Two clergy sex-abuse activists attended the board meeting today of the Rancho Santiago Community College District, calling for a written apology from its president regarding the release of victims’ identities.
Joelle Casteix, the southwest regional director for Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, said she asked president John Hanna to sever his ties with “Friends of Msgr. John Urell,” a group that recently made headlines when it took a full-page ad in the Orange County Register to support a controversial priest.
In July, Urell broke down and didn’t finish a deposition in a now-settled Mater Dei sex-abuse lawsuit, prompting Bishop Tod Brown to send him to a Canadian treatment center. Urell’s medical condition is the subject of an attempt to hold Brown in contempt because Urell left though he was was under court order to testify about his past handling of sex-abuse complaints in the diocese.
Despite settling lawsuits that usually make such a pre-trial motion moot, diocese attorneys want to proceed with the December 3rd contempt hearing, saying it would clear the bishop’s name.
Last week, the group posted an unredacted deposition of Urell on its website, which lead to the identities of several abuse victims becoming public. Generally, identities of sex-abuse victims cannot be disclosed under court order without the permission of the individuals themselves.
At the board meeting, Hanna apologized for the mistake, Casteix said, but refused to remove himself from the group. He also did not say if he would issue a written apology, she added.
In an interview before the board meeting, Hanna said “felt badly” that the victims’ names were released, but added he felt the group should come talk to him rather than protest at a board meeting regarding non-district related matters.
“I have an office, they should come here,” he said. “But people are entitled to go where they want.”
– Rachanee Srisavasdi
John will not understand this victim’s points of view until one of his kids are raped. I hope that never happens. It is a sad day when we as humans have lost the ability for empathy.
The victims could go to the board meeting as he used the school as a support for his position on defending this assister of cover ups assister of child rape in the RCC.
I support the victims in Orange County just not San Diego. That is because in San Diego they are trying to take my BMW away from me and my ocean view home.