[See also other articles by Gustavo Arellano.]
Sorry for not noticing this earlier: in November, Orange County Register reporter Teri Sforza wrote a puzzling post on the Reg's OC Watchdog blog
noting that the Catholic Diocese of Orange had nicely recovered from all the payouts courts forced them to give to the victims of its rapin' employees over the years. "What is it they say about confession being good for the soul? Perhaps it's good for the bank account as well," Sforza wrote, adding, "We commend the Diocese for this startling bit of financial transparency" for allowing people to comb through their financial statements, making it seem as if it's a new development.

All together now: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown must be working overtime burning votive candles for some good words—any good words—in the press. Sforza calls the diocese's financial rebound "heavenly" but somehow didn't get around to interviewing parents at St. Mary's, St. Boniface, and Our Lady of the Pillar in SanTana, who had their parish schools shuttered because Brown was whining about there not being enough money 'cause of those pesky sex-abuse victims. Sforza also didn't add the obvious note at the end of her Valentine—too bad Brown isn't as transparent with his pedo-priest files as with his purse, something that the Orange diocese has been posting on their website since at least 2004. And an even more obvious point—the Orange diocese never was in financial straits, no matter how much Brown has cried to the contrary. Otherwise, he wouldn't have proposed a new cathedral, buy a multimillion-dollar house for himself while keeping his old one, and all the other signs of avarice (you want transparancy, Toddie? Howzabout releasing your diocese's property holdings?) Brown and his crew seem to enjoy flashing as if it were a Rosary. Sforza ain't no hack—OC Watchdog makes for entertaining reading—but something in the water cooler over at Grand Street make Reg reporters blind to the sins of Brown. Not only that, congratulating the Orange diocese for rebounding from its sex-abuse scandal is like congratulating countries and companies for a great financial turnaround after paying restitutio for Holocaust victims. O, Steve Greenhut: where are you?

E-mail: GARELLANO@OCWEEKLY.COM