LA abuse cases

This is my first blog of the new year because of other deadlines as well as the start of the winter quarter at UC Santa Barbara, where I teach Chicano studies, and this is always a hectic time. I thought my first entry this year would be on the second inauguration of President Barack Obama, and I have to say that I was very moved by his inspiring speech aimed at bringing about needed reforms on immigration, gun control, the environment, and dealing with the growing gap between the rich and middle classes and the poor.

A few years ago, an official of the Los Angeles archdiocese pulls me over for a private conversation. This attack on the church for "child sex abuse" is inaccurate, he asserts. The vast majority of victims are in their late teens; they are "youths," he notes, not really "children." I am stunned for a moment, then advise him this is not an argument he might ever want to make to the general public. The official nods slowly.