Women Ask Others to Come Forward The Four Women Agreed to Accept $1.1 Million to $3.2 Million to Settle Their Claims against the Diocese of Orange, by Larry Welborn, Orange County Register, October 8, 2007

Women Ask Others to Come Forward
The Four Women Agreed to Accept $1.1 Million to $3.2 Million to Settle Their Claims against the Diocese of Orange

By Larry Welborn
Orange County Register
October 8, 2007

http://www.ocregister.com/news/women-settled-diocese-1883365-ruiz-andrade

NEWPORT BEACH – Attorney John C. Manly stood up in his law office Monday, hoisted a plastic glass of Champagne, and toasted four women for their bravery in going public with their stories of sexual abuse by Catholic school teachers.

The women, Manly's clients, have won a $6.685 million settlement from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange. The diocese has denied any wrongdoing.

CRY: Christina Ruiz holds back tears at a press conference that revealed the identity of plaintiffs following a settlement over a suit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange.
Photo by Ana Venegas

On Monday three of the women agreed for the first time to go public with their names and faces. The fourth woman attended the press conference, but she said she is just starting her healing process and wanted to remain anonymous.

The cases were settled out of court on Friday when the Diocese agreed to payouts ranging from $1.1 million to $3.2 million. The settlements came just days before the first of the cases was to go to trial in Orange County Superior Court.

Christina Ruiz, 27, whose trial was scheduled to start today, said she decided to go on camera so that other molestation victims could gather strength from her. She said she hoped others would seek justice for molestations that happened years ago.

She is the former student described in newspaper accounts as "Jane C.R. Doe" in a lawsuit that accused former Mater Dei assistant basketball coach Jeff Andrade of sexually abusing her for more than a year, starting when she was 15. Andrade has admitted to having sex with her when she was a teenager, according to court documents.

Ruiz said she is angry and upset that no one at Mater Dei or the Catholic Church ever apologized.

Peter Callahan, a Tustin attorney who represents the diocese, released a statement from Brown on Monday that did apologize.

"I want to offer you on behalf of the Church, my sincere apologies for what happened to you," Brown wrote in the statement. "I want to extend an invitation to meet with each of you privately, and to begin the process of healing and forgiveness."

Callahan said the settlements reached Friday were made – as is customary in most out-of-court settlements – without admitting liability. He said Catholic officials took proper steps when they learned of incidents involving minors and adults working for Catholic institutions.

Some of the women who talked with reporters on Monday disagreed. They said school and church officials did little or nothing when claims of sexual contact were first made.

Here are some of the details of their stories:

*Christina Ruiz said she first met assistant basketball coach Jeff Andrade in 1995 when she was a softball player at Mater Dei. She said he began grooming her almost immediately, offering to supervise her physical training and often meeting her between classes.

She said it was common knowledge on school grounds that Andrade was having a relationship with her, but school officials did not investigate. She said eventually Andrade started stalking her, verbally abusing her and intimidating her boyfriend. Andrade, who now works in Missouri, has never been charged.

*Sarah Gray, 26, who is now a graduate student at the University of Illinois, said she is still bothered by bouts of depression and still seeks therapy. Her claim says she was sexually abused by Mater Dei choir director Larry Stukenholtz.

Gray, who became valedictorian at Mater Dei and later graduated from Notre Dame, said she struggles with separating her Catholic faith from some people in the church's hierarchy.

*Elaina Kroll, 28, of Laguna Niguel, said she was abused by Albert Schildknecht, who worked in the music program at St. Timothy's Catholic Parish in Laguna Niguel. She said he was once suspended after he was spotted kissing her in public.

But she claimed that Schildknecht was later reinstated, and she was kicked out of the church choir.

She said her best day was not Friday, when the suit was settled, but earlier in the year when Schildknecht was arrested and charged with molesting her. He has a pretrial hearing scheduled on Oct. 19 on molestation charges.