By Gustavo Arellano
Orange County Weekly
August 30 2010
http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/ex-cathedra/orange-coast-magazine-pulls-al/
[See also other articles by Gustavo Arellano.]
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I'm glad that Joelle Casteix--sex-abuse survivor from the Diocese of Orange's grubby employees and its most-prominent critic--is getting more and more attention, even if Orange Coast's profile of her in this month's issue is a blatant rip-off of my two-year-old Casteix profile, down to posing her as a Catholic saint. But the article is a whitewash--not of Casteix's great activism, but in how the magazine pains itself to reveal anything about the rottenness in Marywood and its apologists. For crying out loud, it didn't even publish the name of Casteix's abuser--why? Afraid of the pervert suing you? We'll do it--THOMAS HODGMAN THOMAS HODGMAN THOMAS HODGMAN. We'll even post the sicko's picture after the jump.
And that was probably one of the smaller problems with writer Patrice Apodaca's piece.
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| Hodgman: Had sex with high-school student |
To wit:
*Apodaca mentions Casteix's feud with Red County blogger Matt Cunningham but doesn't mention why Casteix and nearly everyone else calls him a church apologist: because he furiously spun for pedo-priest protector supreme John Urell and released the names of sex-abuse victims online. Hmm, puts Casteix's anger into context, no? Oh, and the online posting? Was published on Orange Juice--cite your sources!
*She allows diocese spokeshole Ryan Lilygren to publish a full statement defending Bishop Tod D. Brown. I couldn't find the statement online, so I will dissect later. Still: having Brownie's henchmen give their opinion on the sex-abuse scandal is like letting Ken Lay explain Enron.
*Not only that, but Apodaca doesn't bother challenging whatever lies Lilygren wrote. She writes that Casteix asserts Brownie has "failed to deliver on its pledge of greater openness and accountability made at the time of the 2005 settlement." Um, no--it's a fact. She obviously read the Weekly's Casteix piece--why couldn't she be bothered to read Ex Cathedra?
*Apodaca names no names when she lists the pedo-protecting ways of the Orange diocese. That "serial molester" sent down to Tijuana? Eleuterio Ramos. "Convicted child-abuser" sent to Anaheim and Yorba Linda? Couldn't have been Sigfried Widera, as he never served in Yorba Linda. Who, then? Why the hesitance?
*Oh, and throwing around the word "alleged" for pedophiles? No bueno!
We know, we know: Orange Coast can't be bothered to ruin the perpetually sunny afternoons of its core readership, but there actually is a brain in the head of editor Marty Smith. Don't be surprised if Brownie sends Smith a thank-you note stating "Heckuva job! Brownie."
E-mail: GARELLANO@OCWEEKLY.COM
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