OpEdNews » "We never heard allegations like this," said Msgr. Urell, now recovering from deposition anxiety in Toronto

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By Kay Ebeling

“The vast majority of child sex abusers can be successfully treated,” former Southdown Institute president Sister Donna Markham

It’s so wonderful to see the church and its members take care of their own. On October 9th “In response to recent assaults on his integrity” Friends of Monsignor Urell formed announcing: "We are deeply saddened by the cases of sexual misconduct that have come to light over the years and we continue to pray for the healing of all those involved. However, it is fundamental to Catholic teaching that we forgive and minister to those who are suffering and in pain.”

Those suffering like Monsignor Urell, the priest who freaked after four hours of testifying in a deposition last summer in Orange County, and instead of returning after lunch, fled to Toronto and checked into Southdown Institute, a place where pedophile, gay, and alcoholic priests check in and six months later check out redeemed.

Poor Monsignor Urell. After years of being point man for the diocese -- the man who took in complaints about pedophile priests, after years of staring straight in the faces of crime victims and their families and feeding them blatant lies about their perpetrators, after years of denying that a pedophile priest problem even existed in Orange County --

Now Monsignor Urell has deposition anxiety and needs a six-month convalescence.

Ryan DiMaria met with Urell when he first came forward with his case: “He asked questions and interrogated me for maybe the better part of an hour,” says, DiMaria whose case settled in 1997.

Then 25 years old, DiMaria had recently been close to suicide. He went with his family to tell the Monsignor the cause of his trauma. He explained that his weekly counseling sessions in high school with Fr. Michael Harris, aka Father Hollywood, were actually weekly sexual molestations.

“Wow we've never heard allegations like this before,” said Monsignor Urell, according to DiMaria, who is now an attorney for plaintiffs in Orange County himself.

“Wow, we've never heard allegations like this before.”
The sound byte repeated in archdioceses across the country.

In truth when DiMaria went to Monsignor Urell to file his report, the OC diocese had been in four-plus years of litigation over another victim of pedophile priest perpetrator Michael A. Harris, for whom the church has now paid out at least $10 million in combined lawsuits settled in the following:

1972-74
Immaculate Conception Catholic Church Monrovia

1978-79
Mater Dei High School Santa Ana

1979
Mater Dei High School Santa Ana

1979-83
Mater Dei High School Santa Ana

1980-82
Mater Dei High School Santa Ana

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Wordsmith working in TV production in Los Angeles. Also free lance journalist with an active blog. Old enough to have demonstrated against the Vietnam War but still young enough to dance.