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As feared, Rev. Uriel Ojeda has been deemed a flight risk, and the court today delayed Rev. Ojeda's bail hearing until January. In our blog on December 1, 2011, I wrote of the hope that this predator not be permitted to flee the country to Mexico, as no less than six other priests facing credible allegations of sexual abuse in the Diocese of Sacramento have done. Here we see the very same risk. The courts should ensure that Rev. Ojeda is not permitted to flee the country and is made to face the allegations of child molestation of which he is accused.

A young priest in California’s Sacramento Diocese was arrested yesterday for lewd and lascivious acts with a minor. Father Uriel Ojeda is only 32 years old. The survivor’s family reported the abuse to the diocese, which did the right thing when it immediately contacted police and child protection.   With this case we again see that the problem of priest sexual abuse in the Catholic Church and elsewhere is not limited to certain types of perpetrators, and is, unfortunately, not something that came and went with the 1970s. Catholic bishops and leaders would prefer us to “blame Woodstock”...

Today a young survivor takes a courageous stand for herself and on behalf of other kids as she again confronts her abuser and holds him accountable in court. Jane Doe 134’s case, which was originally filed in Federal Court, was re-filed today in Minnesota State Court in Becker County in order to add a new defendant. Jane Doe 134 was 11 years old in 2007 when Gerald Derstine groomed and began to sexually abuse her when she was a camper at a retreat center in Northern Minnesota. Derstine continued to abuse her every summer in his office on the retreat property until 2009. The camp, Strawberry La...