Bishop Brown Breaks His Covenant with the Faithful for the Trillionth Time, Gustavo Arellano, Orange County Weekly, February 12, 2009

Bishop Brown Breaks His Covenant with the Faithful for the Trillionth Time

By Gustavo Arellano
Orange County Weekly
February 12, 2009

http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/ex-cathedra/bishop-brown-breaks-his-covena/

Bishop Tod D. Brown

Both the Los Angeles Times and Orange County Register revealed today that Jon Kirrer of Fountain Valley filed a lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Orange and its pedo-priest Denis Lyons alleging sexual abuse during the mid-1990s, and isn't it refreshing to know that Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown is up to his same tricks? Diocesan spinner Ryan Lilygren issued a statement to both papers that, "We intend to maintain the integrity of the judicial process and hope for a just and expedient conclusion to these proceedings." STRIKE ONE against Brown's much-ballyoohed Covenant with the Faithful! The lawsuit was filed in March of last year, so why is Brown only just now telling the county's 1.2 million Catholics about it? After all, doesn't Item 4 in the Covenant state, "We will work collaboratively with all members of the Diocese to promote an atmosphere of openness and trust, and empower them as partners in parochial affairs and thereby create a new era for our Church in Orange County"? Sure ain't open there, Your Excellency!

But, wait: Brown gets funnier! Kirrer's attorney, V. James DeSimone, wants the Orange diocese to turn over personnel files on Lyons, since Lyons has cost Brown at least $4 million in civil lawsuits over his molesting ways and when there's smoke, there's hell. Does Brown want to turn them over? Is he as mendacious as Mike Carona? Through his evil attorney Peter Callous Callahan, Brown is fighting DeSimone to keep some of the files safely hidden. In a Jan. 26 motion filed in Orange County Superior Court, Callahan dismissed DeSimone's requests for those documents as "vastly-overbroad, harrassing, and irrelevant," "unreasonable, overbroad, burdensome, and intrusive," and ridiculously tries to assert that to release some of those documents would violate the United States Constitution.

"There is an essential relationship between a priest and his bishop that forms a foundation of the Roman Catholic faith," Callahan wrote in his opposition. "Priests must be able to speak freely to their bishop and it is essential that those communications be private. When a priest confides in his bishop matters that are confidential and private, it is essential that those communications be kept private and confidential or it will have a severe chilling effect on the priest-bishop relationship. If confidential communications between a bishop and priest are invaded in a civil court action, it will disrupt a necessary core component of the Catholic faith because priests would become reluctant to bear their souls to the bishops."

Deep breath, everyone: HAHAHAHA!!! So, Petey: Are you to tell us that if a priest wrote a letter confessing to molesting kids (like Eleuterio Ramos, Robert Foley, John Lenihan, and so many others) to his bishop, the bishop should keep it private? STRIKE TWO against Brown's covenant; the changeup that gets him this time is numero 5, which says, "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." That's not what Callous Callahan is saying, Brownie!

Needless to say, DeSimone filed a rebuttal to Callahan's laugher, and Judge Kazuharo Makino is scheduled to make a ruling this Friday in his courtroom, Department C3, at nine in the morn. See ustedes there!

E-mail: GARELLANO@OCWEEKLY.COM