?id=ba7c076c-8907-4dfe-b877-8b97b85937f8

In 2004, Bishop Tod Brown of Orange issued his Covenant with the Faithful, which reads, in part: "We will be open, honest and forthright in our public statements to the media, and consistent and transparent in our communications with the Catholics of our Diocese."

On Sept. 10, legal counsel for plaintiffs in a sex abuse case against Jeff Andrade, a former coaching assistant at Santa Ana's Mater Dei High, deposed Brown about his knowledge of Andrade' alleged abuse of a female student in the 1990s. Except for testimony about an auto accident in the 1960's, Brown had never been questioned under oath before. The most recent questioning, however, forced Brown to revisit charges of sexual abuse against himself.

At the beginning of the deposition, plaintiff's attorney John Manly had Bishop Brown pledge not to employ "mental reservation" (withholding information for a perceived higher moral good, according to Manly) in his testimony. Manly then questioned Brown extensively about various priests accused of sexual abuse in the dioceses of Boise (Brown's previous diocese) and Orange. Manly asked Brown about his knowledge of the whereabouts of former diocesan chancellor Monsignor John Urell, whose deposition was cut short in July by his admission to a Canadian treatment center.

Manly asked Brown about accusations of sex abuse brought against himself. Brown replied, "I've never abused any person sexually or any other way." Manly proceeded to press Brown about the accusation, including how he learned of it, to whom it was disclosed, and why he did not publicly disclose it as Cardinal Mahony had disclosed allegations made against him. Plaintiff's lawyers say Brown's admission violated his Covenant with the Faithful. Brown said he did not divulge the accusation because he "knew it wasn't true" and "because it was very embarrassing, and very painful. And, to be very honest, I think that kind of an allegation is difficult to deal with regardless of how innocent a person may be."

The allegation may prove to be even more difficult for Brown to deal with since his accuser came forward publicly Sept. 17 in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. Scott Hicks, 54, a Fresno agricultural scientist, claims that Brown, while a priest at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Bakersfield, molested him on three different occasions sometime in the mid 1960s. Hicks claims that Brown molested him twice on church grounds and that the third molestation took place at an undisclosed location with other children and priests present. Hicks alleges that photos were taken on that occasion.

While Hicks said that he has never had any intention of suing, he came forward to the Fresno diocese in 1998 and told the diocese's human resources director, "I wanted him [Brown] out, and not to be around kids." The diocese of Fresno shared the allegations with the Kern County District Attorney's office. Last week, Kern County Dist. Atty. Edward Jagels told the Times that he vaguely remembered the case but said it came to a "completely uncorroborated allegation."

Hicks says he was never interviewed by the district attorney's office; Jagels says his office would have turned the case over to the Bakersfield police department, which would have conducted interviews. Hicks's is the only accusation of sexual abuse made against Brown.

The Orange diocese had asked that Brown's deposition be temporarilly sealed because as "a reading of the deposition shows," says the diocesan web site, it did not want to disclose "a few particular details of Msgr. Urell's medical condition." Brown did violate his Covenant, says the diocesan web site, because the Covenant "does not require the disclosure of allegations which have no credible or factual basis, and must be interpreted in a manner consistent with the law."