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Re: Catholic Church at its BEST
Posted by Tony (Guest) - Monday, October 17 2005, 1:57:12 (CEST)
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"His heart was in the right place, trying to get me to deal with it and come out. [But] I'm the crumb. I'm just being born. And he's already learning to run," Jimmy said. "I'm trying to play catch-up and Billy, he's at that point where he's now ready to go beat down doors and talk to Mahony. Today I could go sit in a room with [him] and get in his face, but not then."

After Billy got the money, Steve stopped taking his calls.

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And when Steve tried to see Mahony, the cardinal would not see him.

The Boston church scandal had exploded. California had a new law that gave victims of long-ago abuse one year to file lawsuits. A class-action lawsuit had just been filed against the archdiocese.

In August, Steve got a letter from the church stating that recent events "have created a new situation that precludes the cardinal from meeting with you at this time."

Because the accusations came after Hagenbach's death, they have never been tested in court. His version of events is not known.

Attorney J. Michael Hennigan, who represents Mahony, said he didn't know if Hagenbach was guilty but "14, that's a lot of victims." Still, he said, the church cannot be held negligent for what it didn't know, and Billy was the first to tell about the priest.

Billy had arrived in the nick of time. By April 2002, "what seemed like isolated events were about to become an avalanche," said Hennigan.

"I know that the cardinal was moved in talking to Bill and wanted to resolve it compassionately," Hennigan said, of the settlement.

The issue of compensating one brother and not the other was discussed, Hennigan said: "I certainly had those conversations months later, when Steve came forward." Hennigan said he talked to Steve and "he seemed sincere to me."

Mahony is out of the country "on sabbatical" and unavailable for comment.

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Bill Sanchez Sr. became a church lector at Holy Trinity because Hagenbach asked him. Barbara Sanchez pitched in at bake sales to help raise money for an annual trip to Disneyland that the priest had promised his altar boys. One of the neighbors sewed the boys' red capes. When Hagenbach began his 4 1/2-year stint at the Atwater church in 1968, these loyal Catholics lined up to help the energetic new priest.

"I mean, here he was, a friendly guy that went to the playground, talked to the children, had a Jeep, would take kids for ice cream afterward, really showed an interest in them," she said. "Up until that point, there really wasn't much of an altar boy society…. There were altar boys, but they were never given any treats."

Treats were Hagenbach's specialty, the boys said. His rectory rooms were full of treats parents never imagined. Soda pop. Bowls brimming with M&M's. Playboys. Porn videos. Guns. He served the boys liquor in tall, frosted glasses decorated with girls in bikinis. When the booze was poured in, the bikinis magically came off.

The boys had never met an adult quite like the priest. He swore like a sailor. He made racy remarks about women and racial slurs. On the freeway, he would zoom 80 mph, clutching a beer. He seemed so cool.

The boys didn't tell their parents the daring things he let them do. All they wanted was to keep being asked back to drink seven and sevens and play Screw Your Neighbor at his Saturday night card games in the rectory. When Hagenbach moved from parish to parish, the boys followed him.

"He created an environment that us kids liked," said Billy. "It would have been perfect if he wasn't there."

In fact, it was never perfect.

When he took boys to the desert, they could fire guns and ride motorcycles, but he'd squeeze on the bikes behind them and wedge a hand into their pants, the men say.



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