By Kay Ebeling
I had to keep checking the date, certain the news story I was reading was from at least the 1990s. Nope, the dates are August 19 and 20, 2008, Orange County Register, this time it’s an Augustinian from Mexico, The Rev. Luis Eduardo Ramirez, Youth Director at Our Lady of the Pillar parish in Santa Ana until January 2008 when he was arrested for taking a teenage boy to a motel and pouring him tequila while reaching under the boy’s pants. The kid ran out the door, told his parents, and yes, one thing different is that The Rev. Luis Eduardo Ramirez was arrested. Quietly. Under the radar.
In June, Ramirez pled out most of the charges, again quietly. “He was bailed out by his order, and pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery and burglary – a charge allowed when a building is used in the commission of a crime,” writes Rachanee Srisavasdi in the OC Register August 19th. “The case has not been publicized, other than a diocese announcement in the church bulletin.” (Photo of Ramirez above left is originally from the OC Register.)
Rev. Ramirez does not have to register as a sex offender. He must refrain from consuming alcohol except as part of religious ceremonies. . . . ah yes, those religious ceremonies with children and tequila....
180 Days in Jail: The more serious but still misdemeanor charges were dismissed: child annoyance, delinquency, and furnishing alcohol to a minor. So September 24 Ramirez begins serving his “180 days in jail” sentence in Santa Ana. He will then be on probation for three years.
John Manly, said the church and Anaheim city attorneys should have publicized this case, telling the OC Register:
"Putting an announcement in a parish bulletin is violating the diocese's promise to be transparent, open and honest."
Manly also said the Anaheim attorneys could have publicized the case but they did not.
A prior at Ramirez' order headquarters in New Jersey assured the Associated Press that Ramirez “Would not have any contact with the public or with children after he serves his sentence.”
Me: I'll bet.
Ramirez grew up in Guadalajara, Mexico, went to seminaries in Oxnard and Suffren, N.Y. He had recently been ordained when he arrived at the Santa Ana parish in 2003.
Here are links to two OC Register stories Aug 19 and Aug 20;
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/local/crime/article_2130311.php
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/ramirez-priest-boy-2131743-judge-put
*****
This headline ran August 15 in the New York Daily News
Father Flim Flam finds new flock
The story goes on to say:
Father Flim Flam has gone from making confessions to taking them.
“Msgr. John Woolsey, who copped to stealing from a Manhattan parish, has found a new job as associate pastor of a Westchester church.
ME: It’s great to see the church getting the lack of respect it duly deserves
RE: THE DAILY NEWS STORY:
This is all old news to us, sure, it’s great to see mainstream media writing headlines like these. Story linked here:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2008/08/14/2008-08-14_father_flim_flam_finds_new_flock.html
********
Letters to the Editor:
From Udo Strutynski
Los Angeles
Monsignor Malvolio cannot grant Flotsly absolution
Dear Kay,
I think you misunderstood what George meant when he said "within the seal." (See September 5 post.)
The phrase refers to the seal of confession, which normally forbids any priest, under pain of excommunication, to reveal anything he heard from a penitent in confession to anybody else.
"Anybody else" includes the president and the pope, and maybe even Jesus if he came back as a human being. In other words, what a penitent confesses to a priest remains confidential, i.e., "sealed." Now, Crimen solicitationis carves out an exception to this absolute "seal" by requiring a solicitation made by a priest during confession to be reported to the Office for the Doctrine of the Faith in the Vatican. This Office, in turn, would be bound by the seal and could not reveal it to anyone else.
How this would work is as follows: Maisie confesses lustful desires for Jack to Father Flotsky. Flotsky takes advantage of Maisie's horniness by offering himself as her sexual partner. At this point, Flotsky has committed a "crime solicitationis", a crime of solicitation during confession.
Now, when Flotsky goes to confess this "crime" to his spiritual mentor, Monsignor Malvolio, Malvolio cannot grant Flotsly absolution and forget about it. He must refuse absoltion and immediately report this "crime" to the Office in the Vatican.
The Office is then responsible for keeping the secret of this confession, while they investigate what happened tbetween Flotsky and Maisie. All the while, both Flotsky and Maisie are forbidden to talk about this to anyone except duly appointed representatives of the Office.
If either of them talks, he or she will be automatically excommunicated.
I hope this helps.
Udo
Yup, Udo, laughter always helps, and it’s about all we've got, really. . .
********
Letter 2:
From
Kay Goodnow
Lenexa, Kansas
How to Fluck the Flock
Thank you, City of Angels Lady, for time and effort spent analyzing the "George effect." (Sept. 5 post)
This entire situation runs parallel to the settlement now in process in the diocese of Kansas City / St. Joseph, Missouri.
It helps to remember that the "institutional" church has no direct connection to the "god" these idiots have so carefully crafted over a long period of time. It also helps to remember that all human beings are fallible. To that extent, at least, we are all equal.
We victims are a "business deal." Money is the only thing that the Church of the Almighty Dollar understands."
So here's the formula: A cult uses brainwashing and ritual memories to control sheep, a/k/a "flucking the flock." The cult believes they can do whatever they want to do... and so it is.
Kay Goodnow
Lenexa, KS
*****
Letter No. 3
Do We Really Need Priest Off?
Dear City of Angels Lady:
I applaud at your advertisement of the You Tube "Priest Off".
In the light of all that has happened with some of Clergy in the Catholic Church, you are mocking and making fun of it.
It is bad enough that the victims have been hurt and scarred by these Clergy. I ask that you try and use your better judgement [sic] in letting "Trash Vidoes" on your website. I myself have a close friend that was molested and don't see what good this does for him or others that are trying heal and move on with there lives.
Sincerely,
Luis Delgado
*****
Like I said, humor is just about all we've got, sorry you can't see that, Mr. Delgado
More Stories coming soon.
Onward. . .
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