Bishop Brown of Orange nails statement to door

Turning to an ancient method of public notice, Bishop Tod D. Brown on Sunday nailed to the doors of Holy Family Cathedral a document proclaiming a commitment by the Diocese of Orange to help heal the wounds caused by the Roman Catholic sex abuse scandal.

The “Covenant With the Faithful,” a seven-point promise to rebuild trust by fostering an era of honesty, humility and power-sharing, will be displayed at the cathedral for “as long as it takes” to accomplish its goals, said Father Joseph Fenton, spokesman for the diocese.

All 56 parishes in the diocese will receive a copy, and it will also be affixed to their church doors, harking back to a medieval ritual in which important proclamations were posted where townspeople were certain to see them

I’m sorry. I can just imagine the diocesan staff meeting that dreamed this up.

Here’s the diocese’s PR release on the matter

Here’s a more jaundiced view of the Orange Diocese’s actions

Read the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) recent audit of the Diocese of Orange and you’ll get the impression that all is hunky-dory in a church rocked by the metastasizing priest-boy sex scandal.

The report, part of the USCCB’s nationwide examination of every Catholic diocese’s sex-abuse policies, praises Orange officials for implementing an “outstanding outreach program and excellent written documentation relating to” molestation cases. It cites as particularly noteworthy the 2002 establishment of a sexual misconduct oversight and review board consisting of “highly educated, diverse, and respected members of the community.” The USCCB was so impressed with the county Catholic Church that it was one of only three California dioceses (along with San Jose and San Francisco) to escape criticism.

But if you talk to the victims who should benefit from this clean bill of pedophilic health, you’ll hear a different verdict.

“The audit’s conclusions for the Orange Diocese was nothing more than a self-congratulatory exercise on behalf of the bishops,” argues Joelle Casteix, a 33-year-old Corona del Mar resident. “It’s like congratulating a parolee for not committing any crimes but not knowing that they had killed five people three weeks beforehand.”