I had the opportunity to chat with one of the attorneys from the Jeff Anderson firm last month. These are lawyers currently suing child-endangering clergy on behalf of their victims. You might recall a series of informative videos detailing the unfortunate role Sierra Madre’s Passionist Retreat Center allegedly played making the rounds recently. Anderson created them.
I asked him about the claim Passionists have made that their 42 McMansion development was designed to help raise money needed to fund the retirements of elder priests. He scoffed. “The Passionist order owns large buildings in America that are designed for living,” he said. “They were paid for 100 years ago.”
The Anderson attorney also pointed out that each lawsuit settlement is in the millions of dollars. There have been quite a few of these settlements. Passionists have since sold several properties nationally, as have Franciscans, Jesuits and other compromised orders.
Making this more likely about paying for significant legal obligations, and not funding retirement homes for old priests.
I've received a couple of emails from nice folks asking about those videos, and where they would be able to view them. I posted all 3 here a few months back, but that was 50 or so entries ago, and things do get buried here.
In case you haven't seen them yet, here they are for your review. Prepare yourself because these videos are troubling. They're designed to get the victims to come forward and tell their stories.
You are going to see some very familiar Sierra Madre landmarks.
sierramadretattler.blogspot.com
