BishopAccountability.org
	Virgin Mary Statue Beheaded at LA Church Where Two Pedophile Priests Served By Kay Ebeling Examiner April 15, 2009 http://www.examiner.com/x-1960-LA-City-Buzz-Examiner~y2009m4d15-Virgin-Mary-statue- beheaded-at-LA-church-where-two-pedophile-priests-served Before Mass Easter Sunday someone decapitated the Virgin Mary statue at St. Monica's Church in Santa Monica. It's the second time in two years the statue has been mutilated. In 2002 "unknown suspects" removed its hands and feet. Last Sunday, the head was found on the sidewalk a few yards away from the rest of the marble statue about 5:45 AM. The pastor put a plastic bag over the severed neck before churchgoers began to arrive. The vandals could have been victims of Sean Cronin or Richard Hartman, two pedophile priests who spent time at the church. However in recent news stories about sex crimes against children by priests in LA, parishioners at St. Monica's say they want to move on, put those times behind them. In an environment of abandonment and severed justice, a sex crime victim of one of the priests at St. Monica's could have been driven to decapitate the Mary statue. I wish they would contact me and tell me how they did it. (email: cityofangelslady@yahoo.com ) For example: this quote from a 2004 LA Times Story could have angered a simmering victim: "Msgr. Lloyd Torgerson, pastor of St. Monica Catholic Community in Santa Monica, said, "The thing that's extraordinary is that with all of the struggle that [the sex-abuse tragedy] has brought to our communities, our people continue to support their local churches. They are attending Mass in record numbers." Sigh. . . A search at BISHOP ACCOUNTABILITY for pedophile priest Sean Cronin who once served at St. Monica's in Santa Monica produced: Sean Cronin, associate pastor, Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Northridge Accused of molesting two children between 1972 and 1980 while at St. Genevieve Parish in Panorama City and St. Monica Parish in Santa Monica. Source: Los Angeles Times 2.7.04; LA Archdiocesan Report 2.17.04 page 1 Assignments: LA Archdiocesan Report Addendum 11.15.05; LA Times Database 4.20.06 Cronin was ordained in Ireland in 1967 and moved to the LA Archdiocese in 1972. Sued in 2003. Accused of molesting two children between 1972 and 1980 while at St. Genevieve Parish in Panorama City and St. Monica Parish in Santa Monica. He denied the allegations. The board recommended he remain in parish ministry pending further investigation. Hmm. A search at BA for Richard Hartman, pedophile priest who once served at St. Monica's produced: Accused of abuse in 1958-1959. At least 1 civil suit filed. Deceased. On Los Angeles list of abusers and on Orange Co. Diocese list. Source: Orange County Weekly 5.4.03; LA Archdiocesan Report Addendum 11.15.05 Assignments: LA Times Database 4.20.06; Orange County Weekly 3.04.05 Not a lot of information out there about either one of them, to me the kind of environment that could produce frustrated and desperate crime victims, or the victims of the victims, spouses, children, all damaged, collateral damage, of the sex crimes of Catholic priests. A lot of celebrities and film industry hierarchy live in Santa Monica and go to St. Monica's Catholic Church. Arnold Schwarzenegger goes there when he is in L.A. Someone call the Santa Monica police and phone in the tip. Have they considered the connection to pedophilia at St. Monica's, where someone sliced off the head of the Virgin Mary and left it on the sidewalk in front of the church Easter Sunday morning? "Vandalized" is not a strong enough word, for what was done to the church Easter morning. "Molested" does not describe what the church let happen to thousands of children. Now a rash of violence against churches is simmering like in February this year, the burning of a Catholic Church in Chicago where it was reported: When firefighters arrived at a Bridgeport (Chicago) Catholic church early today, they found a message of rage written in red tape across its front doors: "Rape" and "God is a lie.". Catholic priest sex crimes make even the non victims angry. The criminal priests and bishops live in secure luxury cared for by the church, easier lives than most the crime victims who they left behind. And in Santa Monica a priest found the 55-year-old marble statue of the Virgin Mary decapitated around 5:45 a.m. on Easter Sunday 2009. Or as LA Weekly worded it: 55-Year-Old Virgin Loses Head ************************************** No, St. Monica parishioners, most sex crime victims can't put it behind them, especially when the admitted criminals still live free and easy lives. So when I heard about the Virgin Mary statue decapitation at a perpetrator church, I just laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed. *************** This ran about St. Monica's in Santa Monica soon after the LA settlements. During Dark Hours in L.A., Catholics Move Forward By Sue Ellin Browder National Catholic Register July 31, 2007 After an early morning Mass at St. Monica Catholic Church in Santa Monica, parishioner Michael Murray, 56, said he hoped the church could get past the crisis at last. "All you can do is settle the suits and try to move on." *** Yeah, church, money solves everything, is that what they teach there now? ******************************** Richard A. Hartman 1958 Mission San Juan Capistrano 1959 Mission San Juan Capistrano 1960 Mission San Juan Capistrano 1961 St. Monica's (Santa Monica) 1962 No record 1963 Absent on leave 1964 St. Mary's Church of the Assumption (Santa Maria) 1965 No record 1966 Died Jan. 29, 1965 Hmm. Wonder if his absent on leave time was with the Paracletes?
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