CALIFORNIA
The Worthy Adversary
Posted by Joelle Casteix on January 9, 2014
If you read nothing else this week, check out OC Weekly‘s Father John Lenihan and Me, Gustavo Arellano’s introspective piece on the recent release of serial molester Fr. John Lenihan’s secret personnel file.
Gustavo, who is usually not the poster child for humility, sums up the past few years of the news coverage of the child sex abuse scandal in the Diocese of Orange perfectly:
Because, as I look back at our decade of coverage, I see it’s one giant failure. Although Orange County may have a new bishop in Vann, he has yet to exile any of the men who let Lenihan roam all those years. Lenihan, meanwhile, never served any prison time for his crimes and is now happily married, living in South County and still beloved by his former parishioners. The Diocese of Orange grows, more money rushes in—and sex-abuse survivors are told the past is the past and get out of the way of progress.
The reason that this passage affects me so deeply is that the failure is mine, too. After more than 10 years fighting in my own backyard, I, somehow, began to believe what they—church flaks, faithful Catholics and other apologists—were telling me:
“Bishop Vann is new,” they said. “He’s had no role in the scandal here in Orange. Do not judge him until you have reason.”
“You got your settlement. You got your documents. It’s time for you to move on and forgive.”
“Mater Dei is different, Joelle. I send my children there. Those are old battles that you (mostly) won.”
Then it happened: I got tired. The news got less and less attention … until it got no attention at all. Not even from me.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.