The Rev. Joseph Illo, pastor of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Modesto, Calif., has told parishioners in a homily and in a follow-up letter that if they voted for Barack Obama, they should consider going to confession because of the president-elect's position on abortion.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation/bal-te.catholic30nov30,0,6113406.storyA lawsuit alleging that a Modesto priest molested two Hughson girls is set for trial in Stockton this month.
The lawsuit, filed in September 2002, alleges that the Rev. Francis Arakal, an associate pastor at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Modesto, fondled 11- and 13-year-old sisters at their Hughson home in July 2001. The trial proceedings are set to begin Feb. 22 in San Joaquin County Superior Court.
The lawsuit also charges that the Diocese of Stockton and
St. Joseph's pastor, the Rev. Joseph Illo, responded inappropriately when one of the girls told Illo about the alleged abuse on Sept. 11, 2001.
Diocese officials declined to comment on the case. Illo, reached by phone this week, contested the lawsuit's description of events.
According to her attorneys, the younger girl told Illo of her sister's abuse in a setting at the church that she believed was confidential. Illo violated that confidentiality, the lawsuit says, setting a meeting for him, Arakal and the younger girl.
"During the confrontation, (Arakal and Illo) began to yell, berate and intimidate (the girl), calling (her) a 'liar,'" the complaint says. It states that Illo said, "All your mother wants to do is have sex with me."
http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/ethics/ethcont109.htm