Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Bishop McElroy makes appeal on behalf of Catholic education in wake of Mar Vista High sex scandals

Mal Vista

“The Catholic Diocese of San Diego: over 7500 days without a workplace sexual assault!”
“The Catholic Diocese of San Diego: over 7500 days without a workplace sexual assault!”

On April 13, Edward Aaron Mendoza, a one-time assistant football coach at Imperial Beach’s Mar Vista High School, pleaded not guilty to 20 felony counts stemming from an alleged extended sexual relationship with a 13-year-old student. Just days before, ROTC instructor and Mar Vista substitute teacher Martin Albert Gallegos was arrested for an alleged sexual encounter with a high school senior. And a month before that, Mar Vista tutor Alejandro Rodriguez was charged with having sex with a minor. Now, as the school scrambles to control the damage and the community struggles to assuage the agony, a seemingly unlikely source has emerged to offer both comfort and options: the Catholic Diocese of San Diego.

“It’s no secret that Catholic education has been hurting ever since the 1960s, when we started losing the nuns who provided both solid education and spiritual formation without ever drawing a salary,” says San Diego’s Bishop Robert McElroy. “Teaching was often the work of their order, part of their religious vows, so payment wasn’t really an issue. But they started getting all sorts of ideas about freedom and exploration and individual rights in the years following the Second Vatican Council. Imagine unionizing when management is the voice of God on earth! Now we have to pay teachers like anybody else, but without a massive tax base to help us do so. And then, of course, we had the sex scandals, with so many children suffering at the hands of Church employees. From then on, the schools have mostly been in free fall, unless they've positioned themselves as hoity-toity prep academies and started charging exclusionary rates."

Sponsored
Sponsored
Logo for the San Diego Diocese’s Pervert Prevention Program

But Catholic schools still have one big advantage, says McElroy. “We’ve had our big sex scandal. It’s in the past. But for the public schools, it’s very much in the present, and not just at Mar Vista. Go ahead and check the numbers. Or Google Charol Shakeshaft."

"In my first public appearance as San Diego’s bishop in 2015,” concludes McElroy, "I vowed to ban anyone who has abused minors from serving in the clergy or from any other form of employment in the diocese. And I’ve kept that vow. Believe me, after your diocese has had to declare bankruptcy and pay out $200 million to settle sex abuse lawsuits, you learn a thing or two about preventative protocols. I promise that your kids are safe with us, precisely because at one point, they weren’t. To the parents and students of Mar Vista, I say this: ‘Isn’t it time to consider the virtues of a Catholic education again? Virtues like not having to deal with sexual predators?’ And who knows, if enough of you sign up, we might be able to hire back some of those nuns.”

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Dating Sites For Little People: Best Platforms & Tips

“The Catholic Diocese of San Diego: over 7500 days without a workplace sexual assault!”
“The Catholic Diocese of San Diego: over 7500 days without a workplace sexual assault!”

On April 13, Edward Aaron Mendoza, a one-time assistant football coach at Imperial Beach’s Mar Vista High School, pleaded not guilty to 20 felony counts stemming from an alleged extended sexual relationship with a 13-year-old student. Just days before, ROTC instructor and Mar Vista substitute teacher Martin Albert Gallegos was arrested for an alleged sexual encounter with a high school senior. And a month before that, Mar Vista tutor Alejandro Rodriguez was charged with having sex with a minor. Now, as the school scrambles to control the damage and the community struggles to assuage the agony, a seemingly unlikely source has emerged to offer both comfort and options: the Catholic Diocese of San Diego.

“It’s no secret that Catholic education has been hurting ever since the 1960s, when we started losing the nuns who provided both solid education and spiritual formation without ever drawing a salary,” says San Diego’s Bishop Robert McElroy. “Teaching was often the work of their order, part of their religious vows, so payment wasn’t really an issue. But they started getting all sorts of ideas about freedom and exploration and individual rights in the years following the Second Vatican Council. Imagine unionizing when management is the voice of God on earth! Now we have to pay teachers like anybody else, but without a massive tax base to help us do so. And then, of course, we had the sex scandals, with so many children suffering at the hands of Church employees. From then on, the schools have mostly been in free fall, unless they've positioned themselves as hoity-toity prep academies and started charging exclusionary rates."

Sponsored
Sponsored
Logo for the San Diego Diocese’s Pervert Prevention Program

But Catholic schools still have one big advantage, says McElroy. “We’ve had our big sex scandal. It’s in the past. But for the public schools, it’s very much in the present, and not just at Mar Vista. Go ahead and check the numbers. Or Google Charol Shakeshaft."

"In my first public appearance as San Diego’s bishop in 2015,” concludes McElroy, "I vowed to ban anyone who has abused minors from serving in the clergy or from any other form of employment in the diocese. And I’ve kept that vow. Believe me, after your diocese has had to declare bankruptcy and pay out $200 million to settle sex abuse lawsuits, you learn a thing or two about preventative protocols. I promise that your kids are safe with us, precisely because at one point, they weren’t. To the parents and students of Mar Vista, I say this: ‘Isn’t it time to consider the virtues of a Catholic education again? Virtues like not having to deal with sexual predators?’ And who knows, if enough of you sign up, we might be able to hire back some of those nuns.”

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

The Digital Currency Wave Hits the Shores of San Diego

Next Article

Pet pig perches in pocket

Escondido doula gets a taste of celebrity
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.