The Degrees Of Scum
There's scum... then there's scum

WARNING! Graphic language.

This is an interesting article out of The California Catholic Daily. This article certainly gives me the impression that there's a money-grubbing cop whining and moaning out there.

But what struck me even more is the glossing over (to a certain degree) of the 'priest' masturbating in the bushes looking for a guy to hit on. And eventually finding one -- an undercover cop.

But you draw your own conclusions.

Here's some of the article from The California Catholic Daily; (Emphasis mine.)
“Just looking for money”
Undercover deputy who arrested priest in sex sting now wants Church to pay him for “mental and emotional distress”

A San Luis Obispo County sheriff’s deputy involved in the 2007 lewd conduct arrest of a Catholic priest has filed a civil claim for unspecified damages, alleging he was emotionally traumatized by the circumstances leading up to the arrest and should be compensated by both the priest and the Catholic Church.

The lawsuit was filed by Deputy John Franklin, who on July 18, 2007, was working undercover at the area around Pirate’s Cove, a nude beach with a reputation as a hook-up spot for homosexuals. Franklin allegedly spotted the priest, Fr. Geronimo Cuevas, then 52, standing in the brush rubbing his genitals through his shorts. “I asked him (Cuevas), ‘What have you got over there,” Franklin said in the arrest report. “With his right hand he motioned for me to come towards me and he stated, ‘Touch me.’ I took two steps towards him asking him, ‘What did you say?’ He reached out with his right hand and touched my genitals,” Franklin said in the report. Franklin then informed Cuevas, who claimed he was unemployed and living in Las Vegas, that he was under arrest for sexual battery and lewd acts.

“I think John Franklin is just looking for money,” Thomas Riordan, vicar for temporalities for the Diocese of Monterey told CalCoastNews. “We continue to be surprised by his actions.” CalCoastNews says it is “San Luis Obispo County’s only on-line independent news source producing in-depth investigative news in the public interest.”That very well may be the case that this police officer is "just looking for money". But what I find a helluva lot more interesting, is that Bishop Richard Garcia (Diocese of Monterey) was recently ordered by the court to release all records in a different sexual abuse case, and the following from The Monterey County Herald;

And when Garcia was installed as bishop in 2007, a known pedophile priest from his former parish in Sacramento was invited to the ceremony and greeted by Garcia. The Rev. Vincent Brady, who was once caught in bed with a 12-year-old girl, according to her parents, testified that no restrictions were placed on him when he attended a party for Garcia where children were present. Brady's diocese has said the claims against him were "credible."

Garcia declined to be interviewed for this report.
Why is it that I'm actually surprised to read that there's a Catholic bishop out there that doesn't have skeletons in his closet AND takes a courageous stand?

A few more Archbishop Burkes, if you please.