MAHONY TO IRAQ WAR VET: SCREW YOURSELF
An Air Force pilot claims he was molested as a kid, but Cardinal Roger Mahony works quietly to keep him from getting his day in court
In 2002, with the Catholic Church molestation scandal erupting around him, Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony took to the media to make an announcement: “We want every single thing out, open and dealt with, period,” he insisted.
The Los Angeles Archdiocese then spent the better part of a year stonewalling the release of church personnel files – which, when finally liberated, revealed the identities of the abusers and those who aided them.
Nearly seven years later, things haven’t changed much. A new chapter to the sex abuse scandal has recently opened, and once again the Archdiocese of Los Angeles is doing its best to close it.
In this case, the alleged victim is an Iraq war veteran.
In documents obtained by L.A. City Beat, a man identified as “John TH Doe” says he was 16 years old when a priest in his L.A.-area Catholic high school sexually abused him. For years he said nothing. At the age of 22, he enlisted in the Air Force, where he has served continuously since 1993, flying countless, dangerous combat missions in the Iraqi theater.
After years of silence, while still serving in Iraq, John TH Doe is now ready for his day in court.
There’s a chance, however, that day could never come.
Last week, as lawyers for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles tried to downplay news that Cardinal Mahony had come under investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s office for his role in dealing with pedophilic priests, those same lawyers were taking an unprecedented step – quietly pushing a legal challenge in Los Angeles County superior court that would seek to deny John TH Doe, and potentially other California servicemen and women who were molested by members of the church, their chance
at justice.
The case begins in 2002 when, in response to a public outcry over widespread allegations of child molestation in the Catholic Church, the California legislature opened a civil window that allowed victims of sexual abuse to file suit against their abusers, no matter when the alleged abuse occurred, or when the statute of limitations for the crime should have expired.
That window closed in 2003, but for members of the military serving in active duty during that time who missed the deadline, there was hope in a little known law: the Servicemember’s Civil Relief Act of 1940. SCRA suspends statutes of limitation where men and women in active military duty are concerned. “The period of a service member’s military service,” the law states, “may not be included in computing any period limited by law, regulation, or order for the bringing of any action or proceeding in court.”
The law was designed to allow members of the military to serve without having legal woes in their civilian lives cloud their ability to fight, and to protect their legal rights should they be unable to return home for a court date.
But there’s a small loophole in the law, one the archdiocese is trying to exploit. It allows the court to use its discretion to ignore the law and throw out SCRA cases it deems meritless. And that’s exactly what lawyers for the Archdiocese are asking Judge Emilie H. Elias to do.
“Plaintiff in this case is not someone who was drafted or a guardsman or reservist called to active duty,” lawyers for the diocese argue in their court filings. “He is not entitled to have the SCRA ‘liberally constructed’ in his favor.”
In other words, the archdiocese says, because John TH Doe volunteered to serve his country and fight in Iraq, instead of being drafted, the protections of the SCRA shouldn’t apply.
“Our client was abused as a child,” says Vince Finaldi, John TH Doe’s attorney, at the Newport Beach-based law firm Manly & Stewart. “He didn’t file earlier because he was serving this nation. If the court is going to exercise discretion, it should be in favor of those ravaged by priests in California and throughout the United States.”
Calls to Lee Potts, the Hennigan, Bennett & Dorman lawyer representing the archdiocese, went unanswered.
So far, there’s just one other SCRA case, in San Diego. There, “John Roe 65,” a career military man, has told the court he was stationed in Guam during the 2003 sexual abuse filing period; in his remote location, he had no idea a window for a lawsuit existed. He filed suit under the SCRA in 2008, two years after he got out of the military. The Catholic Diocese of San Diego is fighting that case, too.
Published: 02/04/2009
DIGG | del.icio.us | REDDIT
Other Stories by Matthew Fleischer
Related Articles
Comments
Leave it up to Cardinal Mahony and his lawyers to use every legal tactic he can find, to re-abuse victims and keep his secrets safely filed in the chancery office safe under lock and key. I admire this soldier/survivor for his determination to expose his truth, and therefore stop the abuse and protect kids.
Judy Jones,
SNAP Director Southeastern Ohio
636-433-2511
http://www.steubenvilletruth.org/
The photo of the soldier carrying the cross of a complict cardinal is a realistic picture of the victims' experience in the sex abuse scandal. Based on the facts of your article, sadly, I can visualize Mahony and his attorneys whipping the soldiers while he is carrying the cross.
The only thing Mahony is carrying is his lies, deceit and Catholics' cash donations to fund his cover-ups at all costs.
I hope that after reading about this brave soldier, other victims and witnesses in the LA archdiocese (sadly, there are thousands of more victims) will find the courage to come forward, report the crimes, expose abusers and enablers and protect kids. That's Mahony's biggest fear.
Thanks to these brave soldiers who fought for our country despite their horrific childhood trauma in Mahony's fiefdom of abuse.
Well, this latest revictimization by the Prince Archbishop of Los Angeles, of yet another clergy sexual abuse survivor; a survivor who also happens to be a War Hero, is certainly going to heat up that pit of hell fire where Cardinal Roger Mahony will be spending the rest of eternity. Personally, I don't believe Roger Mahony believes in, "The Supreme Being That Made All Things". But, in the event Mahony does "believe", he obviously feels the ritual of, "Extreme Unction" (Last Rites) is going to save him from eternal damnation. Sorry, Roger, there have been too many raped and sodomized children who, bleeding and screaming, begged for mercy from the very pervert priests you moved heaven and earth to protect. And because of the protection you gave those sexually predatory priests, the blood of hundreds of children is on your hands and no amount of rancid oil is going to wash that blood away. Mahony, may you hear those screams in your sleep for the rest of your life, and beyond.
When are the Catholic people going to wake up and demand an end to this revictimization of those who have already suffered so grievously? Not anytime soon.
I hope the federal investigator is aware of this development. Please, hold Mahony and his cohorts accountable under the law. This is the USA, not Vatican City.
What a pathetic excuse for a man supposedly having a Calling From God. Truly, Mahoney, doesn't have an ounce of compassion in him, everything he does is self serving.
Reacting to survivor's like this, and retraumatizing them, and then people have the nerve to ask, why didn't so and so speak up sooner? With such horrific, cruel and traumatizing reactions from those that are supposed to be for those that are hurting and the lost sheep, how could anyone expect someone to come forward until they are strong enough to withstand being reabused over and over again.
MG
The major problem with Mr. Mahoney is his reckless abuse of power. His cunning attorneys are reaping big money rewards to keep this devil in power. Another big problem is the lethargy of Catholic laity who do not want their easy rituals disturbed. They will pay any amount to have the institution 'save their souls'. It is almost in their genes. However, the problem goes all the way to Rome, where a man in white robes presides over the multibillion empire of brainwashed members,and lives in one of the most splendid palaces in the world. A fish rots from the head down. Put him in a three piece business suit and watch what happens. The Roman Empire will crumble. Take away the costly robes from every RC parish and then follow Christ. Stop all money to the empire and it will collapse. The sooner this is done the better.
Response by Tod Tamberg, Archdiocese of Los Angeles, to L.A. City Beat story
Reading the recent L.A. City Beat story, “Mahony to Iraq War Vet: Screw Yourself,” one might be forgiven for assuming that Cardinal Mahony is fighting a sex abuse lawsuit filed by a man who served in Iraq in 2003. The story says the man wants to sue using the 2003 California law that lifted for one year the statute of limitations on lawsuits for past sexual abuse because he was in the military overseas in 2003. The story says that he claims that because he was in Iraq in 2003, the law grants him a filing extension.
The truth is, however, that much of the above as reported by L.A. City Beat is not accurate.
1. Neither Cardinal Mahony or the Archdiocese of Los Angeles are named in the lawsuit: The Archdiocese merely appeared at a hearing called to determine whether there are enough facts to allow the man’s complaint to proceed at all. Even if the case goes beyond this stage, the Plaintiff will still have to demonstrate actual facts to support being able to actually name a Defendant.
2. The alleged abuse did not happen in the Archdiocese: The reporter casually refers to the alleged abuse as taking place when the man was a 17-year-old student at an “L.A.-area high school.” In fact, the high school is in the Orange Diocese, not the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. The Diocese of Orange was created in 1976. The alleged abuse was claimed to have happened in the 1980s.
3. The initial complaint didn’t claim sexual abuse: In the initial complaint the man says that a priest “attempted” to touch him when he was a 17-year-old student. When he discovered that this did not constitute abuse or battery, he filed an amended complaint alleging that the priest grabbed his crotch and groped him. Inexplicably, the amended complaint still retains the “attempted” to touch language later in the complaint, after the new language alleging the other acts.
4. The complaint does not mention that the man is an Iraq War veteran: Though the City Beat story creates the impression that the man served in Iraq, the complaint only briefly states that he was in the military. It does not say whether he actually set foot in Iraq, or when, or what he did, or for how long. Indeed, his attorney said in Court that the man was stationed in the U.S.
The L.A. City Beat story actually claims far more than does the Complaint itself. Why? Apparently, the man’s attorneys used the reporter to write what amounts to a press release, with assumed “facts” that, as it turns out, are unsupported by the Complaint itself.
Based on the information above, we call upon L.A. City Beat to retract its story.
###########
Also, in researching the reporter's claim that there is a case similar to this in San Diego (in terms of a former military person wanting an extension to sue), I've discovered that the statute of limitations expired in that case BEFORE the person even enlisted in the military.
The church's actions clearly show that it is in touch with something other than the god the people expect or the god this failed religion speaks of. When perverted incomplete men such as these fail as they have and as they will blindly continue there is a need to see them exposed as the frauds they are. Gods representative? What a perverse joke these abusers and users have played on society for centuries. Let their futile struggles to defend the indefensible crime of child rape be long, painful and maddening for them. Bringing these social monsters to account provides hope for all those deceived and abused by these incomplete men. There is no halfway point on this, the safety of children from sexual abusers and their enablers says that if you fail to speak out against these atrocities then you are as incomplete as the perpetrators, enablers and deniers. Let justice rain down on the heads of these pedophiles and their enablers and supporters.
see Pedophile Paradise for the reality today for the many others
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/the__...