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PW OPINION PW NEWS PW LIFE PW ARTS<br />

EDITORIAL<br />

EDITOR<br />

Kevin Uhrich kevinu@pasadenaweekly.com<br />

DEPUTY EDITOR<br />

André Coleman andrec@pasadenaweekly.com<br />

ARTS EDITOR<br />

Carl Kozlowski carlk@pasadenaweekly.com<br />

CALENDAR EDITOR<br />

John Sollenberger johns@pasadenaweekly.com<br />

CONTRIBUTING MUSIC EDITOR<br />

Bliss<br />

CONTRIBUTORS<br />

Patti Carmalt-Vener, Justin Chapman, Peter Dreier, Randy<br />

Jurado Ertll, Barry Gordon, John Grula, Aaron Harris, Chip<br />

Jacobs, Rebecca Kuzins, Jana J. Monji, Christopher Nyerges,<br />

Lionel Rolfe, Terri Schlichenmeyer, Ellen Snortland,<br />

Erica Wayne<br />

INTERNS<br />

Emma Brown, Judah Foster, Tasha Gist,<br />

Maya Hammond, Emon Davis-Dolly, Elizabeth Kinney<br />

ART<br />

ART DIRECTOR<br />

Stephanie Torres artdirector@pasadenaweekly.com<br />

ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR<br />

Richard Garcia<br />

PRODUCTION DESIGNER<br />

Rochelle Bassarear<br />

CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATORS<br />

AND PHOTOGRAPHERS<br />

Danny Liao, Jen Sorensen,<br />

Tom Tomorrow<br />

ADVERTISING<br />

SALES AND MARKETING<br />

Alexandra Valdes,<br />

Lisa Chase<br />

CLASSIFIED ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE<br />

Ann Turrietta (Legals)<br />

BUSINESS<br />

HUMAN RESOURCES<br />

Andrea E. Baker<br />

PAYROLL<br />

Linda Lam<br />

ACCOUNTING SPECIALISTS<br />

Perla Castillo, Yiyang Wang,<br />

Quinton Wright<br />

OFFICE MANAGER<br />

Ann Turrietta<br />

CIRCULATION<br />

Don S. Margolin<br />

PUBLISHER<br />

Dina Stegon<br />

SOUTHLAND PUBLISHING<br />

V.P. OF OPERATIONS<br />

David Comden<br />

PRESIDENT<br />

Bruce Bolkin<br />

Pasadena Weekly is published every Thursday. Pasadena Weekly is<br />

available free of charge. No person may, without prior written permission<br />

from Pasadena Weekly, take more than one copy of each<br />

weekly issue. Additional copies of the current issue if available may<br />

be purchased for $1, payable in advance, at Pasadena Weekly office.<br />

Only authorized Pasadena Weekly distributors may distribute<br />

the Pasadena Weekly. Pasadena Weekly has been adjudicated as a<br />

newspaper of general circulation in Court Judgment No. C-655062.<br />

Copyright: No news stories, illustrations, editorial matter or advertisements<br />

herein can be reproduced without written permission of<br />

copyright owner. All rights reserved, 2019.<br />

HOW TO REACH US<br />

Address:<br />

50 S. DeLacey Ave., Suite 200, Pasadena 91105<br />

Telephone: (626) 584-1500<br />

Fax: (626) 795-0149<br />

•LETTERS•<br />

EYES WIDE OPEN<br />

I am an 85-year-old product<br />

of the Catholic indoctrination<br />

and propaganda system. It took<br />

most of my life to emancipate<br />

myself from the formidable<br />

clutches of the Catholic scam.<br />

However much I tried, its<br />

genius guilt program would not<br />

allow me to surmount its grasp<br />

of my mental faculties.<br />

Finally, through research<br />

and study, I was able to gain<br />

my freedom, rid myself of its<br />

adhesive misinformation, and<br />

achieve mental and spiritual freedom.<br />

In my experience, I felt wedded to Catholicism, despite the<br />

common sense that warned me to stay away. Today, we are<br />

repeatedly reminded of the hypocrisy of the priesthood, with<br />

any number of those men choosing membership in the Princes<br />

of Christ brotherhood in order to gain access to small, innocent<br />

and available children to rape, sodomize and mutilate mentally,<br />

emotionally, psychologically and physically.<br />

The clincher for me was the efforts to cover up crimes by<br />

Catholic hierarchy, leaders of dioceses like Los Angeles, where a<br />

cardinal covered up for child molesting priests in order to save<br />

the Church’s reputation. It has been confirmed that the church<br />

constructed a facility to house predatory priests who had<br />

been confirmed child molesters in their churches, schools and<br />

congregations; a place where priests could be removed from the<br />

mainstream of Catholic parishes and activity. It cost the church<br />

millions of dollars to construct the facility and provide all the<br />

supporting equipment, manpower, privacy and security to shield<br />

it from the outside world, from reality.<br />

In so doing, the Catholic Church solidified its reputation for<br />

being among the most notorious<br />

of criminal organizations,<br />

such as the Mafia. It may as<br />

well have had its headquarters<br />

in Sicily and not the Vatican,<br />

with its administrators clad in<br />

papal robes and the luxuries<br />

of royalty.<br />

The downfall of the Catholic<br />

Church has been slowed<br />

by its enormous wealth and<br />

the participation of wealthy<br />

families and institutions. But<br />

the propaganda that ensures<br />

its stability is no longer the<br />

formidable force it once<br />

was. The Church could have<br />

endured forever had it not<br />

been for its complacency and<br />

lack of supervision over renegade<br />

priests who raped and<br />

sodomized little kids.<br />

The practice had been<br />

regarded common and acceptable.<br />

After all, who<br />

could question a priest with<br />

a winning smile and wearing<br />

a black robe, with a crucifix<br />

hanging from his neck? The<br />

fact is, for untold centuries<br />

criminals have taken to the<br />

priesthood in order to have<br />

free access to innocent lambs<br />

to rape and sodomize. The<br />

easiest thing was for popes<br />

and cardinals to look the other<br />

way and play ignorant. As<br />

a result, it became the longest<br />

lasting syndicated crime<br />

organization in the history of<br />

mankind. The expertise of its<br />

management ensured protection<br />

from governments and<br />

societies alike. In fact, it became<br />

more criminal to report<br />

crime within the Church than<br />

to commit crime within the<br />

Church. Everyone in charge<br />

was admired, respected and<br />

protected, everyone but the<br />

millions of voiceless, defenseless<br />

victims — the kids and<br />

the nuns. In fact, convent<br />

administrators instructed<br />

young nuns to obey priests<br />

without question above everything<br />

else. Nothing a priest did<br />

could be regarded wrong or<br />

sinful.<br />

A priest could enter a<br />

convent and have his way with<br />

any and all virgin females<br />

he lusted over, and nothing<br />

would be said. Any novice<br />

nun who reported an errant<br />

priest would be humiliated,<br />

ostracized and made to suffer<br />

for her disrespect toward that<br />

priest. The rare nun who protested<br />

was forced to leave the<br />

convent, return to her family<br />

in shame and live the rest of<br />

her life in disgrace. For those<br />

who chose to withstand the<br />

pain of victimization, the<br />

struggle for her eternal<br />

reward in heaven became<br />

impossible, regardless of the<br />

choice she made. Who would<br />

she confess to? How could<br />

she seek forgiveness for allowing<br />

a priest, a man, to take<br />

advantage of her and not risk<br />

losing the rewards of eternal<br />

life?<br />

This is the essence of the<br />

great Catholic Church whose<br />

sins are overlooked by the<br />

masses and supported by<br />

their contributors and the<br />

sacrifices of their children<br />

who must suffer the burden<br />

of a shamed life.<br />

- MIGUEL ESPINOSA JR.<br />

OXNARD<br />

AUDITED CIRCULATION of 27,516<br />

Serving Alhambra, Altadena, Arcadia, Eagle<br />

Rock, Glendale, La Cañada Flintridge, Montrose,<br />

Pasadena, San Marino, Sierra Madre and South<br />

Pasadena<br />

LETTERS WANTED:<br />

Send letters to kevinu@pasadenaweekly.com.<br />

For news tips<br />

and information about happenings<br />

and events, contact Kevin<br />

at the address above or call<br />

(626) 584-1500, ext. 115. Contact<br />

Deputy Editor André Coleman<br />

at andrec@pasadenaweekly.com<br />

and at ext. 114.<br />

<strong>01.17.19</strong> | PASADENA WEEKLY 5

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