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JOINT MEETING with SANTA MONICA
ROTARY at RIVIERA, May 21st 2004
After what might be called a shaky
start (the damn membership pin box fell open again) we registered 43
WVRC members in attendance, including several guests. President Dee
Menzies got us started, and the song was America, led by Herb Roney and
accompanied on the piano by Carol Jackson. These Santa Monicans sing
pretty good. I didn’t get the name of the person who led the Pledge,
but they did well, also. The Invocation was by our own Prexy, PETER
MORE. “Make us worthy, Lord, to serve our fellow men throughout the
world, who live and die in poverty and hunger. Give them through our
hands this day, their daily bread, and by our understanding love, give
them peace and joy”. PETER then gave a brief history of the founding of
WVRC, noting that is was first called WLA Rotary, but later changed when
we founded that club and took the Westwood Village name. Santa Monica
Rotary was our sponsor, and they helped us all along the way – and we
thank them, once again.
President Dee Menzies responded,
saying what a pleasure it was to have both the Mother and Daughter clubs
together, which drew some mutterings about this sexual classification –
but the idea was certainly well received. Chris Baker introduced Santa
Monica Rotary guests, including several widows of past members. PDG
ANDY ANDERSON introduced Pat, who was the only WVRC spouse present. All
were then serenaded with a Hello Rotarians and Guests song. This was
followed by “Wait Till The Sun Shines, Nellie” which in turn was aided
somewhat by abbreviated song sheets left on the tables.
A couple of members were
recognized for community awards they had received. Pres. PETER came
forward to announce that PDG BILL GOODWYN had joined Rotary thirty years
ago! There followed a touching reminder of the journey one of the Santa
Monica Rotarians (Jerry ?) had taken over the last several years. He
was suffering from complete kidney failure, and a local family, whose
young son had just died in an accident, donated a kidney to save his
life. These two families have stayed in touch, and recently met
face-to-face for the first time. It was a meaningful time for all of
them. And this, of course, is a reminder to all of us to sign up for
the Organ Donation program – you can save more than one life by taking
this step.
There was a nice tribute to Esther
Johnson. Esther was the long-time Executive Secretary of the Santa
Monica Club, because it’s first female member, and was the long time
accompanist on the piano during the Song. When she passed away
recently, the Rotarians who attended the service gathered together the
comments made at that time, and these were presented to her daughter,
Sharon. She responded by thanking all for this gesture, and reminding
everyone that Esther truly enjoyed all her Rotary associations.
Roderick Eric MacLeish Jr was the
speaker of the day. He was introduced by a member of Santa Monica
Rotary, Tom Lieu, who is a partner in the Speakers firm, Greenberg
Traurig LLP. Our own member, SEAN McMILLAN, is also a member of the
firm, and he was instrumental in arranging this program. Mr. MacLeish
arrived from Boston on a motorcycle (yes, that’s right) just yesterday,
and spent some time on arrival with the Editorial Board of the Los
Angeles Times. He received his J.D. degree cum laude from Boston
University School of Law, where he edited the Law Review, and his
bachelors with general honors from Vassar College. His grandfather,
Archibald MacLeish, publicly denounced the McCarthy hearings, and his
father was a well known radio commentator.
Mr. MacLeish began by admitting
that he had no experience in representing abuse victims. His field of
expertise is Administrative litigation, and he was one of the partners
who helped start their Boston office. But when he got a call from abuse
victims involving the Archdiocese of Boston, a three hundred year old
fixture of the city, he became interested. He first had to have the
permission of Caesar Alvarez, Chairman of Greenberg Traurig, who is
Catholic and whose mother was raised in a Catholic orphanage. The basic
conflict here was that the firm would be adverse to the Archdiocese – a
first for any major firm with over one thousand attorneys in twenty
offices around the world. Alvarez asked, “Are there things the Church
has done that are wrong?” “Yes”. “Then go ahead”.
A woman who had been abused as a
child came to him in 1997. She had attended the same school he had for
three years. The Headmaster there had expelled him – days before
graduation. Needless to say, he got some satisfaction out of pursuing
this particular case. The abuser there was Father Porter, and
eventually Greenberg Traurig’s suit included 101 clients, over a seven
year period. They found that Father Porter had been transferred to a
hospital in N. Attleboro, Mass. But his behavior had not changed.
Another case involved Father John
Gavin, who had been transferred several times, over three decades – this
case had 340 plaintiffs. MacLeish eventually obtained a court order to
turn over “protected” files. Father Paul Shanley was the main culprit
here, and the Archdiocese had fifteen lawyers, who argued that these
files were protected by the First Amendment. Father Shanley even founded
a group that espoused sexual abuse, and spoke publicly about why it was
OK. In a deposition from Bishop Daily, the Archdiocese finally agreed
completely, and after eight days of testimony they released 177 files.
There were perhaps 60 more that came to them later. Based on these
files, MacLeish estimates that 4% of the Priests in the Boston
Archdiocese have engaged in pedophilic behavior.
The church had become a sanctuary
for them.
The allegations of sexual abuse
beginning in 1960 and continuing through the 1980’s continue even today
(February 2004). The leadership failures were very broad. In 2002, he
learned of the activities of Father Foley. After the loss of her first
child, the 19 year old mother went to Foley for counseling, and Foley
fathered her next child. She then had a lobotomy, and Foley fathered a
second child. She is now dead, but DNA proves parentage. This was
disclosed to Cardinal Law in 1993, and somehow another Cardinal, in
Rome, said such behavior was acceptable.
MacLeish is not having the same
success in Los Angeles as he had had in Boston. LA is the largest
Diocese in the United States but there has been almost no opening up of
records. He estimates that there are at least hundreds, and maybe
thousands of cases here, but Cardinal Mahoney resists. There must be
recognition of what has happened.
In a very brief Q&A, Are there any
rules from Rome? No. During the early stages of his work in Boston,
MacLeish’s home was fired on from a passing car, and he had a bodyguard
who accompanied him. Apparently the current official attitude in LA is,
“Well, I guess you could say we have a problem” – but that is as far as
it has gone here. Note, these results in Boston and elsewhere are fully
confirmed – and it is a shocking story which we all needed to hear. We
thank SEAN McMILLAN and Tom Lieu for arranging this special report.
Apropos of nothing – Westwood
Village Rotary will be meeting at the Luxe Hotel on June eighth and June
fifteenth – mark your calendars now, please.
YOE, Ernie Wolfe |