Don't Show Them the Money

7/12/2018

"Reality. What a concept."
-- Robin Williams

Last month a parishioner alleged to be romantically involved with troubled pastor Daniel Barica of Saints Simon and Jude (SSJ) Catholic church in Huntington Beach was identified by name in a comment left on this site. When it was brought to my attention I immediately deleted it along with the person’s name. The stress and anxiety that many SSJ parishioners have endured since this un-Franciscan friar took charge in 2012 is understandable. Watching their beloved parish torn apart by a tyrannical priest has been heartbreaking. But Barica’s removal from office will ultimately be determined by the truth, not rumors. Speaking up in public, documenting incidents, and going on record are still the most effective ways to puncture a bully’s inflated ego.

I no longer expect every Franciscan to behave like a follower of St. Francis of Assisi. This is how badly my love for the order has deteriorated over the years. The harsh reality is that there are too many priests in this province who don’t warrant the title of “father.” Ordination alone does not constitute reverence. Barica is near the top of this growing list. His trump-like behavior at SSJ is all the more disturbing since it followed him when he joined the parish six years ago.

Like the sexual predators shielded and moved by the church, the Franciscans knew of Barica’s emotional problems for years. When he became increasingly erratic and disliked as pastor of Mission Santa Barbara, the Franciscans kicked him upstairs and shuffled him off to SSJ. With capable priests in short supply, Barica was given a promotion that was basically a religious version of the Peter Principle.

Wounds Have Been Reopened

Before Barica moved to SSJ in 2012, SafeNet sent a letter to the SSJ pastoral staff alerting them of the problem and advising them to take a proactive stand. Two years later SafeNet and others called on the Franciscan Province of St. Barbara and the Diocese of Orange to remove Barica from SSJ and place him in a program that would deal compassionately with his emotional and psychological state—a program, I might add, that was already in place and made available to other friars with similar problems.

  Barica is a wounded priest. He's being protected by his superiors, supported by a fraternity crippled by foolish devotion, and enabled by a staff fearful of losing their jobs. His extreme divisiveness has created a self-made crisis fueled by his narcissism.

During this same period, SafeNet also urged the Franciscans to begin a recovery and reconciliation forum for SSJ parishioners distraught by their encounters with Barica. It asked them to utilize the professional services provided by their own Office of Pastoral Outreach – an office that was established in 2006 to help anyone in the Franciscan province who had experienced trauma related to clergy sexual abuse.

There are plenty of specious arguments employed by church apologists regarding the question of who deserves this type of pastoral care. Lest we forget, SSJ is a parish that was severely impacted by one of the Franciscans' most charismatic sexual offenders, ex-friar and former SSJ assistant pastor Gus Krumm -- a priest whom the friars had also moved from parish to parish. Those wounds have been reopened by Barica. Any Franciscan today who remains silent on what’s happening at SSJ, or who denies emotional and spiritual care to its parishioners is guilty of complicity.

And here’s the rub: None of these concerns have ever been adequately addressed, acknowledged or responded to by the Franciscans or the Diocese of Orange. Requests have gone unanswered. Emails, letters and phone calls from countless people have been ignored. Grievances have been diminished and dismissed by colluding clergy and laypeople alike that are either unqualified or incompetent to comprehend the depth and seriousness of the problem. Those who are obligated to offer assistance have failed to lift a finger.

SSJ parishioners know what neglect feels like. Searching for ways to reach out and be understood, many have resorted to using the “comments” section on a story I posted on Barica four years ago to share their concerns with one another. While the Franciscans and the diocese choose not to listen, parishioners are using this space to stand together and be heard.

Fleeing to Higher Ground

Franciscan provincial David Gaa, whom many believed would be an instrument for change, reluctantly took charge and decided things were just fine the way they were. As a result, his do-nothing approach on this issue continued to further the woodenheaded policy instigated by his predecessor, John Hardin. At this point, Barica has caused so much damage in the last six years that any decision Gaa might make regarding this priest’s fate would be close to irrelevant.

The last provincial to demonstrate any courage was Melvin Jurisich who, in the end, threw in the towel in 2009 at precisely the time when his leadership skills were needed most. It was Jurisich who first helped his fellow friars understand, unite and join with SafeNet in 2003; and it was Jurisich who said and did nothing when Hardin, his successor, eroded the partnership, denounced SafeNet and joined a growing faction of disgruntled clergy who now distance themselves from the scandal and deny the problem exists. Semi-retired now and living at the friars’ Malibu retreat house, Jurisich’s voice is a clapperless bell heralding a daft silence. He joins others guilty of inexcusable deafness that include former provincial Joseph Chinnici, former definitor Michael Doherty, and former SSJ pastor Michael Harvey.

As a survivor and survivor advocate, I’m past the point of being shocked or surprised by anything the Franciscans choose not to do in alleviating this suffering. I’ve witnessed firsthand efforts to get the friars to acknowledge and address the anguish of parishioners at Mission Santa Barbara, only to be met with hostility and a wave of passive-aggressive behavior directed at anyone who even mentioned clergy sexual abuse.

Those who argue that the situation in Santa Barbara is somehow better today than it was before are either deluding themselves or attending too many trump rallies. It’s not enough to install a new pastor with a gentle disposition if that pastor has to answer to the very same friars responsible for the shameful tactics that destroyed Mission Santa Barbara in the first place. The aforementioned John Hardin and former mission guardian Richard McManus are back in charge and have succeeded in transforming an open, welcoming space into a closed, gated community that grows more and more distrustful of anyone not wearing brown.

This scandal touches everyone. Dan Lackie, the above-mentioned new pastor, has become a sad victim of his own misguided loyalty. Coming from SSJ where he was admired for years, Lackie ended up breaking the hearts of many parishioners when he failed to condemn Barica’s behavior and provide pastoral care for those who had been harmed. By siding with his fraternity instead of the people his fraternity was pledged to serve, he got it backwards. I know Dan Lackie. He has a kind heart. It’s precisely what makes his actions so puzzling and painful.

Such dark betrayals have been going on for decades. It’s an old story: the faithful place their faith in the Franciscans only to have it destroyed by a senseless string of offenses committed against the very people who support them. The unthinkable is perpetrated by a parade of idiotic and sociopathic priests whom everyone else in the order swears dumb allegiance to. In the nineties when the abuse scandal cracked wide open, many churchgoers couldn’t leave the Franciscans fast enough. They clutched their children and wallets and fell over each other as they fled to higher ground.

A Muck of Their Own Choosing

On the diocesan side, I’m done trying to second-guess Bishop Kevin Vann of the Diocese of Orange. The blatant stonewalling employed by him and his underlings--Steve Sallot, Daniel Reader and Shirl Giacomi—is one more disgraceful chapter in this diocese’s long and gloomy history. For a man who grew up in the fifties and sixties, Vann acts more like he was born at the beginning of the last century instead of the middle. Isolated by his handlers, he’s become just another conservative prelate detached from the real world.

Does the church really have a zero tolerance policy for clergy sexual abuse? What evidence does it have to back up this claim? A majority of survivors I’ve spoken with in the last six months have serious doubts about this rule. In 2002 the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops was compelled to adopt and implement standards and safeguards by the very men and women who refused to stay silent and unseen. But church personnel files and accountability reports remain a secret to this day because transparency is not an option. In the past, perpetrator priests were routinely protected and empowered by their own members. Why should anyone believe it’s any different today?

This is how badly the Vatican has muddied the waters of pastoral outreach. Their own pledge of support is as visible as the Holy Ghost. Where once they had the opportunity to show compassion and humility and earnestly work with survivors to help navigate this storm together, they now sink deeper into a muck of their own choosing.

For their part, the Franciscans and the Diocese of Orange are doing nothing to allay anyone’s fears and suspicions. On the contrary, they appear to be doing everything they can to confirm them. In Barica’s case, they are actually enforcing a zero tolerance policy for reporting abuse. There’s no other way to explain their silence in the face of years of complaints. And just to be absolutely clear: what Barica is doing at SSJ may not constitute sexual abuse, but make no mistake about it: it is abuse. What’s more, it’s a violation of the church’s own vow to protect its community from those who prey on the innocent.

Money Makes the World Go Around

Public perception never moves the church to change, unless, of course, it has a negative impact on its financial resources. “Show me the money" is a haughty phrase used by some to urge others to dig deep into their pockets. SSJ is a cash cow. Like Mission Santa Barbara, it generates tremendous amounts of much-needed revenue for the Franciscans and the diocese it serves. The surest way to get the church’s attention is to poke a big hole in their collection basket and stop showing them the money. Daniel Barica doesn’t deserve anyone's continued financial support. As the guardian of a cow he’s been milking for years, it’s time for him to get a chicken.

This is not to suggest that the Franciscans, as a whole, are undeserving of our generosity. For those who still wish to support the friars monetarily, I propose donating directly to their Franciscan missions in Mexico and Arizona where your dollars will have the greatest impact and do the most good. Here is where you’ll find friars working side by side with the poor, the disadvantaged, and the undocumented. Here is where some of the best and most honorable Franciscans labor daily under the fundamental belief that they are the servants, not the masters.

When I was a kid, a favorite uncle of mine used to say that a priest only listened to you when you went to confession—and only then if your sins were worth hearing. Though it may seem like small comfort now, the sins of these priests will ultimately be heard by many. Those who failed to hear, those who became muted horns, and those who feigned an indefensible dumbness will all be held accountable. In the end, Barica himself will not escape responsibility. Such is the law of cause and effect; such is the fate of frauds and scoundrels.

Am I still hopeful? Of course. But hope doesn’t cling or babble. It grabs on tight and makes its presence known. We are currently living through one of the most preposterous and perilous times in our nation’s history. A moronic, self-centered president stews in his own treachery. A gutless, political party schemes to dismantle democracy. An ignorant base acts hatefully with cruel intentions that invariably cause others to suffer and even die. What is happening at SSJ may seem insignificant in the great scheme of things, but resistance begins with the smackdown of the pettiest tyrant.

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A LIST OF CHARITABLE ORGANIZATIONS WORTHY OF YOUR SUPPORT

The Servants of Mary

For those who feel they cannot support the Franciscans at all, consider donating to Mary Health of the Sick in Southern California where Katie O'Reilly Rogers, diagnosed with a brain tumor, is being cared for. Katie is the brilliant Santa Barbara landscape architect who drew up the plans for SafeNet's "Garden of Forgiveness" project. For two years she advocated for its creation at Mission Santa Barbara until she was dismissed by the friars and the project was rejected. A simple card or letter to Katie will go a long way in making her feel the true spirit of St. Francis.

Katie O’Reilly Rogers
Mary Health of the Sick
2929 Theresa Drive
Newbury Park, CA 91320
Phone: 805-498-3644
Website: http://www.maryhealth.com/Donate
NOTE: Mary Health of the Sick is owned and operated by The Servants of Mary, a Catholic congregation of women religious who dedicate their lives to providing loving, compassionate nursing care to people of all faiths.

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Franciscan Missions in the Province of St. Barbara

I know the friars associated with these missions. All of them have spent the best part of their lives doing what you’d expect a follower of St. Francis to be doing: living, working and praying with the poor and marginalized of our society. If you want to experience firsthand what it means to serve others and live the Gospel, visit these missions and volunteer your time. If a visit is not possible, consider supporting the efforts of these friars with a donation.

Friar Tommy King, OFM
Casa Franciscana Outreach in Guaymas, Mexico
P.O. Box 15576
Scottsdale, AZ 85267
Website: https://casafranciscanaoutreach.org/contact/about/
NOTE: Casa Franciscana Outreach is the nurturing community that friar Marty Gates founded almost fifty years ago, and has remained a jewel in the apostolic church. A beacon of social justice and spiritual enrichment for hundreds of indigent families, Marty’s dream lives on.

Friar Ignatius DeGroot, OFM
San Carlos Apache Catholic Mission
460 San Carlos Avenue
P.O. Box 28
San Carlos AZ 8550-0069
Phone: (928) 475-2210
Website: http://stcharlesmission.org/

Friar Ponchie Vasquez, OFM
San Solano Missions
Route 19 and Topawa Road
P.O. Box 210
Topawa AZ 85639-0210
Phone: (520) 383-2350
Website: https://www.facebook.com/SanSolanoMissions/
NOTE: Friars Ponchie Vasquez, David Paz and Peter Boegel are three of the most self-less and devoted Franciscans in the province. Ponchie was one of the last graduates of Santa Barbara’s St. Anthony’s Seminary to continue on and take final vows.

Friar Eddie Fronske, OFM
St. Francis Mission
9 W Elm Street
P.O. Box 679
Whiteriver AZ 85941-0679
Phone: (928) 338-4432
Website: https://discovermass.com/church/st-francis-whiteriver-whiteriver-az/

Friar Stephen Barnufsky, OFM
San Xavier del Bac Mission
1950 W San Xavier Road
Tucson AZ 85746-7409
Phone: (520) 294-2624
Website: sanxaviermission.org

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131 Comments

Author

A Room With A Pew is a regular column on clergy sexual abuse and the healing process. Using memoir, essay, short story and poetry, the column aims to reflect the experiences, observations and opinions of writer Paul Fericano, a survivor of clergy abuse who attended St. Anthony’s Seminary in Santa Barbara, California, in the sixties. The author helped co-found SafeNet in 2003 and returned to Santa Barbara that year to assist the community in recovery. As a poet, writer, and activist engaged in the healing process, Fericano often challenges survivors and others to look for humor in the shadows. He is the editor and co-founder of Yossarian Universal News Service (YU News Service), the nation's first parody news syndicate established in 1980.

Memories of Better Days Persist
Many St. Anthony's students have contacted me, and one asked about the barbershop, where he had sought refuge one day after his offender beat him. Read story.
by PAUL FERICANO
TUES., APRIL 1, 2014
---
No Matter How High the Hedge Grows
The Solidarity Project memorial for clergy abuse survivors at Mission Santa Barbara was vandalized for a second time by a person employed by the Franciscans.
Read story.
by PAUL FERICANO
WED., MARCH 5, 2014
---
Mario (Walter) Cimmarrusti, OFM: 1931 - 2013
The Worst of What We Lived
My offender, a notorious Catholic priest and Franciscan friar who abused many boys at St. Anthony's Seminary, died on November 23, 2013.
Read story.
by PAUL FERICANO
THURS., FEBRUARY 13, 2014
---
The Roots of Pastoral Response
Pastoral response is the kind of outreach by the church that is absolutely essential to the healing process.
Read story.
by PAUL FERICANO
WED., FEBRUARY 5, 2014
---
Looking for Francis in the Franciscans
Among survivors of clergy abuse, what puzzles, angers, and disappoints many is the shortage of moral courage among the friars in general.
Read story.
by PAUL FERICANO
WED., JANUARY 8, 2014
---
From Survival to Forgiveness
In 1965 when I was 14 I was sexually abused at St. Anthony’s, a Catholic minor seminary in Santa Barbara operated by the Franciscan religious order.
Read story.
by PAUL FERICANO
THURS., DECEMBER 5, 2013

SSJ member

7/13/2018 07:32:53 am

Thank you for this. I am very disappointed Father Dan Lackie allowed all of this to happen. I did not know so many people replied to your other article that they asked for his help and he did not do anything.

SB Survivor

7/13/2018 09:04:46 am

Thank you for this. It helps to know that we are not alone and that there are those who truly are listening and doing something to keep this issue in the open and out of the shadows.

Simon and Jude survivor

7/13/2018 12:17:13 pm

Please ask other survivors in Santa Barbara to help us in Huntington Beach by writing their thoughts here. Tell them to let Fr Dan know after mass or with an anonymous note how horrific Barica treated them. This article is right, the best way to protest is by donating to another cause. People in SB and HB, please stand together and stop donating until Barica is removed. Staying quiet and donating in SB just keeps enabling Fr Dan who in turn enables Fr Daniel. Fr Dan comes off as being so wonderful and kind. But after all the years he was at our church, he is not being kind by staying on the sideline while our community is in deep decline. If we stay quiet and continue to donate, that makes us all enablers.

Paul Fericano link

7/13/2018 01:52:22 pm

For those who use Twitter, @YUNewsService has created #RemoveBarica Spread the tweet...

YU News Service @YUNewsService
Don't Show Them the Money - A Room With A Pew https://roomwithapew.weebly.com/1/post/2018/07/dont-show-them-the-money.html
#RemoveBarica #ClergyAbuse

M.K.

7/13/2018 06:56:26 pm

All you have to do is insert these names into the people involved with the abuse at Penn State. Daniel Barica is like Jerry Sandusky the abuser. Dan Lackie is like coach Joe Paterno the enabler, the guy who knew but did nothing. A news report says that scandal cost Penn State $200 million. The Franciscans better be ready to spend a lot too but they are not getting it from us.

Theresa in SB

7/13/2018 03:27:24 pm

I hate this priest! I notice nothing was written in all this about another allegation in your other article. Looking at those comments I saw that three people, Fr Rusty, Mark Purcell and Dan Hart are supposed to know about money taken from the donations by Barica. If embezzlement and the romantic mistress he is involved with are not true, the church would have filed some sort of defamation lawsuit to clear their name. Absent legal action it must be true because who would file a lawsuit these witnesses under oath will make them lose. Whoever is protecting him should be terminated even the priests.

7/13/2018 10:11:48 pm

Twitter won’t help much but won’t hurt either. We are currently collecting several evidence from SSJ parents , parish staff, and faculty members which includes photos, conversations between M and Daniel mentioning the principal and asking him to fire her as well as mentioning other faculty members and asking him to get rid of them as well. Conversations between M and some of the moms who are pretending to be friends with her... etc. This woman needs to pay for the distress she caused to several people and the damaging of their reputation. Once we collect enough evidence we will send copies to the diocese, the school district she works for as well as several blogs and maybe even the OC register since one of their authors showed interest in what’s going on at SSJ. Believe me there is a lot going on behind the scenes.

Scott

7/14/2018 07:56:12 am

Wow. It’s a dark time in our parish. Can you tell us the name and email of the OC Register reporter so we can make contact? And phone number if you have it please. The Franciscans will just try to keep burying this but we need to go public. Anyone contacting the paper just tell the reporter to not use your name in the article. I posted who else to talk to on the other story on this site about SSJ called Problem Priests. (Lots more comments there.) She will keep us confidential and help expose what is going on: Joelle Casteix, The Worthy Adversary. joelle@casteix.com

7/15/2018 03:17:52 pm

Thanks, Scott.

Here is a contact list for the Orange County Register. For those interested, I suggest you get in touch with as many sources as you can at the paper.

I'll also include this contact list under a "new" comment on this blog post, and also under a "new" comment on my earlier blog post "Problem Priests...".

THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER (OCR)

Reporter / Covering Huntington Beach:

Susan Goulding
714-796-6766
sgoulding@scng.com

Editors / Crime and Public Safety:

Mark Evans, 714-796-4957, markevans@scng.com
Steve Green, 714-796-7714, stgreen@scng.com
Jim Radcliffe, 714-796-7985, jradcliffe@scng.com

Reporters / Crime and Public Safety:

Sean Emery, 714-642-6487, semery@scng.com,
Twitter: @semeryOCR
Alma Fausto, 714-796-7865, afausto@scng.com,
Twitter: @AlmaFausto1

Edior / Watchdog Investigations & Reporting
on Public Officials and Institutions:

Frank Suraci, 310-543-6621, fsuraci@scng.com

Reporters / Watchdog Investigations & Reporting
on Public Officials and Institutions:

Jason Henry, 626-544-0871, jhenry@scng.com
Joe Nelson, 909-386-3874, jnelson@scng.com
Tony Saavedra, 714-796-6930, tsaavedra@scng.com
Scott Schwebke, 714-796-7767, sschwebke@scng.com
Teri Sforza, 714-796-6910, tsforza@scng.com
Beau Yarbrough, 909-483-9376 byarbrough@scng.com

7/15/2018 10:36:22 pm

Thank you! This will really help us.

John L. Gronbeck-Tedesco link

7/14/2018 10:24:12 am

Paul,

I have a few questions prompted by the email chain regarding Father Dan Barika? Isn't it against the law for an adult, in this case Father Barica, to stand before children and minors (who are in the congregation) and use sexual language and imagery? Are there not attorneys in the congregation that would know how to file a complaint with the office of the local District Attorney with copies to the Diocese and Provincial? Alternatively, are there not state or local social services designed to protect children that might be solicited for whatever they can do to curb or eliminate this priest's ability to damage children?

7/15/2018 01:23:27 pm

Thanks, John.

I'm not aware of a law that prohibits Barica from discussing his sexual energy while standing at the pulpit and addressing his congregation during a sermon--even with minors in the pew. As outrageous as those remarks are, this sorry priest is also entitled to his first amendment rights.

I do agree that filing a complaint and/or checking with local agencies should be looked into by those in the parish. What that would entail, I don't know. But it's worth consulting professionals in their field to determine what options are available.

While it's shocking and reprehensible to hear a priest publicly talk about his body in the middle of mass, his callous disregard for the feelings of others is of equal concern. The insensitivity of his remarks, particularly in front of a wounded community which suffered the horrors of clergy sexual abuse, are a defiant attempt to assert his authority.

Ethically, Barica should have been removed by his superiors a long time ago. But nobody tells the Catholic church what to do. And, by extension, Barica is simply a charter subscriber to this bonehead notion.

Knight of Columbus

7/15/2018 05:46:59 pm

Thanks Paul. Your writing is very eye opening. I usually do not comment on the internet but I feel compelled to say something. I knew things were bad here but I did not know the extent.
My input, we actually do tell the Catholic Church what to do. It’s called donations - or lack of. That is why I like your title of this blog - Don’t Show Them the Money if we do not agree with the church’s actions - or non-actions. Like someone commented in your other blog on Barica about how the parishioners in Los Angeles stopped donating and had a sit-in to protest. Those people worked together and forced the church to remove him in just a week. Good for them for taking matters into their own hands with their wallets.
Yes, Barica has first amendment rights but then again so did Rosanne Barr who lost her new TV show over her free speech tweet. I agree with John L - a priest cannot stand before children and use sexual language. It does not matter if it is legal or not. Priests must be held accountable like the rest of us for anything they do or say - or don’t do - that is inappropriate. Like Dan Lackie doing nothing about Barica all these years. What happened here could have been prevented. I read on the internet about the complaints at SSJ. I saw people’s comments calling for Lackie’s termination just like with other managers and superiors who lost their jobs in the public and private sectors - Lackie should have some dignity and resign before this happens.
I also told Lackie my worries about Barica. He did not walk away from me like the others but his reaction to me was very defensive and cold. I actually stopped going to church because of how insensitive he was to my concerns. Someone else told me she let Lackie know how upset she was about her kids not coming to church anymore because of Barica. What more did he need to hear to feel terrible and put a stop to this? One complaint - or losing just one kid - should have been all it took.
When Barica said sexual things with children in church, that should have taken away his right to be a priest. He also put some of it in writing. Click the “June 7 bulletin” link in this story and read what he wrote about his morning ritual after a shower including blessing his sexual energy while using oil - pretty disgusting.
http://theworthyadversary.com/3704-ssj-grooming
This story identifies him as a potential predatory groomer. So now, girlfriend Mary I read about in your other blog and anyone else he abuses can use this story as court evidence that the church was warned but did nothing. This can mean millions in punitive awards we have to pay for. Lackie is ignoring the obvious and putting our church and the entire Franciscan Order at risk.
Olan said it earlier - celibacy is not natural. When priests can’t handle their semen building up pressure down there, bad things can happen like we saw in the movie Spotlight. Barica already told us he has sexual energy. Although it’s completely wrong for a priest to do and puts a bad image in my head, I actually hope Mary is releasing his sexual energy to keep him from taking it out on our children. (Notice she has the same name as Mary Magdalene who was called a prostitute.) If he is sexually active, the fact that he works where there is a school and has access to kids creates a dangerous risk the Franciscans cannot allow. A 1% chance is too great.
Lackie not interceding back when Barica made his sexual statements in church is beyond irresponsible. You talk about his non-action as one of the Province’s superiors. This actually makes him the real source of sexual liability - and the deterioration of SSJ. The Franciscans must be on notice that the only way to ensure there is no risk to our precious children is to first get him professional help to cure his narcissism and abusive behavior you talk about in this blog so he does not prey on the innocent. Then transfer Barica to a place with no school like the Mission in Santa Barbara. But I don’t expect Lackie to do this because of the outrage and lost donations this would cause up there. If it’s a mistake to transfer Barica back to Santa Barbara, it is also a mistake to keep him at SSJ where parishioners are already so upset. I think the only way out of this for the Franciscans is to trade Barica for a priest at one of their other Missions - in AZ or Mexico.
Your idea of providing pastoral care for those who have been harmed is good. Lackie needs to stop pretending - when he shakes people’s hands after mass - that none of this ever happened and nobody got hurt. Emotional abuse - especially to those that complained and are now shunned by Barica causes deep wounds that may never heal. Being shunned is a form of bullying and ex-communication - I know many people this happened to. Lackie doing zero to help parishioners in Santa Barbara and Huntington should really be too big of a burden for him to bear. With Barica

7/15/2018 05:58:54 pm

Not sure why this got cut off - With Barica declaring to the world that he has sexual energy, the Franciscans can’t dismiss the risk that he is a predatory groomer that can end in physical abuse. If Lackie continues to do nothing - he is putting people in our parish in harms way. We cannot endure another scandal. We cannot endure any more emotional abuse and harassment by this tyrant priest.

John L. Gronbeck-Tedesco

8/4/2018 12:29:46 pm

Thanks for the response, but it is the case that first-amendment rights do have limitations. Some of these can part of municipal and/or other sorts of local ordinances. Here are two legal avenues that could be explored. Are there local, county, state or federal laws that legally limit freedom of speech in a manner that can be brought to bear on Barika? Could he be charged with slander, liable, public indecency (which, incidentally also applies to language). Second, does any of Barika's public behavior meet the criteria of disorderly conduct? Disorderly conduct need not be connected to alcohol or drugs. It can exist on its own, and once again conduct can include what a person says. Paul, here's the deal: If a legitimate legal complaint can be filed with the local district attorney, then it would be a good idea to do so. The complaint once filed can be made available to the press and to the diocese and the province. The headline would read "Priest charged with . . . " Even if the complaint does not get beyond the filing stage,you or some other appropriate person could still bring to the attention of the press and church authorities, who will not welcome the public attention. Seeking legal remedy might motivate the diocese and province to act. Best regards.

Olan Horne

7/15/2018 07:04:12 am

The arrogance and hubris of this institution is staggering. I know of no other non profit organization in America no matter how large that has waved its defenses in over 100,000 cases of child abuse and is allowed to operate without oversight by our own government. May I point to the outrage at out border for the separation of children . Where are the Senators and Congress itself on this current sort of behaviors of a non profit. Financial misappropriations, retirement scams, cover ups, lobbying, child abuse its never ending. Like Trump and like a dog, they do what they do because they can until someone screams stop! Nice Job Paul keep writing.

7/15/2018 07:27:06 am

The solution to the Catholic Church is easy,1-2-3

1) Immediately have the laity take over all operation and financials of the institution.
2) Release the boys in black to evangelize only and do gods work.
3) Require one thing, RECEIPTS

** It is autocratic and was built to be that. The canonical process is the beast. Here is the Church here is the steeple, look inside and see all the people!. Its Alice in Wonderland an upside down. Hierarchy; well they do not work , and does not in a modern world. Neither does celibacy,now that is unnatural!

Alice MacDonald

7/15/2018 11:09:33 am

Paul, I have known you for years and been inspired by your own work to heal your own abuse and then through SafeNet your efforts to heal others....including the abusers. No one was doing both of those and it cost you on both fronts. But it is true Gospel work. Your own authenticity and integrity and compassion over the years has been a constant. You stay true to your refusal to be anyone but yourself and the courage it takes to follow some inner guidance you have about what needs to be said. We do take different approaches but I would not be able to take mine without the balance of yours and what it teaches me about pain, suffering, healing and accountability. Thanks so much!! Love you....

terry reis kennedy

7/15/2018 02:54:27 pm

Thank you so very much.

7/15/2018 02:59:46 pm

IMPORTANT NOTE:

Every Catholic diocese in the country has established an outreach office of Victim Assistance Coordinators.

Concerned SSJ parishioners should contact the Victim Assistance Coordinator (VAC) for the Diocese of Orange, Sylvia Palda, LMFT,

Ms. Palda should be made aware of what Barica is doing.

SSJ is a parish where a former priest (Gus Krumm) sexually abused minors. The current problems with Barica at SSJ stem from these past abuses and fall within the VAC's purview.

Ms. Palda is mandated and obligated to help those who have been traumatized by the clergy abuse scandal--including secondary survivors (family members, schoolmates, parishioners, etc.).

Identities are kept strictly confidential--a standard operating procedure for all Victim Assistance Coordinators.

Contact:

Sylvia Palda, LMFT
Victim Assistance Coordinator (VAC)
Diocese of Orange
949-244-5781
palda.sylvia@gmail.com

7/15/2018 03:21:36 pm

Here is a contact list for the Orange County Register. For those interested, I suggest SSJ parishioners get in touch with as many sources as you can at this local newspaper.

I'll also include this contact list under a "new" comment on on my earlier blog post "Problem Priests...", for the benefit of those who haven't yet discovered this post.

THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER (OCR)

Reporter / Covering Huntington Beach:

Susan Goulding
714-796-6766
sgoulding@scng.com

Editors / Crime and Public Safety:

Mark Evans, 714-796-4957, markevans@scng.com
Steve Green, 714-796-7714, stgreen@scng.com
Jim Radcliffe, 714-796-7985, jradcliffe@scng.com

Reporters / Crime and Public Safety:

Sean Emery, 714-642-6487, semery@scng.com,
Twitter: @semeryOCR
Alma Fausto, 714-796-7865, afausto@scng.com,
Twitter: @AlmaFausto1

Edior / Watchdog Investigations & Reporting
on Public Officials and Institutions:

Frank Suraci, 310-543-6621, fsuraci@scng.com

Reporters / Watchdog Investigations & Reporting
on Public Officials and Institutions:

Jason Henry, 626-544-0871, jhenry@scng.com
Joe Nelson, 909-386-3874, jnelson@scng.com
Tony Saavedra, 714-796-6930, tsaavedra@scng.com
Scott Schwebke, 714-796-7767, sschwebke@scng.com
Teri Sforza, 714-796-6910, tsforza@scng.com
Beau Yarbrough, 909-483-9376 byarbrough@scng.com

Virginia Jones

7/15/2018 07:24:23 pm

With all do respects to the fact that Paul published the original blog and this informational second blog on the topic of a problem priest at Sts. Simon and Jude’s parish, I would not take his advice to go to a church employed Victim Assistant Coordinator. I have heard of good work done by the one in Boston, but the two I encountered in Portland truly worked for the church and their goal were to control the situation and keep things quiet rather than allow people to know the truth or really have what they needed for healing.

Specifically we had a forum moderated by a Victim Assistant in our parish. I came forward to speak because my son and I were groomed by the former pastor, and I believe that my son would have been abused by that pastor had the clergy abuse scandal not erupted out of Boston in January 2002. But the scandal erupted and the priest was removed. I was hurt and confused and left with unanswered questions so I did what few parishioners do—I read everything I could find on the internet. In the course of my readings I realized that the Franciscans had known about this priest’s abusive proclivities for more than 20 years and the archdiocese knew too because the Franciscans informed them but not parishioners.

I naively thought parish staff would care. They did not. They stonewalled me and then with the instructions of the leadership of the Franciscans they provoked me into shouting before Mass and called the police on me. They claimed not to know what I was angry about and told everyone, including my husband, that I was mentally unstable. The latter led to a divorce, but so much for the sanctity of marriage. Covering up clergy abuse is more important.

Fortunately I had handed out enough newspaper articles on the clergy abuse scandal and the Franciscan leadership knowing about our parish priests’ abuses that some people knew why I was angry. One of these people spoke to the pastoral council and pleaded my case. When a wonderful new priest, Fr. Armando Lopez, came to the parish, I was invited back.

Some people welcomed me; some still thought I was that mentally unstable woman who burst out shouting before Mass for unknown reasons.

We ended up having a forum to discuss the removal of the priest and the pain to parishioners who missed the priest and for those who were hurt and confused by the whole clergy abuse scandal.

Sounds nice, doesn’t it. It was one of the most wounding experiences I have ever been through.

I happen to be a child sex abuse survivor as well as a date rape survivor. The nice thing about the clergy abuse scandal was that it helped me come to terms with these two events that I never forgot but also never talked about. But coming to terms with child sex abuse and date rape can take years. Add on top of that the parish staff calling the police on me and telling everyone including my husband that I was mentally unstable and the resulting divorce and trauma that followed because my husband had a habit of yelling at me for up to eight hours at a time—something I told the parish priest about so they can’t say they didn’t know.

Well, I was emotionally devastated and struggling in the years before this forum. A wise man named John McCord told me to go see a therapist so I went to see a therapist. I was stilling consulting with that therapist almost every week at the time of the forum on clergy abuse in my parish. I wanted to share my story of how the former pastor groomed my son and me. My therapist was afraid that because I had been roughly treated by many members of the parish, that I would be roughly treated again. She advised me to tell the stories of others hurt by this same priest so I could establish a pattern of behavior by the priest and the Franciscans. So when the forum came that is what I did. I told the story of a survivor who I met in person who had been abused by the same priest and who had come forward in the 1980-81 school year at St.Anthony’s seminary. He had come forward again when the abuse at the seminary was investigated in 1993 and again in (I think) 1995 and 1996. The newspapers were not interested in the story, but they did report it when the clergy abuse scandal blew up in 2002. The Franciscans originally provided the survivor with only one year of therapy. They may have provided more since. I don’t know. But he remained very fragile and wounded. He was so chronically depressed that he was unable to hold down a steady job and lived by doing odd jobs and sleeping on friend’s couches.

I was not able to move from his story or to the story of the parish’s former Youth Minister who was harassed by the priest for not allowing him to have unsupervised contact with the church’s youth or my own story as other parishioners were allowed to interrupt me, criticize me, and put me down. And the Victim’s Assistant who knew my story because I shared it with

7/15/2018 10:06:26 pm

One of the most important things a survivor (or secondary survivor) can do for themselves is to make their presence known to the church through their respective Victim Assistance Coordinator (VAC).

That's not easy to do. And not everyone is capable or willing to deal directly with the church. But those who can, should be prepared to challenge the VAC (if necessary) to do the job they were hired to do.

Nothing beats going on record with the church. Whenever you document anything it empowers you and makes it all the more difficult for the church to deny the truth when it gets caught in its own lie.

All VACs have their own way of dealing with problems within the confines of a strict set of norms. Not all of them run their office and interact with survivors the same way.

Conservative dioceses tend to have more timid VACs--but not always. More liberal dioceses lean toward a more progressive outreach--but, once again, not always. Some VACs are terrible. Some are ineffective. Others are good. And still others are incredibly compassionate and committed.

One survivor can have a horrible experience with a particular VAC, while another finds satisfaction with the very same one.

I've personally met and worked with dozens of VACs from all over the country. The vast majority of them, in my experience, have demonstrated a genuine desire to help survivors--even if advocacy means working outside the box. Trust your own experiences.

MSP

7/16/2018 12:56:08 am

Virginia, just like what happened to you, I know people who were stonewalled by the staff at Simon and Jude. That makes them enablers and abusers too. They should have stopped Fr. Daniel long before the children stopped coming to church. One of the teachers told me Fr. Daniel abuses his power but was too afraid to do anything about it.

Anyone must report abuse or the possibility of abuse especially mandated reporters required by law. After seeing the link above about what he does after a shower, it should be so obvious to everyone that sex energy = possibility of abuse. Mrs C. in the parish office who wrote on the other web page that Fr. Daniel is hated beyond words, please ask the following staff and volunteers if they have reported him yet. Their phone numbers must be easy to find in the parish office so you can talk to them privately: Fr. Dan Lackie, Fr. Rusty Shaughnessey, Fr. Ryan Thornton, Fr. Vincent Nguyen, Colette O’Bannon, Mark Purcell, Chris Sumpter, Colleen Murray, Maureen O’Day, Shirl Giacomi, Scott Melvin, Ron Lowenberg, Kim Bernard, Connie Greyshock, Nancy Thornhill, Maureen Van Winkle, Doug Duchene, Russ Smith, Dottie Cardullo, Frank Leingang, Kent Hayden, Nicole Hunt, Steve Peterson, Maria Dzida, Terry Stodolka, Sabrina Gannon, Richard Ballesteros, Laura Canzone, Leslie Gerken, Erika Rowe, Erica Walenkcewicz, Patricia Chasteler, Mary Wicke, Katheryn Calvillo, Carl Benninger, Ariel Vapor, Barbara Hayden, Tom Gillespie, Gail Dyer, Audry Anardarian, Laura DiCrisi, Betty Croteau, Bernice Tomko, Scott Cool, Tom Molinaro, Elaine Barbin, Joseph Chasteler, John Richmond, Steve Hiskey, Bob Egan, Lee Tuhy, Lee Graham, Chris Velardi, Dave Desmond, George Wilfert, Ken Martinez, Mike Rangel, Susan McCortney, Katey Dadakis, Sharon Flowers, Karen Bravata, Terry Nowling, Ann Benson, Sara Jones, Doreen Bettencourt, Sylvia Cobbett and Steve Byars. Thank you Mrs. C!

Mrs. C

7/16/2018 07:11:04 am

Ofcourse, but you all need to be careful because you can’t trust everyone mentioned by MSP. For example, Shirl Giacomi and Colleen Murray are Daniel’s buddies and Sarah Jones is Mary’s BFF. Colette O’ Bannion is the new principal and she’s a puppet. I would also stay away from Doug, Richard and the Gerkens. Russ Smith was fired by Barica he works for the diocese he’s a very good man. There are others who are no longer a part of SSJ. I suggest you focus more on the names listed by Paul and ofcourse keep contacting the diocese and stop donating to SSJ. Best of luck to you all.

7/16/2018 07:43:03 am

I know some of those people are no longer around but they still have an obligation to file a report about what they know happened when they were here, like any harassment, abuse, inappropriate comments or the theft of funds Theresa talked about above. If you think about it Mrs. C., anyone showing up to work or to volunteer or who gives any amount of money for him to misuse is one of his enablers. Do we really want a few more years under his control and his mental problems? The only way to get rid of him is to stop enabling him and stop supporting him. A complete boycott of our Time, Talent and Treasure from all of us at Simon and Jude. Then watch how fast he is gone.

Mary from Santa Barbara

7/16/2018 05:18:10 pm

Omg, just when we thought we wouldn’t hear the name “Daniel Barica” ever again we learn about the misery he’s causing to the parishioners of Sts Simon and Jude. I have nothing to say except that you all need to be strong and fight this man at least that’s what we did in SB. Now let me be honest with you all it wasn’t easy but it’s doable. Daniel is not a bad guy he’s sick and needs help. He clearly hates being a priest and is taking it out on all of us. He knows that if he leaves the priesthood he will have nowhere to go and won’t make a dime from the photos he’s taking. He has no real college degree, he’s in his mid fifties and all he knows is taking photos. He is indeed a nightmare and needs anger management to help with all of his insecurities. Keep going SSJ and don’t give up. God bless you all.

7/17/2018 12:40:55 am

Hi Mary, thank you so much for telling us you fought Barica in Santa Barbara. This confirms that Lackie and the rest of the Franciscans knew about complaints before they shipped him off to us. Because they covered up his past while Lackie was down here all these years, I cannot call any of them Father anymore. Please tell Lackie about the pain you endured. Ask as many as possible to tell him too.
The Simon and Jude survivor said - don’t enable Lackie with silence because that enables Barica.
Please, love your Franciscan neighbors in Huntington. Email this link to others because we desperately need the help of as many you can rally up there. Can you contact one of the OC Register reporters listed by Mr. Fericano too? They will keep you anonymous. They need to hear directly from people up there so they can write about a pattern of cover up - just like how the church moved around other abusers.
We are desperate - unite with us so Barica can’t harm one more of our school children.
Most important - do this to stop Barica from wounding families in the next parish the Franciscans are thinking about shipping him to.
We have been trying to get rid of him but can’t do this on our own. He is defiant and even told someone here he is untouchable. That arrogance is another danger to us. But with your help - we can end this now.

Deb O.

7/17/2018 09:05:00 am

Oh this makes me so mad! They should have told us about Father Daniel before he came here. He picked apart my kids faith and I can’t get them to go to church anymore. They used to make fun of his sermons when they did go with us. He sounds bizarre with his ego and does not do things he talks about. Like on his July 9 parish email. “SSJ is a great, welcoming and nurturing community to support us in the transformation process.” And his parish vision at the bottom “To transform hearts by being Christ to others, working for peace, justice and care of creation.“ To make SSJ welcoming again let’s start by tearing down the ugly bars on the playground.

Robert

7/17/2018 10:47:31 am

Hypocrisy can’t be part of our church any more. The Sunday bulletin a couple of days ago made me think about it. I am going to quote what the bishop wrote here too.

“Whereas, I ask the faithful not to overlook or undervalue the pious, but nowadays set aside and often forgotten pratice, of the offering up of one’s sufferings for the souls in purgatory or for grown children who, for whatever reason(s), no longer practice the true faith nor avail themselves regularly of the sacrament of reconcilition so as to help prepare their hearts most fully for the spiritual blessings of the new Cathedral;”

It’s worth repeating his own words “…grown children who for whatever reason no longer practice the true faith...”I know first hand that Bishop Vann has received a lot of details about what is going on here. For him to act unaware of the reason kids left SSJ is pretty reckless of him.

SSJ Mom

7/17/2018 11:56:02 am

Omg the playground was a disaster on the VBS BBQ day. Barica went ballistic that day when he saw few of the kids playing there. He yelled at the parents, the kids, the VBS volunteers it was so crazy that a lot of us couldn’t really enjoy the kid’s performance.

Ex-SSJ

7/17/2018 12:45:42 pm

My kids got yelled at by Fr. Daniel on the field too! They went to school there but he told them they were trespassing because it was a weekend. I told Fr. Dan it was not right. He said he would talk to him but he must not have if he is still yelling. I don’t understand why kids being on the field is such a big deal. Did this happen to anyone else? If you don’t say something it is like it never happened and he gets away with it again and again. Yelling is frankly abusive and can’t come from a priest of all people. It is not rational behavior what’s wrong with him? Mine want nothing to do with SSJ. They know most of their class don’t go there anymore either. It makes me sick frankly because it was a great place. What do the Franciscans need to have happen before they do something have him hit a kid? He is too angry. Bishop, are you reading what is going on and why kids don’t go to church anymore? Wake up. Get him away from SSJ before something bad happens.

Vince G

7/17/2018 01:06:04 pm

I got this from a friend. Finally people are rising up. This Bafreaka a-hole yelled at our family too. (Yeah I said it and it felt good.) I thought we were the only ones. I saw the petition someone posted in the photos of SSJ’s Yelp page. It’s called “Sts. Simon and Rude”. We need to send him packing to get our reputation back.

Cindy

7/29/2018 01:40:45 pm

I just saw the petition. If you can’t find it here is what it says:

Sts. Simon and Rude

Once upon a time SSJ church was a welcoming, homey place where the Franciscan friars loved hearing about people’s recent life experiences, especially when it came to their faith journey. Now SSJ has become a place of unwelcoming judging friars disregard relationships made and maintained with the parishioners unless they have their pocketbooks ready.

Please sign if you are tired of being belittled by the pastor Fr. Daniel Barica, especially those that have been belittled by him for years without justice.

VBS volunteer

7/17/2018 03:22:26 pm

Yes I confirm the yelling on the last day of VBS. He was mad at everyone when he saw a couple of kids playing in the playground. I personally thought it was awkward. I also believe he is definitely unstable and could hurt the kids.

Afraid to be identified

7/17/2018 05:15:18 pm

This is no priest. And we are not a church right now. Instead, we are terrorized subjects of a dictator that no one is allowed to tell what to do. I can’t lose my job or I would come out in the open. How screwed up is that? Please Father Dan step in so I can keep my job. These last few years have been terrible for SSJ and has to change. As a teacher, it is clear to me that Father Daniel needs to step down immediately. WWJD is how a priest is supposed to behave. Kids feel confused and betrayed when a priest is angry and abusive. An encounter like that on the playground can stay with them the rest of their lives. I expect SSJ to pay for counseling to help anyone subject to this treatment. Please everyone, the next time an adult witnesses anything Father Daniel does wrong in church or in the office or in the school or anywhere, we have to work together as a group and immediately demand that he stop. Reporting abuse is not optional for us. Who is afraid of him? Don’t let him hide behind his habit and abuse one more person. All of this coming from a priest while his superiors ignore our cries is beyond baffling. If a parent had an outburst like that in front of the kids, many adults would immediately surround that person and stop it. Father Daniel can’t use his habit to get away with abuse. That is also an abuse of his position. He must have the complete opposite reaction and protect our children, not emotionally tear them apart. He is unstable. The longer the Franciscans wait to do something the more chance he won’t be able to control himself and get physical. The teachers will feel horrible if that happens because we should have stopped him years ago. I sure hope Father Dan feels just as horrible about what he is reading here. He cannot miss his chance to keep our kids safe and relieve Father Daniel in time. Did he steal from us? I think so but I would like to know for sure. Is Mark Purcell protecting him? Because of their relationship, absolutely.

Peter L

7/18/2018 08:28:46 am

I actually saw Heather Blake’s post about our priest doing mom M. M. in second grade before it got deleted. (I guess that makes him a Mother F-----.) He is doing Mark too? I always thought he was gay. That’s his choice but if the church does not yet accept the gay community this has to confuse our children so something needs to change.

Heather Blake

7/18/2018 02:12:41 pm

Peter you’re probably right about Barica being gay but if you see MM she’s a shemale, she even has a beer belly. Her husband on the other hand looks feminine.

7/18/2018 03:15:09 pm

Thanks Heather for exposing this phony. Sounds like Mark and Mary are both his type. Please send this to others so they can give his supervisors their thoughts on this site. They must be reading all this. I never liked him from the moment he opened his mouth. I remember seeing on the other blog that he must have compromising photos or knowledge of a scandal or something. That is the only logical reason the Franciscans and the bishop stayi shut up like they are. I saw Mark knows Daniel stole money but maybe he is getting away with it because the bishop abuses funds too. A church has to be transparent about everything especially this. Usually when leaders stay quiet and plead the 5th its because they don’t want to incriminate themselves. I hope someone writes what is going on.

Regina Flores

7/17/2018 05:53:45 pm

I left SSJ because of this Barica. Shame on bishop Vann for not doing anything about him till now. I left a review on the OC diocese Facebook page and I think we all should do the same maybe this will urge Vann to do something.

SSJ mom

7/18/2018 04:00:39 pm

Peter and Heather please let’s not call people names or label them. Remember we are Catholics so let’s act likewise. I am so mad at Fr. Daniel after what he did to the school and I never liked M at all, in fact she’s the reason why I stopped going to the fish fry but I still think they shouldn’t drag us to their level. I am not optimistic at all regarding the new school year and I am for sure not happy about this new principal but I am hopeful that soon all of this will pass because there is no way the diocese will stay silent after reading all of our comments.

7/18/2018 05:13:56 pm

You are right. It is not being done maliciously. But we have to speak up. The Catholic expectation that we should be obedient and say nothing is exactly why Daniel gets away with tearing apart SSJ. Saying nothing does not make him accountable. Heather already came forward with her full name and openly said who his mistress is. If it was not true the lawyers would have been all over her. Just like Theresa up in Santa Barbara said, with no legal action it must be true because they are not going to file a lawsuit they know they will lose with witness on the stand. At this point it really does not matter if he is gay with Mark because he already has to quit over not being celibate with M.M. If someone comes forward that also knows he is gay, that would double the reason to quit because our church does not yet accept that lifestyle most importantly for a priest. So Mark, is Daniel gay? Did he steal money like someone said you know about? Don’t protect him any more. Stop incriminating yourself by pleading the 5th and hiding from your congregation. We just want to know the truth.

Andrew

7/18/2018 07:08:23 pm

I wanted to be a priest for a while but I could not handle no sex and gave up. I read through all this and googled Fr. Dan and Fr. Daniel and found out when they became priests. Fr. Dan was ordained in 1996 when he was in his 30’s. Fr. Daniel was 3 years later in 1999 around 40. That is a whole second life. I could not turn it off early on so its got to be harder for someone used to sex. I am trying to figure out why someone said Fr. Daniel thinks he is untouchable and why Fr Dan still does nothing about all this. Some sort of retaliation? Bear with me because I am just trying to think about possibilities. Nobody expected other priests that got caught to be having sex. What if Fr Dan won’t do anything because he is afraid of retaliation from Fr Daniel exposing intimate times they had when they both lived here? Remember they were ordained much older to begin with so maybe they could not stop. Someone said they know Fr Michael is gay so he could have been part of this and left from retaliation worries too. I don’t know. This whole situation about what is happening here makes me want to throw up. Reading what the students wrote is sad. They should not have to go through any of this. Its our fault for allowing it.

Mike from SSJ

7/18/2018 07:13:27 pm

I am a student at SSJ and all I all I want is to get our P.E Coach Smith back please. I am hoping that he will be back and attend my class’s graduation in few years.

Fight for SSJ

7/18/2018 07:50:19 pm

I hope the diocese acts fast before the story gets published in the OC Register or any other local newspaper. We need to keep our dirty laundry from being aired in public If Barica leaves I think we should delete all posts and move on. We’ll need to focus on rebuilding our community.

7/18/2018 08:31:02 pm

Trying to cover this up is exactly how the church is able to move abusers and predators around to the next victims. We need to make sure Fr Daniel is stopped from abusing anyone ever again. These posts must remain so his next church can see what happened to us and the people in Santa Barbara. Plus we can't heal if we keep it all inside.

SSJ Rebel

7/18/2018 08:30:21 pm

I want Coach Smith back and Mrs cooper and Mrs Pinkofsky and Miss Rowe and Mrs Tucker and Mrs Velastegui and all the other teachers and helpers. I want to go back in time when SSJ was a happy loving community. Father Daniel if you’re reading this we know you hate being with us and guess what ?! We are not too fond of you either and for your information even the ones who pretend to like you are all phonies. My mom for example laughs with you all the time after mass then goes home and tells my dad how much she hates you. I know what y’all must be thinking now !!! No, she’s not a hypocrite she has to do this otherwise we’ll have to leave our parish. I feel so relieved to finally be able to express my feelings about this whole SSJ chaos.

7/18/2018 08:50:52 pm

Hi Rebel. Now that is a name from the good ol’ days. I saw the word “enabler” many times in these blogs. I understand why your mom laughed with Fr Daniel after mass, but this made her an enabler, just like all the others who were afraid to say something. She did not have to leave the church, she just needed to tell him the truth. Not doing this confirms and condones his behavior. Giving him a hug tells him he is liked and he is doing a good job. Do you see the mixed message? Its not your moms fault but she is one of the many adults that should have told him how she really feels. She still can this Sunday. You and her should also text Fr Dan and Mr Smith because they needs to know. And ask her to stop donating for now.

7/24/2018 12:39:08 am

Rebel,

I am following up to see if your mom finally told Fr Daniel the truth about how she feels this last Sunday? She needs to be brave. You said it’s a relief to express your feelings. I hope she or another adult did not tell you to now keep quiet. That is how this man called a priest goes unchecked. Be brave and tell your classmates to express their feelings too. No one not even your parents will be told who writes here. Don’t be afraid to tell the truth. Fr Dan and the bishop will read what you all write and it will tug at their hearts. The same goes for your parents. If your class keeps quiet Fr Daniel might still be here for your graduation.

Eucharistic Minister

7/19/2018 12:20:37 am

These are adult problems that the kids are now suffering from. I wanted to tell Father Daniel off so many times but I bit my tongue. I felt guilty that it would be disrespectful and sinful. Staying quiet means I chose his feelings over the kids. I feel terrible because maybe I could have kept just one more child from him. For all that left, I hope you found another place to worship where you feel welcome. If you are still here Scott makes sense…anyone who was yelled at or worries about his temper and does not feel safe, let Fr Dan and Russ know because they can do something.

SSJ parishioner

7/19/2018 02:54:31 pm

The diocese need feed back from us please send your complaints to Fr. Daniel Reader in the Bishops’ Office.

In regards to the principal/staffing at school, new complaints go to Dr. Erin Barisano, Superintendent of Schools. You can either email or send a letter to Dr. Erin at the pastoral center (13280 Chapman Avenue, Garden Grove, 928

Please don’t be afraid, let them know that you need to stay anonymous. Everyone who feels uncomfortable about what’s going on needs to act fast. You never know what’s going to happen to our children if Daniel stays at SSJ. If you cate about your kids you need to say something. Now is the best time and the more people to contact the diocese the faster they can act.

Joan

7/20/2018 10:05:12 am

Just yesterday Forbes wrote a story about Papa John’s we see in the news. It describes a toxic culture, mistreated employees and firing anyone who disagreed with management. It says the owner made sexual statements and inappropriate comments, mocked people, was prone to outbursts, and described himself as untouchable. And “when he was done with you, he was done with you”. It even says the co-CEO had mistress. Does this sound familiar?

If its not OK at a pizza company it’s really not OK at a church. We should be ashamed and embarrassed we let this go so long and stop this like Mary said they did in Santa Barbara. It is betrayal of our trust in the Franciscans for them to not tell us about his past. They lied to us and that is inexcusable.

School mom P

7/20/2018 12:20:08 pm

The SSJ parishioner wanting us to write the diocese is probably a waste of time because I see that they have already received years of complaints. I can’t trust Father Dan anymore with all the secrets he kept from us about Father Daniel so how could I trust some random church employee? I don’t want be listed on their internal report and have Father Daniel hurt my family like he has done to some of my friends. Its awful to think a priest would do this. And its awful for a priest to fire anyone. Leave school decisions to lay people so our kids faith doesn't get rocked. Father Daniel is seen as the bad guy for what he did to our school so how could our students ever trust him? We are spending thousands per year in tuition to build our kids faith only to have it destroyed by their own priest? What is the point of going to SSJ then? The only way to stop us from wasting our money is to get us a new priest our kids will trust. Someone who will run the church and stay separate from the school. If no change I am not going to throw my money away anymore. I will put it in my kids college account and put them in Moffett this fall where some of their friends already moved to and are happy.
I looked at the OC Register reporters listed on this blog and contacted Teri Sforza because she is a watchdog investigator. 714-796-6910 tsforza@scng.com I also followed Scott’s advice and emailed joelle@casteix.com We need adversaries like these to keep our kids safe. SSJ students and adults please write them and use this blog to get your feelings out there. We have to make sure the church stops sweeping this under the rug.

7/20/2018 02:13:52 pm

School mom P you could be right about the diocese but we need to try. I am thinking of Moffet as a plan B but I love SSJ and I want to fight for it. If Santa Barbara, San Francisco and Los Angeles were able to get rid of Barica then why can’t we do that too. SSJ is worth fighting for.

7/20/2018 04:13:22 pm

Yes its worth fighting for but we need adversaries to help us, not the franciscans or the diocese who have obviously been protecting him all these years. After what he did, I won't give him the chance to mess up my kids. They know what comes out of his mouth in church is not what he does. The public schools accept anyone even last minute registrations so my fight deadline is the start of the school year.

7/20/2018 04:23:20 pm

Totally agree with you and I am planning to leave by the start of the school year as well if Daniel is still there.

Thomas

7/21/2018 12:11:05 am

This is depressing. I am trying to process what I just learned here. His last church actually fought to get rid of him. Why weren’t we told. I am pretty disgusted with Fr. Dan and Fr. Rusty right now. Telling us was not optional.

Sally O.

7/22/2018 05:03:46 am

I don’t know what to say about this man but they need to get him out of SSJ before school starts. He is a big bully for sure. They can bring us one of the priests from St Vincent De Paul and remove the Franciscans.

B. R

7/22/2018 05:59:04 am

I also don’t know what to say about Daniel or Mary. I never liked either one of them. If you ask me I don’t think they’re having an affair because the woman is not attractive at all, however, they are for sure very close. I saw her during bingo and was wondering how she felt knowing that some people hate her guts for meddling with the school’s affairs and telling him what to do, ofcourse he’s the one to blame for listening to this crazy woman but she has a wicked way of back stabbing others and is surrounded by haters like her. Next year will be interesting, I am sure the new principal will try to make it work but I doubt she’ll be able to keep up with the crazy SSJ moms. It sure will be interesting to watch.

7/22/2018 01:56:40 pm

Looks can’t really matter to a priest who has to stay in the dark about having sex. Heather Blake openly said Daniel’s affair is real with full disclosure of who she is and who he is having an affair with. Neither Daniel nor the church has disputed her statement.

7/23/2018 06:04:00 pm

We received a pitiful email from the new principal. Part of it was a pathetic plea to have patience with this chaos caused by Barica and the other part is a fast food menu. We’re used to Crystal’s encouragement quotes and meaningful bible verses while this new one is talking about their major failure and food. What a loss.

7/23/2018 08:06:32 pm

I have been verbally attacked by Barica, went to the parish, then the diocese. Still nothing, in fact they made me feel like I was the problem. It would be great it you could publish excerpt of the school newsletter here.

Johnson

7/23/2018 07:06:51 pm

I have been following this closely. For those of us that do not have kids in school, can someone please post the principles email verbatim? I think all are interested for seeing what she said about the chaos and barica. And any student with how they feel right now, or what they heard anyone say? We have to speak up or live with more chaos.

7/23/2018 09:41:05 pm

Here is a big part of her message
“Dear Sts. Simon & Jude Community,

This message comes to you collectively from among your leaders at SSJ! We (Father Daniel, Pastor; Mrs. Sharon Daniels, Assistant Principal; Mrs. Colleen Murray, Pastoral Administrator; and I, your new School Principal) hope that everyone has been enjoying their summer and been taking a fair amount of time for rest and relaxation! We hope that your children swam in the ocean, spent an afternoon in a cool movie theater, read on the front porch, and played until the sun went down. We hope that you have had juicy burgers, ice cold milkshakes, and tasty watermelon.

In this Sunday's gospel, Jesus invites his co-workers to "rest a while." This is such a great image for summertime when school is out of session. It's also a reminder that as all baptized Christians partner with Christ in the mission field, a well-deserved rest also provides time to reflect and discern where we want to go. In that regard, we hope that you have been able to accept and embrace the personnel changes made recently as necessary for adjusting to the current student enrollment and to keep school tuition from increasing. We understand that such changes can cause anxiety and a fear of the unknown. Our hope is to alleviate your concerns and support this wonderful school as it moves into its next chapter.

We wanted to make sure that we share important information with you as it comes up throughout the remaining weeks of summer. We are doing our best to address certain aspects of the school that will need to be in place for the start to a successful school year. It is our philosophy to share this information with faculty and staff first and then communicate it to the parent community as a whole. We ask for your patience as we work hard to prepare for the new year and your understanding as there are pieces of information that we may not be at liberty to share until details are finalized. Our approach to parent communication is transparency and we promise to do our very best to keep the lines of communication clear and open.

As indicated above, personnel changes were made in consultation with the Diocese of Orange, Department of Catholic Schools. Since then we have worked hard to accommodate those changes. “

She then gave some updates on the faculty change and added that “ In the year 2018, security is of the highest concern and the new front office will be the first step in creating a safer space for your children and our faculty and staff. With this renovation, will come some protocol changes. We ask for your patience and understanding as we implement these changes to keep your loved ones safe. The new protocol will be shared with you before the school year begins.

There are many more things in the works that we hope will best serve you and your children for a great year! We will communicate them to you throughout the remainder of the summer.

Thank you for maintaining a positive outlook during this difficult transition! We can't thank you enough for your support as we acclimate and work our hardest for you!

As always, please reach out to us with any questions and concerns. We are here to ease any anxiety you might have. We ask that you please have faith and patience as we start off the year on a positive note.

Blessings-
Dr. Colette Marie O'Bannion, Father Daniel, Mrs. Sharon Daniels, and Mrs. Colleen Murray”

7/23/2018 10:29:01 pm

There are 2 areas that everyone should look at very carefully in the principals/staff letter. It states that families have "anxiety and fear of the unknown".
#1 Statement:
"We understand that such changes can cause anxiety and a fear of the unknown. Our hope is to alleviate your concerns and support this wonderful school as it moves into its next chapter."
-------------
If there is no problems, why would they state there is?
How will they alleviate the concerns?
What is the new chapter going to be like?
------------
Secondly, note that the Diocese of Orange consulted with SSJ to make personnel changes:
#2 Statement:
"personnel changes were made in consultation with the Diocese of Orange, Department of Catholic Schools. Since then we have worked hard to accommodate those changes."
------------
Did that involve diocesan attorneys?
Why does the diocese NOT do anything about complaints about Barica from parishioners, youth from the parish and other priests?
Does anyone know how much money has been spent on legal matters due to Barica since he has been at SSJ?
What about extra problems with construction?
-------------
TO GET THEIR ATTENTION: STOP DONATING
It is my hope and prayer that the SSJ will be able regain peace and dignity. I believe the only way is to get rid of Barica. Since Barica came to SSJ the community has been divided, school families have left and parishioners have gone to other places of worship. Barica should resign or be removed. It is my prayer to stop the fear, anxiety, and abuse.
How can the people come together and make a plan to get rid of Barica?
The easiest is to simply STOP donating - tell all your friends to STOP DONATING!
#RemoveBarica

SSJ alumni family

7/24/2018 08:00:06 am

I bet my kid’s education that the new principle was not warned about Barica and what she stepped into. A new hire is supposed to have full disclosure but now she is taking on stress that should not be part of her job. Two things come to mind when I read her words: “…personnel changes were made in consultation with the Diocese of Orange…” This tells me the Diocese did not first consult with SSJ before deciding who to axe but it was the other way around. Take Russ Smith for example. Fr. Daniel must have had his name on a proposed termination list so the diocese would have known in advance. He must have been doing something wrong if he was let go here, but then the diocese hired him an hour later. For his new employer to allow him to get fired and then hire him so quickly can’t be right.

It also says they have to adjust to the current student enrollment. What happened to our long wait list? They should do a survey and ask those families why they left. But you probably already figure its Fr. Daniel. SSJ used to be a place where if you did not start out in kindergarten it was almost impossible to get in. These are good economic times so enrollment should be just as strong.

Then she says the changes are to keep tuition from increasing. School families, take that as your fore warning that tuition will go up. Until Fr. Daniel is gone, enrollment will continue to decline plus they will have to pay for his cost of remodeling the front office. The ones left behind will have to foot the bill. Security is the excuse to remodel but no amount of security can keep a bad person off the sidewalk. All you have to do is look at the fence around the playground to realize that the thousands he spends is about his peace and quiet after hours, not security.

I like the SSJ mom’s idea of putting the money saved in tuition in her kid’s college fund. We live in a very desired school district, Eader and Moffet have great teachers. Paying for college was so hard and I wish I sent my kids to public school instead.

SSJ mom E

7/24/2018 04:33:19 pm

I have few questions regarding this whole situation.

Number one: Crystal had been SSJ’s principal for 21 years. The school was one of the Top schools in OC and not just HB. The students were excelling both academically and in Sports. We used to have a waitlist until 2012 when Daniel showed up. Many families have left the parish after his famous oil rubbing homily. Then his dispute with his neighbors. Then his uncontrollable tantrums...... etc. However, he let her go along with other wonderful faculty members and his excuse was that the enrollment was down. Seriously???!!!!!

Number 2: This “lady M” if there is nothing going on between them then how come he fired every single person who she had an issue with ? How come she is the only one allowed to show up at the parish office and see him without making an appointment? How come whenever he goes she’s there ? I literally see her before and after mass talking to him, at school, in his office, the playground...... Did anyone hear how she talks to him ?? Believe me she can tell him anything and he’ll never get mad , can the rest of us do the same ??? What’s her secret ? From what I know most of the popular moms and many others hate her but still talk to her out of fear. My question is why is everyone so scared of her ?

SSJ mom who won't be stopped

7/25/2018 07:48:24 pm

I was alerted to this website by fellow SSJ parents. I am happy to see the actionable steps that are listed here and hope that many people follow them.

We are in a very dark time at our school, but we all have to remember that we will be here long after Fr. Daniel is gone. It is our job to rally together and make sure this ridiculous situation doesn't effect our kids. I want to stay at our school, my kids are happy and are getting a great education. I can only hope that our new principal isn't a puppet and follow his incredibly bad ideas.

I have written to the Archdiocese on multiple occasions regarding Fr. Daniel, unfortunately I have not heard back, but it makes me feel like I am doing something. The following is part of a letter I recently sent:
I am writing to you as a concerned parent of Sts. Simon & Jude students, and as a parishioner of the church. As you are well aware, there have been numerous personnel and policy changes at the school over this past year that have been wildly unpopular and have made dozens of wonderful families leave.
There are many reasons for the problems, but the heart of the issue is Fr. Daniel Barica. The problems stem from Fr. Daniels complete lack of leadership skills, his bullying behavior, and his questionable actions and words.
My family has spent 6 years at the school and 10 as parishioners. I have watched the community feeling diminish year after year since his arrival. I am at the point where I have had enough. I stayed silent hoping the typical 6 year assignment would be up and he would leave, only to find out that he was renewed for 4 more years. Is anyone paying attention to what is happening?
Fr. Daniels leadership, or lack of can be documented on so many levels including:
• Not renewing Mrs. Pinkofsky’s contract after 21 years of service? She was an amazing leader who stood up to Fr. Daniel and saved our school from so many of his bad ideas only to be rewarded with being terminated.
• Not renewing Mr. Russ Smith’s contract, and denying to people that he did so. Russ Smith was the hardest working man at SSJ, and did more for the school than anyone. Firing him was Fr. Daniel being vendictive for the ideas and policies that he wouldn’t implement. The Diocese is lucky to have him, but he be sorely missed on campus.
• Spending millions on a parking lot design and putting a band aid on so many other needed updates.
• Mis-managing the updates and construction on campus. “No one is going to give something for nothing…they want something in return” in referring to a long time parishioner who is an Archdiocese approved contractor when offering his services for free to update Colman Hall.
• Completely mis-managing the personnel changes within the school. All of them could and should have been with dignity and class, but instead he treated them all like a game.
• Not allowing teachers on campus when the new principle is touring
• NEVER shows up to school functions, or walks the halls but makes all of the decisions?
• Telling the school marketing committee “I don’t care if our enrollment goes down…the only thing I care about that each family shows up to church on Sunday.”
• Cancelling all school summer programs
• Cancelling the Santa breakfast
• The list goes on…..
Fr. Daniel’s bulling behavior:
• “Children are supposed to be seen & not heard”
• “Parents don’t care about the sacrament, only the party.” Referring to first communion.
• Openly mocking people in stories he is relaying about confessions.
• Makes rude remarks when you attend mass “nice of you to show up” “not on a party weekend?” “we won’t see you after first communion”
• Blatant rudeness to school parents
• Yelling at students who play on the fields during non-sanctioned school activities
Questionable actions
• Inappropriate sermons during Sunday masses AND the Friday liturgy service for the kids.
• Rumors of stealing from the collection
• Rumors of an affair with a parishioner and school parent (THIS alone should be investigated and grounds for a transfer)
• Legal battles with neighbors who have lived there for decades (due to his rudeness and behavior)
• Aligned himself with parents who spread gossip and spread rumors of things he says, does or wants to implement throughout the school.
We are currently living in a society that is integrity is in crisis and we ignoring what are leaders are doing and accepting bullying and bad behavior. We shouldn’t accept that from the church too. All of these actions are inexcusable from a leader, but completely indefensible coming from a priest-someone who should be respected and followed. I implore you to please help save our school and parish and remove Fr. Daniel from it!

Save SSJ

7/28/2018 08:32:40 am

Great letter! Thanks for being a brave mom. Can anyone else post what they wrote? That will help us.

Michael P.

7/28/2018 07:41:24 pm

You wrote the Archdiocese multiple times and they never responded? I wrote twice and nothing back either. How are these people called Catholics? They are supposed to lead us not manipulate us by keeping us in check. Fr Daniel really told the school marketing committee he does not care if school enrollment goes down? Going to Catholic school is the biggest part of giving kids our faith. An hour on Sunday won’t work. Not caring about losing students tells me the church is really about collecting money and not saving souls. Watch your pocketbooks school families because less and less enrollment has to equate to higher tuition. I won’t be one of the families that sticks around and pays through the nose because of his attitude.

SSJ Faculty memeber

7/26/2018 06:18:03 am

If you all think it’s bad right now, just wait till the school starts. The new security system is not practical and in my opinion will do more harm than good. The new principal is so lost and I am sorry to say that but she is not too bright. Ironically, Father Daniel is the one making all of the school decisions although he had never ever been involved with the school before. To sum it all up, this school year will be very challenging.

Leslie

8/5/2018 09:44:12 pm

Hi faculty member,

After seeing how Barica really upset a lot of people with this weeks bulletin, can you give us an update of what going on?

7/26/2018 02:06:36 pm

Thanks to everyone for your courage to stand up to Daniel Barica, and to speak out against the injustices of the church--particularly on this issue.

The comments left on this site will help to document the abuse of power perpetrated by one of the most notoriously divisive and incompetent pastors in this or any other diocese.

I, and many other clergy abuse survivors who follow this blog, stand with you.

I knew Daniel Barica in the nineties when he was a Franciscan novice serving in Santa Barbara at a closed-down St. Anthony's Seminary--the same school I attended in the sixties when I was fourteen and studying for the priesthood. His unresolved issues at that time were a clear indication to me that he needed help. A psychological evaluation should have raised serious questions about his emotional fitness to become an ordained priest.

But the Franciscans desperately needed bodies to fill their habits, and they chose to ignore disturbing signs, much the same way they chose to ignore sexual predators in their order who ended up causing great harm and suffering to so many people--not to mention the millions of dollars they were forced too pay out in civil damages.

As a community, you have much more power than Barica and the diocese pretend to have over a parish. Keep speaking out. Go on record. Keep writing letters to the bishop, the Franciscans, the news media. Fight back. Withhold financial support, Boycotting Sunday collections. Ignore appeals for funds. Use the power and reach of Facebook and Twitter (#RemoveBarica) and other forms of social media to keep this issue in the public eye.

IMPORTANT: Many have expressed a serious concern about the children at SSJ. Those who believe their children are at risk and are subject to an unsafe environment at SSJ as a result of Daniel Barica's behavior, should put these concerns in writing and bring them to the immediate attention of the Diocese of Orange and the Franciscans.

The church is mandated to investigate any claims that involve the safety of children.

Below is the address of the Franciscan's Pastoral Outreach Coordinator, Angelica Jochim, a licensed psychotherapist, who should be kept informed about what's happening at SSJ.

Write a letter, send an email, or phone:

Angelica Jochim, MFT
Pastoral Outreach Coordinator
Franciscan Office of Pastoral Outreach
PO Box 1137
Sebastopol, CA 95473
1 800 770-8013
angelica.jochim@gmail.com

Anthony

7/28/2018 09:14:31 am

Kat, Keep in mind that the complaints go back to long before Fr Daniel first came to SSJ. They already had years to do their investigation. By telling your daughter and her friends to calm down, that will just take the heat off and allow him to keep hurting our kids. When people stop complaining the diocese will take that as problem solved. What if your kids and grandkids lose their faith because of him? This might already have happened so you should ask them. Don’t tolerate one more excuse by a church leader to delay. They must take immediate action like CBS did when they received complaints about their leader.
Reviewing these comments, Mrs C in the parish office, do you have an update for us about Fr Daniel? What about hearing from the SSJ student who said his mom laughs with him after church then goes home and says how much she hates him? Do other students want to write about what he has done to your school? This is a good place to continue to vent anonymously for the church leaders to see. Trusting our faith and keeping quiet and obedient is exactly what Rev Reader and the Franciscans want. Keeping us quiet means they won’t have to make a change like they were forced to do when the people of Santa Barbara and Los Angeles decided to fight back. He should have been removed from SSJ just because of what he did to those past parishioners, long before our teachers were fired and before all the kids and families left us. This is a tragedy that would have been avoided if Fr Dan and the church did not decide to cover up his past.

Mrs C

7/28/2018 09:29:17 am

Anthony, I hate to tell you this but Daniel is taking all of this very lightly. He reads the blog and is confident that nothing will happen to him. A lot of the parish staff are kissing up to him but talk about him from behind his back. Let me tell you this, SSJ was never this bad before. I mean, we had our disagreements but we were never this fearful, hateful, fake or two faced. Thanks to the atmosphere Daniel created now you can’t even trust the person sitting next to you.

8/2/2018 03:04:52 am

I am so sorry for how divided this community has become. It makes me very sad....please tell everyone you can to:
STOP DONATING TO SSJ
that is the only real control we have. I stopped donating a while back

Baptism Ministry volunteer

7/28/2018 09:58:52 am

The idea that Daniel takes this lightly is very sad. Maybe it is because most of us write anonymously so we are not attacked. It's 2 faced like you say but we do ot want to be forced out. It is good to know he is reading this so let him have it. Some stated their full names like Heather Blake, Rachel Chu, Regina Flores and John Gronbeck-Tedesco. Please let us know if anyone did anything to you. We all need to express our feelings - anonymously or not. Like Mr. Fericano said, we need to keep speaking out and withholding our donations to get our point across.

This situation is similar to what actress Leah Remini says about the Church of Scientology. She said if you speak out you are labeled an enemy of the church. They are very judgmental of anyone who is not a Scientologist. She said people who come forward get bullied into silence. They even have specific policies about how to deal with someone who speaks out against them. You will lose your friends and family that are part of the church. Critics are called liars and their credibility gets attacked. She said it is not easy to speak up against your church but it is the right thing to do.

She might as well be describing SSJ. People in our ministry have heard Daniel being judgmental of anyone who is not a Catholic or not a “real” Catholic. We should be able to openly talk about what is wrong here without being labeled an enemy and bullied into silence by the person next to us we thought we could trust. This is a church but it feels more like an emotional prison.

Like Mr Fericano said, we ultimately have power over him. We just need to speak up like his other parishes finally did. The more we talk to each other on this site, the less he will be able to control us. I also contacted the Worthy Adversary who was named in one of these comments. She is gathering information to help us. joelle@casteix.com

I work with Mrs C

7/28/2018 12:12:20 pm

Here is an email string I was able to retrieve back to 2014 that shows complaints back then. This guy was one of our largest contributors at $1000 per month! I do not see where he ever reinstated his donations.

Colleen R. Murray
Sep 01 07:31 AM
Mercy and Mr. ,

I am not sure if you included Mr. in the email that you sent to me. I am including him now. Please honor Mr. ’s request and suspend his donations beginning today and not after the September donation has posted. Mr. , I am so sorry for the upset that you are experiencing. I would be happy to meet with you and the parish pastoral administrator in order to address and discuss your concerns. Please let me know if there is a time that works best for you.

Colleen Murray
Finance Manager
Sts. Simon & Jude Church
714-794-1854
--------
Mercy M. (Customer Support)
Sep 01 05:19 AM
Dear ,

Thank you for contacting ParishPay,
As per our conversation, I will cancel you scheduled donation on 09/06/2014 after it gets taken out for the month of September. I will email you notifying you once this is done.

Best Regards,
Mercy M.

Client Services Representative
YapStone
PLEASE NOTE: Attachments will always show below the e-signature as a clickable link/file that you can
open/save/print.
.............................................................................................................
RentPayment | VacationRentPayment | DuesPayment | StorageRentPayment | InnPayment | ParishPay
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Aug 31 11:05 PM
Please suspend my donations to Saints Simon and Jude Parish until further notice.

In talking to other parishioners, I am hearing a lot of complaints about wasted money and Fr. Daniels' anger issues.

I am also concerned about the loose way funds are being used by Fr. Daniel such as the remodel of the priests' houses and the upcoming construction lot project.

Are there budgets for these projects, and if so, where are they? Who approved them other than Fr Daniel?

I have been hearing other very disturbing comments concerning Father Daniel all of them within this past since Fr. Daniel was sent to SSJ.

Before I ever continue donating again to SSJ I would like to know how much in legal bills has spent by SSJ since Fr. Daniel arrived?

I work very hard for the money I earn and I don't appreciate my donations being wasted.

Parish finances and information should be transparent to its donors and members. I need to agree with how money is being spent in order to resume my donations to the parish.

Thank you and I wait for a timely reply.

7/28/2018 12:58:44 pm

Here is the text of a letter on file I found sent by David Gaa in charge of the Franciscans. At least one of us got some kind of answer although this was not really an answer. I read through what this person wrote to both the Franciscans and the diocese. She was worried about her children after hearing Father Daniel has sexual energy. She wanted to know if her kids were safe. That is very reasonable for a mom to ask in light of all the other priests who abused kids without referring to sexual energy. She also was worried about her kids safety over his anger which she said she personally experienced.

Ms

Huntington Beach, CA 92646

September 14, 2016

Dear Ms.

May God give you peace.

I am writing to acknowledge receiving copies of your email correspondence with many people regarding Fr. Dan Barica, OFM, the Pastor of Sts. Simon and Jude parish that you sent to me last week. As I am sure you are aware, Sts. Simon and Jude parish is part of the Diocese of Orange and all personnel concerns are handled directly by the diocese. I encourage you to bring any problems you have regarding the parish or the parish staff directly to them.

Sincerely Yours,

Fr. David Gaa, OFM
Minister Provincial
510-536-3722

He wishes her peace but then he never gives her a reason to be at peace with her worries. The Provincial obviously passed the buck. I do not see anything on file from the diocese since then telling her not to worry. It is very disturbing for me to find this. Reverend Reader telling one of us that he is working on it is a bunch of bull. He already had years to work on it. And why would a priest tell us he is not allowed to make further comments? That in itself is not being truthful coming from a holy man. He and all the other priests should go to confession for anything they decide not to tell us about Father Daniel.

7/28/2018 01:10:14 pm

Here is an email in our database that shows Father Ryan is in on this. It's bad enough that Father Dan knew. This is very disappointing. I thought they were real priests that I could trust. They should be ashamed of what they have allowed to happen at SSJ. How can Father Ryan now face us after mass? We need an apology.

From: Paul Fericano <mysafenet@yunews.com>
To: Ryan Thornton <rthornton@ssj.org>
Subject: Re: Concerns at Saints Simon and Jude
Date: Wed, Nov 2, 2016 12:36 pm

Ryan Thornton, OFM
SS Simon & Jude

Dear Ryan,

It has taken me quite some time to sort through all my feelings in order to respond in a frank and thoughtful manner. I trust you and others will accept what I have to offer in good faith.

I was saddened and troubled to read your response to (Oct. 12), which you copied to me and several others in this email thread. Regardless of what anyone may think of or her reasons for coming forward, she does not deserve to be dismissed by you, the Franciscans, and the Diocese of Orange. Her rejection is a repudiation of every survivor who has attempted to get the church to listen to them. And that includes me.

It would be easy to excuse a friar's inexperience in these matters. But ignoring grievances, invoking church attorneys, and using veiled threats are all triggers that would seem to indicate a disturbing absence of pastoral skills. When new members of the clergy respond in this way, attempting to silence people rather than acknowledge their feelings and experiences, serious questions need to be raised.

What should we believe are the intentions of a newly ordained follower of St. Francis of Assisi? What does a friar's apparent allegiance to a fellow friar tell us about that friar's understanding of the clergy abuse crisis? What are we to make of his sensitivity and compassion for those who seek his help? And what does it divulge about the Franciscans in general when some Franciscans behave in unFranciscan ways and are not held publicly accountable?

You have every right to ask to be removed from email list. But to make that appeal as a Catholic priest without truthfully addressing her concerns is simply unacceptable. Such a request immediately becomes woven into the fabric of a greater denial. Unfortunately, it is precisely this kind of revictimizing that continues to haunt the Franciscans and the church.

Dan Barica’s hurtful language and behavior are painfully real for many of us. This may be an unpleasant reality for you and other members of the clergy to accept, but there's a terrible history here that's repeating itself. Only when the Franciscans and the Diocese of Orange can accept and deal with the problem honestly and compassionately will the suffering be relieved.

All of us, Catholic, nonCatholic, laity and clergy alike, have been battered by the systemic blows of clergy abuse. We have all been traumatized by its dark shadow. The current election cycle and the anxious political climate it has created is a stark reminder of what happens when tyrants are elevated to positions of power and claim the truth is what they say it is.

Before responding to similar situations in the future, I sincerely hope you and other friars will pause to consider the impact your words may have, as both priests and Franciscans, on everyone who struggles to be understood.

In peace,

Paul Fericano, Director
SafeNet
www.mysafenet.org
A Room With A Pew
www.roomwithapew.com

7/28/2018 02:20:10 pm

I am also concerned about what is happening at SSJ. Many children are leaving the school because of Father Daniel - and we probably will as well if things don't change.

For those not receiving a satisfactory response from local church officials, you might want to reach out to the "US Corporate Office" who has people in charge of public affairs (they are the ones who end up dealing with the bad press that the church gets nationally).

Contact them and let them know what is happening and that the local church officials are not responding or doing anything to address a priest talking about his "sexual energy" in front of children. Along with the other abuses that make a "juicy scandal" for an investigative reporter.

Public Affairs
The Office of Public Affairs represents the Catholic Bishops of the United States to the media and the media to the bishops. Responsibilities include preparing and distributing statements and other resources for the media, arranging for interviews with bishops and staff of the USCCB, organizing press conferences, responding to media queries and credentialing media for coverage of such events as the bishops' annual meetings.

Media inquiries are welcomed via email (media-relations@usccb.org) or by calling 202.541.3200. Non-media callers may call 202.541.3000 for assistance.

http://www.usccb.org/about/public-affairs/index.cfm

If they get involved hopefully that gets the local church officials to act who are trying to sweep this under the rug.

M.H

7/28/2018 04:32:11 pm

First of all everyone is blaming Fr. Daniel when the actual responsibility falls on the diocese. The diocese placed him at SSJ and even if he wants to leave he can’t do it without its consent.

Second, letting Crystal, Russ and all the others go was a huge mistake and it’s all because of this grisly M. Who needs to leave SSJ and go back to wherever the hell she came from

Patrick B.

7/28/2018 05:51:51 pm

Here is what a Men’s Club Member wrote on the Worthy Adversary website about the movie Spotlight. He was in a meeting with Mel Jurisich who said it was his decision to send Daniel to SSJ. Makes sense because how would the diocese know which Franciscan was available?
The primary fault is Daniel because of how he acts and treats people. Hardly “do unto others” and most of the other commandments if you ask me. But just as responsible are all of his enablers like Fr Dan and Fr Ryan now that I realize how they covered for him. Rev Reader, Bishop Vann, and the rest of the diocese are also enablers by not taking action when the complaints started years ago. Most of all, any of us who keep donating, keep volunteering, keep working, and keep saying hi to him after mass as if we like him, are the worst enablers of all. I quit because I could not take him any longer. And yes, I know he stole from us. We need to stop supporting him like the other churches did to get rid of him - or keep paying the price with our children’s lost souls who leave the church.

Mens Club member says:
July 7, 2016 at 9:19 pm
“I was afraid to speak up earlier about this. In February a group of us from SSJ went to the annual mens retreat in Malibu. This time the former Provincial Fr. Mel Jurisich was there. During a meeting behind closed doors he said he was the one who decided to send Fr. Daniel to SSJ to “straighten him out”. This shocked me because that means the Franciscans know he has a problem.
There were a lot of complaints when Fr. Daniel was at St. Francis Parish in LA. When too many people stopped donating Mel said he was transferred to Santa Barbara to keep an eye on him. Then after those parishioners got upset Mel decided to transfer him to SSJ. Mel even said Fr. Daniel owes him one. I guess giving him a promotion after he upset all those people would be a very special favor. This makes me think there is something more to their relationship.
It is not surprising to find out lots of students left the school seeing how many don’t come to church anymore. I talked to one of them who said its because of how mad Fr. Daniel and the principle are all the time. Some were getting detentions every week but they did not care. And this student told me most of the ones that are staying say they don’t ever want to come back to SSJ after they graduate. That must be why the average age of this congregation is rising so fast. Cantor Patrick and others quit. Mark and Maurice should tell you the real reason.
Moving Fr. Daniel around is like how they moved problem priests from church to church. Many in our group are not donating now. I don’t know how many more people need to stop donating before they finally do something but I think that day is coming.”

SSJ Finance Council

7/28/2018 08:21:26 pm

After reading all of this for the first time my heart breaks. I can’t stay quiet any longer. The idea that no one receives an answer from the Franciscans or the diocese for years is completely wrong. Ignoring us faithful is the real story here. This is a betrayal of our trust in the church. St Francis has to be be turning over in his grave.
This is a religious organization that is supposed to care for people. If we ask for help we should each get a reply. I can’t be part of this sham anymore. But like the rest of you that stay anonymous, I do not want to be persecuted and attacked and have to leave my church.
I promised I would keep this confidential when I was a volunteer but I can’t be part of the cover up. Theft of money by Father Barica is not a rumor. I confirm what Patrick B said. Father Barica stole from us. But the church is not pressing charges for two reasons…bad publicity will cause people to stop donating and his supervisors are afraid of Father Barica because what he knows can really hurt them. They are worried he will retaliate and cause tremendous damage to the church. That is why Mrs C in the church office said he is taking all of this so lightly. Threat of retaliation against his own superiors is another abuse of his power.
This whole situation has its beginnings in the church sex scandal. Years ago Bishop Vann promised our money would not be used to pay for his priest sex abuse settlement of $100+ million. But Vann is using our money. It’s the Pastoral Services Appeal. It’s also the weekly collection. Do you know the Finance Council and our church do not control the donations? Every dollar SSJ collects for anything goes to the Bishop’s account. Vann takes over control of our money and decides what to do with it like any payments to the sex victims, paying for the $100+ million remodel cost of Christ Cathedral, and then maybe we get back enough to pay our bills. You might think you are helping the Franciscans when you donate but this church is under diocese control so very little if any ever makes it to the friars.
Mark Purcell is a good friend of Bishop Vann. Vann was notified by Mark and Father Shaughnessey after Father Shaughnessey caught Father Barica taking cash from the weekly collection. Remember when he was traveling a lot? No one understood how a priest could afford to do this. Well, he took cash on Sunday night before anyone was able to count it on Monday. Instead of arresting Father Barica for embezzlement like would happen at any corporation, Vann covered it up. Vann did not want any bad publicity plus he knows Father Barica has leverage over him. None of this feels very holy and Christ-like. Only God knows how much cash Father Barica stole and if he is still doing it with Father Shaughnessey gone. People on the Finance Council know about the embezzlement. We expected the church to take swift action. Once we saw that the bishop protected him we became too afraid to say anything because who would parishioners believe? The bishop of course.
There is more the diocese does not want Father Barica to expose. For those of you who are contractors, many of you offered free or discounted services for work like the landscaping and construction of our parking lot. This project ended up costing $3,161,843. This is much more than anyone expected. (Some thought the construction should only cost a couple hundred thousand dollars.) I know parish contractors who got very upset when their free or discounted offers were turned down and contracts were instead awarded to regular priced non-Catholic contractors coming from far away cities like Riverside.
Why would the bishop turn down free work from fully licensed and insured parish contractors? It’s because church construction projects are the new fundraiser. How? The bishop requires a 10% “donation” back to the diocese on all contracts they award. The higher the contract and the more the parish pastor wants to spend, the bigger the kick back. Think about it, if the diocese accepted free work like they used to, 10% of free would be zero extra to help pay for the sex abuse settlement. Without the 10% kick back, this project should have been around $2.9 million, still much higher than it should have cost.
But even if that was the right price, anyone in construction knows that profits are slim. So knowing they must kick back 10% causes each trade to pad their price by 10%. So instead of having to raise $2.9M from parishioners for the Parking Lot Project, Father Barica has to get almost $300,000 extra out of us to cover the bishops “donation” requirement. That is a lot of extra money we are expected to pay for.
But there is even more still. Like us, most churches do not have enough saved to be able to do the work. Against my wishes, we spent our savings of $1,365,363 to start work on the new parking lot. Then the bishop loaned us $1,796,480 to finish the project. This makes constr

7/28/2018 08:26:47 pm

This makes construction projects an even bigger fundraiser because of the interest the diocese receives from us on his loans. At 10% interest, that is an additional $180,000 we must pay the first year. The interest goes down as the loan is paid back each year but it is still substantial. By the time we pay off the bishop, our new parking lot could end up costing us $4-5 million. And the bishop probably got $1 million+ in kick backs and interest payments added to his bank account that we end up paying for. Imagine the good all this money could have done instead.
The church should have been honest with our contractors and told them that they don’t accept free anymore because construction is now a huge fundraiser for the diocese.
What I am saying about all this can easily be verified with an investigation. Get a copy of the diocese construction contract to see the kick back they require. Is that even legal? To investigate the embezzlement, start with Father Shaughnessey, Mark Purcell, and Dan Hart who I read also knows about this. Talk to the Finance Council. You might need to give people a lie detector test or a deposition under oath. As Catholics we should not have to do this because we are supposed to tell the truth. But with all the cover up going on I would not be surprised if people decide to lie until they are forced to tell the truth.

Nancy

7/29/2018 01:18:42 pm

What the… Why is this crook of a priest still here then? I never liked him but I did not know he was stealing from us. It looks like they also need to depose Bishop Vann because of what Fr. Rusty told him. And Fr. Dan because he is a Franciscan leader. Fr. Rusty must have told him about the money too.

Cancelling Parish Pay

8/8/2018 01:34:17 pm

Thank you for telling me what happens to my money…I was mislead…I thought the Franciscans controlled it!....I am sure God won’t mind me stopping my donations and give to another charity that I know how my money is being used…I do not like Fr. Daniel anyway…I think of a couple of four letter words when I see him…I have to go to confession but I can't help thinking this...Butt Wipe

SSJ mom who’s very upset

7/29/2018 05:30:50 am

I still can’t comprehend how could Father Daniel let Coach Smith go? My kids were devastated on the last day of school when they learned that he’s leaving. This man would always be there greeting the kids in the morning, joking with them during recess, playing with then during P.E, safety wise he used to be there watching the school and making sure none of the homeless are getbear the students. He would set up the barricades, hold the stop sign during pick up , watch the kids crossing during drop off ..... all of the kids adored him. I told mine that father Daniel is the one behind all of this and that even though he’s a priest he doesn’t act like one. I made sure they know how bad this man is and told them to stay away from him if they see him at school. I personally never felt like he’s genuine, his homilies were all fake and he alwseemed too dramatic and eccentric.
As for the new principal he hired, I feel sorry for her. She doesn’t know what she got herself into.
Even if we get rid of Daniel, the mess he left behind won’t be fixed that easily.

7/31/2018 02:54:59 pm

I read through this again so let me get this straight. Father Daniel embezzled and is having an affair. He tells our children he has sexual energy. He has a mental disorder. Franciscan Mel Jurisich moved him to SSJ to straighten him out. Before that the parishioners in Los Angeles had a sit-in in protest and the parishioners of Santa Barbara fought to get rid of him. Father Dan and Father Rusty decided not to tell us about his past and all those people he upset before they moved him here. Parishioners at SSJ have also been complaining to Father Dan and the diocese for many years. He fires the principle and teachers that have been here over 20 years because his girlfriend Mary from second grade wanted him to. Fathers Dan, Rusty, Vincent and Ryan protect him and are his enablers. The Franciscans and the diocese won’t respond to us and do something about Father Daniel because they are afraid of retaliation by him. Father Daniel has to get an extra million plus dollars out of us donors to cover the kick back and interest on construction projects to help pay for the priest sex abuse scandal. Father Daniel yells at kids on the playground. Our school wait list disappeared since he arrived. He cancelled our long standing summer school and Santa breakfasts. He mocks people. He is rude and disrespectful. He does not care about people’s feelings. Many families have left our parish because of him. He has anger issues. He divides people as either for him or against him. He makes fun of teachers. He does not care if school enrollment goes down. He said if people are not donating they can go somewhere else. He said any other religion is a cult. The parish staff hates him. Many parishioners hate him.

These are actual comments I read about him. Did I miss anything Mrs C in the church office? Anyone else in H.B., L.A., or Santa Barbara with input? Students too.

Father Dan Lackie in Santa Barbara, is what I summarized here from the comments correct? Is this correct Bishop Vann? We know both of you are reading this so if just one thing is wrong please reply to me here so everyone can read your responses. If you don’t answer then you are not disputing any of this so it must be correct. Don’t make a farce of the vows you took when you were ordained. Please act like a church and like Jesus and be truthful with us by not withholding information about Father Daniel.

Most of all, are you going to let a priest who admits to having sexual energy both verbally and in writing continue to work where there is a school?

another school mom

8/1/2018 10:49:47 am

thank you for the info. i will be contacting all these people also fr. dan. I feel pretty duped by this jerk off. its bad for a catholic to say but i can’t stop thinking about him doing just that with the oil he puts on himself. the momma bear in me will not allow him to do anything to my kids even looking at them funny. either he is gone or we are gone. that is 3 more students with no back log to replace them. my kids ssj friends really like eader and sowers. if i stay here i can’t protest by stopping my donations because my tuition will go up. i won’t be one of the families left that has to pay more because everyone else leaves.

SSJ Mom T

8/1/2018 01:16:16 pm

I hope this prune Daniel leaves our school and go puts oil on himself elsewhere away from our children.

8/1/2018 09:12:00 pm

I stated earlier in the blog that I have been a victim of Barica and went to the priests, parish & OC Diocese, but the process was not easy and made me feel like a victim. Are you kidding me? The church staff, diocese, bishop and franciscan order have known about problems shortly after Barica arrived. All of this has only empowered him and allowed him to continue his behavior. I heard from at least 12 kids that they were yelled at by him, one even mocked and left in tears. Please don't call him "Father", he is not befitting of that title. How is Barica still there????

Please do the only thing that will get the OC Diocese attention:
**STOP DONATING TO SSJ**

8/2/2018 02:54:15 am

Me and my wife are waiting to see what the diocese will do. If they don’t remove this pervert we will leave the parish. In fact. We will start going to a non Catholic Church. What’s going on right now is disgusting. My wife had been telling me about this mom M since last year. She’s not friends with her but she had heard all about her and how she’s got Daniels ears. My wife had been told last year to stay away from this woman and that she has serious issues and is a backstabber. It’s sad to see Mrs. Smith go this way after serving the school for over 21 years.

John C

8/2/2018 01:23:21 pm

I notice that no one has written in support. Probably because they don’t want to be revealed as his protectors. Please read these articles that show Fr Dan in Santa Barbara and the other Franciscan enablers are just as accountable. They should all leave the priesthood for what they have done to our church.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4957586/Anthony-Bourdain-attacks-Hollywood-silence-Weinstein.html
https://nypost.com/2018/01/21/its-time-to-go-after-abuse-enablers/

Simon and Jude former volunteer

8/3/2018 07:38:04 am

Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer just had to step down because he is accused of knowing about abuse by an assistant coach. By doing nothing they say he chose to help continue the abuse. The abuser ended up getting fired.

I can’t help but see the irony here. Why hasn’t our abuser, adulterer and embezzler F Daniel been fired? This article says it: “And just to be absolutely clear: what Barica is doing at SSJ may not constitute sexual abuse, but make no mistake about it: it is abuse. What’s more, it’s a violation of the church’s own vow to protect its community from those who prey on the innocent.”

Now replace Urban Meyer’s name for all the Franciscans, the bishop, teachers and staff at Simon & Jude who know of the abuse, theft, affair, harassment, mocking, inappropriate sexual comments, anger, yelling at children, and more. Just like coach Meyer, every day they do nothing to stop F Daniel means they keep choosing to help him continue to abuse. Shouldn’t they all have to step down too? I think the only way for our parish and school to be able to heal is to clean house of him and anyone who protects him.

S.T. - school family

8/3/2018 09:07:22 am

I am sick over all this. Thanks for this comparison because it is very similar to SSJ. I think Fr Rusty and Fr Dan are just as culpable so they should step down too. Helping an abuser all the years they were here, and still helping him from afar by ignoring complaints can’t be part of their vows as priests. I just saw how Mary from SB wrote a couple of weeks ago that their church put up a fight to get rid of Fr Daniel. How come we were not informed? This means Fr Rusty and Fr Dan knew before he came to SSJ about reports of bad things he did that caused the parishioners up there to fight back. I would like to read the complaints from there and SSJ but I am sure they will never release them to us, which is just more cover up from our Christ based church. At least there is no school up there he also hurt. Mary, or anyone in SB, can you give us examples of things he did please? Helping each other will let us keep his anger and sex energy away from our school children. Thank you.

SSJ School Family

8/4/2018 02:40:10 am

Now I have seen it all. I have been watching this from the sidelines all this time and did not think there was anything more I could add. But I had to write down the thoughts in my head that are making me so upset and not getting to sleep. I got the parish email of Sunday bulletin. It is also posted on the parish website. I read pastors disgusting message on the second page. Its not caring and apologetic like he should be. Its so obvious he is trying to control us and save his job. He attacks us by saying we are cowardly snipers who shoot from behind the anonymity of the internet. Some already wrote their full name like Heather Blake who said he is having an affair with Mary M. I feel sorry for Heather. Did he go after you like he did to others I know? I will not allow him to hurt my family. I will do anything to protect my kids from retaliation by him and that includes staying anonymous. I have a right to express my hatred for him after what he did to our school anonymous or not. I know a lot of other school families that hate him too. He should just quit and stop fighting us because we will win like they did when Santa Barbara got rid of him. Don’t buy the sugar coated story he is trying to sell. He is bad. Santa Barbara already moved him out because of how upset they were. He is repeating his history here only worse because we have school children. Then he comes here and tells them how he oils himself up every morning? No! Doesn’t this make your brain see him standing there naked? He should be on the sex offender list for saying that to our children.

L. S.

8/4/2018 08:49:53 am

I see a narcissist trying to defend himself. He wants us to stay quiet and not question anything. No priest should call people in his congregation “cowardly snipers”? Pretty judgmental statement IMHO. We keep anonymous so we don’t get attacked by this ass pretending to be holy. The students who wrote comments are cowards too? They better stay anonymous from him. “Together with you in the struggle.”, as if a struggle is going to be acceptable to us. The parish in Santa Barbara did not accept his struggle when they made him leave and we won’t either. We all got along fine when Fr. Michael was here. He didn’t yell at kids and talk about standing around in the nude. Fr. Daniel is the worst possible example to our kids. Take your GF and your sex energy oil and go marry her. Leave us alone we are not your subjects.

8/4/2018 09:32:00 am

This makes Mrs C in the parish office a coward for what she wrote anonymously. Someone needs to say what is going on behind the scenes. My take is he rounded them all up in the conference room and demanded to know which one of them is her. Am I right Mrs C? That is work place harassment and retaliation of a whistleblower. I hope you keep reporting whatever is not right. We are a church not a dictatorship.

H.K

8/4/2018 10:30:18 am

I don’t know what’s wrong with father Daniel. I was siding with him the whole time and although I had been following this blog religiously I disagreed with half of what was said. However, after reading what he posted in the weekly bulletin and the words he used to describe whoever disagrees with him I believe that he definitely doesn’t belong at SSJ. I believe he is not as bad as you all think but he does have some anger management issues and he is for sure unforgiving. I don’t think the diocese should allow such a pastor to work at a school because this is not the messag we want to deliver to our children. People who are posting anonymously are not cowards, they are fed up and don’t know what to do and after reading his post I doubt that anyone will be willing to meet with him or approach him in anyway.

School parent

8/4/2018 11:18:25 am

What he wrote in the bulletin uses Catholic guilt to try to shut us up…
“Murmuring becomes particularly unholy when it leads one to gossip or speak badly about another, whether what is spoken is true or untrue. Murmuring and gossip are destructive to communities and damaging to people’s reputations.” Well, people spoke the truth about Urban Meyer and that hurt his reputation. We are saying the truth about Father Daniel too to protect ourselves from him. His reputation was already trashed when LA and SB made him quit years ago. We should have been told! Not being honest with us is way more cowardly of the Franciscans than our anonymous posts. They were clearly afraid about telling us the truth. He should never have been sent here in the first place and there would be no reason for us to be writing any of this. Right now we don’t care about his reputation. We care about our kids.

Thinking Out Catholic Loud

8/4/2018 11:24:18 am

I am not sure if what is being written here is truth, based upon facts and hard, indisputable evidence or if it is merely gossip. It is abundantly clear that parishioners are upset with certain behaviors and actions taken by a pastor that have affected the parish and school. As a practicing Catholic, I feel it appropriate to write that it must remembered that gossip not only injures the persons about whom information is being told or from whom information is being withheld. I believe it appropriate to also point out that it also injures all those who read it, and the one telling or withholding. If what is written above is 1) true; and (2) factual with sufficient foundation AND with valid reason, then it may be wise to prayerfully discern and seek confidential pastoral advice on the best possible ways to proceed so as to NOT injure the Body of Christ (the faith community of SS Simon and Jude, pastoral leaders and all of our Catholic faith communities) through and by the use of this social communications media blog. It should go without saying that anonymous or not, the entire faith community of SS Simon and Jude has an opportunity to unite by way of our Gospel values. Jesus did not mince words and was very clear in his teachings regarding conflict resolution. At the heart of all of this is true sacrificial love, repentance and steadfast belief in the Gospel. Remember the woman at the well and how lovingly Jesus approached the woman in her sin.

The entire faith community of SS Simon and Jude being written about here are aggrieved because they are robbed of honor and reputation. The entire faith community of SS Simon and Jude and ALL of our Catholic faithful are affected by all of this discourse, every person who reads this.

Pope Francis once said in a homily, “We judge our brothers and sisters in our heart, and worse, when we talk about it with others, we are killer Christians.” Gossip is an injustice which fails to obey the command, “Let no evil speech proceed from your mouth; but that which is good, to the edification of faith, that it may administer grace to the hearers.” Ephesians 4:29 As well, I have listened to homilies that spoke to how the occasions of gossip violate No. 5 of the Ten Commandments, “Thou shall not kill.” Gossip kills the honor and reputation of the very people we are commanded to love. Again, the very people we are commanded to love all belong to the faith community of SS Simon and Jude as well as our Catholic faith community and local communities at large.

Let’s be reminded that as Catholics, we are also commanded to speak only good and necessary things, thereby assisting the elevation of our neighbors’ minds and hearts to higher things. This is a critical obligation of all of our Catholic faithful. Any speech to the contrary is a hindrance to that elevation, and an obstacle to grace. It is not only critical to the life of grace in our souls, but more importantly, that when we exercise self-control by not reacting and tame our tongues, we aid ourselves and others for peace in society. “For lack of wood the fire goes out, and where there is no whisperer, quarreling ceases.” Proverbs 26:20

There is no doubt that our Catholic faith is being tested and under attack every day. In the words of St. John Vianney, “If something uncharitable is said in your presence, either speak in favor of the absent, or withdraw, or if possible, stop the conversation.” Also in the words of St. Francis de Sales, “When you hear ill of anyone, refute the accusation if you can in justice do so; if not, apologize for the accused on account of his intentions … and thus gently check the conversation, and if you can, mention something else favorable to the accused.” I can’t help but feel that what God may be trying to tell us in this SS Simon and Jude discourse is that as faithful followers of Jesus, we must minister to ALL those in need, which pretty much means ALL of us. We are all sinners in need of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Unless of course, you are a saint. Well then congratulations and please do intercede and pray for the rest of us.

That being said, I also believe that there are circumstances where it is absolutely necessary and right to reveal the faults of another, especially if it involves the serious and grave matter of sexual abuse. The Catechism of the Catholic Church qualifies the definition of nearly every sin of the tongue with phrases such as, “without sufficient foundation” and “without objectively valid reason.” Again, remember the woman at the well and how lovingly Jesus approached the woman in her sin. There are important lessons to learn here and discernment in the inner room is required when it concerns repentance, reconciliation, forgiveness, restoration and resolution.

While this blog appears to be helpful for those who have comment

8/4/2018 11:26:15 am

While this blog appears to be helpful for those who have commented above to vent their complaints and frustrations because of the anonymity they are afforded and that they appear to believe and justify that it is ok to make known the faults of another, as faithful Catholics, we must also check ourselves and be reminded that God commands us to forgive (or at the very least, to ask God for the desire to forgive) and be merciful to each other. Then we are to ask God to handle the justification and for Him to heal these wounds. The degree to which we forgive and show mercy to each other is the degree to which God forgives and shows His mercy to us. “So will my Heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart.” Matthew 18:35
From the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops commentary on Matthew 18: 1-35: “Beginning with the warning that greatness in the kingdom of heaven is not measured by rank or power but by childlikeness, it deals with the care that the disciples must not take to cause the little ones to sin or to neglect them if they stray from the community, the correction of members who sin, the efficacy of the prayer of disciples because of the presence of Jesus, and the forgiveness that must be repeatedly extended to sinful members who repent.”

RMT

8/4/2018 11:51:19 am

Are you one of his enablers more concerned with Fr Daniel than our children?

8/4/2018 12:14:42 pm

I do not know your pastor. As a faithful and practicing Catholic, I am commanded to be concerned with ALL of our souls.

8/4/2018 02:22:10 pm

Read all this and you will know our pastor very well. We have already traded over 100 of our kids souls who don't come to church any longer because of him. That is the worst trade I can think of.

Seriously Father Daniel ????!!!!!!

8/4/2018 11:26:22 am

Father Daniel if you’re reading this couldn’t you just talk about Christian values and leave it at that ???? Did you have to bitch and call people names ???? Seriously father ????! We were trying to stay calm and wait for the diocese to deal with you but your bulletin just blew it ????!!!! Yes we are afraid of you because you do Not forgive your enemies like the Bible says , instead you fire them from their jobs even if they are good at it , got it Father , do you know now why we’re posting anonymously, it’s due to our fear of retaliation

SSJ Teacher

8/5/2018 07:54:10 am

The idea that people fear retaliation has no place in a church or our school. We can't have a priest we are afraid of. We can't have a priest we don't trust talking to our school children. They don't believe the words out of his mouth and laugh behind his back anyway. Diocese wake up!

Larry S

8/5/2018 10:08:19 pm

I agree with you Seriously. What an idiot! I bet he did not get today's bulletin approved by the diocese. He just keeps burying himself deeper. This is a new MeToo world and anyone in power even a priest is going to lose his job for any kind of abuse or for protecting abusers like the other priests are doing. Look what happened the last time we did not make priests accountable and all those kids got fondled. We don't trust this whack job and how he oils himself. Franciscans: He can't be allowed to speak to our school kids or do a school mass anymore. He has to go.

8/4/2018 11:48:52 am

On the problem priest Safenet blog Diane B. wrote what she emailed Dan Lackie and she specifically told him to look at this website. He is the biggest coward of all because he is hiding out in Santa Barbara without responding to us. He had to tell us the truth about Daniel’s past assignments. Being afraid to tell us is cowardly. Lackie had plenty of time to write us some kind of statement or apology by now. Diane if you are reading this did Lackie ever respond to you?

8/4/2018 03:21:15 pm

RMT: All is not lost. There is always hope. Despite the one man, the faith community in Christ can restore and bring the children back to their Catholic faith. Show them what steadfast love, trust and faith in Jesus Christ looks like. Focus on that, not the failings of one man. Anger and bitterness will only serve to drive the children further away from Christ. Godspeed.

8/4/2018 09:36:29 pm

Barica’s anger and bitterness is what drove my children away from Christ. They won’t think about coming back to church until he is gone. They told me most of their classes are saying the same thing. I can tell you are not an outsider like you want us to believe. You are one of his protectors.

8/5/2018 09:33:12 am

I do not know your pastor. It greatly saddens me what all above are experiencing.

My point is to "fight the good fight" to glorify God. 1 Timothy Chapter 4

Fight the good fight in the Spirit of St. John the Baptist: the spirit of uncompromising faithfulness to God and the spirit of undaunted courage to share uncomfortable truths.

From the stories above, I can't help but draw a parallel when St. John called out Herod, the powerful king, about Herod's adulterous affair.

A.F.

8/5/2018 04:10:45 pm

If Catholics followed that we are commanded to speak only good and necessary things like you say, we would not be allowed to say anything bad about a priest we know is sexually abusing a child. If a Catholic teacher who is a mandatory reporter stays quiet, he or she is also breaking the law. As Catholics, we cannot stay quiet about any form of abuse emotional, sexual, physical, financial, harassment, and bullying. What more has to happen for him to be carted away?

You quote the Bible so here is a verse I think applies to Father Daniel:
Zephaniah 3:4, “Her prophets are reckless, treacherous men; Her priests have profaned the sanctuary. They have done violence to the law.”

8/5/2018 07:27:15 am

Get ready for a sermon from a crazy man because it will sound like the mental case this website says he is. He is going to tell us he is the victim. He is going to lecture us again about how to be good Catholics and not say anything bad about each other - to save himself of course. But he yells and steals and mocks and that’s ok? Hypocrite.

8/5/2018 08:40:24 pm

Good and necessary means as Catholics we have a duty to speak the truth in difficult circumstances, just like St. John the Baptist. He spoke good and necessary things to Herod (even while he was imprisoned by Herod) that challenged Herod in his adulterous sin.

St. John's mission was to exhort to everyone he encountered to repent and to help them see and follow the Lamb of God, which he did faithfully and fearlessly.

Sexual abuse, child abuse, adultery, abortion, etc. are all exigent circumstances that Catholics are absolutely commanded to speak out against (duty to good and necessary truths) and challenge those to repent and follow God's laws.

Ceasar

8/7/2018 09:57:46 am

Perhaps a lesson will be learned from the website “National Catholic Reporter”: “Many years ago, my parish lived through the dark ages of an authoritarian priest. He happened to be the sidekick to an even more authoritarian bishop. It was a sadly dysfunctional time in the diocese as a whole. Heads were rolling. Priests and laity were being dismissed without explanation. Lines were being drawn in the sand. Folks sucked it up, grumbled and stayed, or they spoke out and quickly found themselves on the other side of the church door.” “When power and authority are abused, they must not be supported.” “I also learned that each parish has a small flock of obedient sheep that will continue to do the pastor's bidding regardless of the extent of his nastiness. They will commiserate and grumble loudly about the injustices being committed, but never directly to the priest. Their silent acquiescence is interpreted as support. They remain faithful minions to the clerical bully, and the bullying goes on.”

8/7/2018 10:08:11 am

Here is another from the website “Wise Catholic”: “On a reasonably regular basis I hear from principals and teachers in Catholic schools who complain to me that their local priest is behaving like an out of control bully in their school!” “But it also means that the priest who is school chairman, can if he wants, visit the school on a daily basis and make life very difficult for the principal and the teachers. If the principal does not have a strong personality he / she can be intimidated by the Little Hitler priest and in fact the priest virtually becomes the principal. I know of situations where both principals and teachers have become the victims of priest bullying and in some cases principals and teachers mental health have suffered and they have been out of work with illnesses directly related to the stress of coping with a bullying priest. In one case I know of the priest's behaviour towards the principal and teachers became so extreme that the local bishop became involved and he had to ban the priest from the parish school! But what did the priest do in that case? Instead of accepting the bishop's decision he stood outside the school everyday, like a spoiled child or an out of control teenager with an ASBO, to intimidate the principal and teachers on the way in and out of school!” “Also teachers and their unions should take a stronger stand against these Little Hitler parish priests who abuse their positions in the Catholic school system. Many of these Little Hitlers are not very bright, are emotionally stunted and psychosexually maladjusted and cope with their petty little lives by trying to exercise power over others.”

Connie

8/7/2018 10:39:22 am

Psychosexually maladjusted...Fr Daniel told us he has sexual energy. Where is his accountability for saying that?

Poor Mrs. Pinkofsky

8/7/2018 10:22:00 am

I feel bad for Mrs Pinkofsky. I never knew she was going through all of this with Father Daniel. She always had this big smile on her face whenever we would pass by her office or see her in the hallway she would look at us and smile. We loved her so much. Me and my friends had trouble pronouncing her last name. One time my best friend called her Mrs Smith and was so embarrassed but she looked at him and smiled. I miss her already and the year haven’t even started yet.

8/8/2018 06:56:05 pm

I just saw the new article on this new blog about Barica that talks about how he attacked people in the Sunday bulletin:
https://roomwithapew.weebly.com/blog/like-a-welcome-flood

I was gone so I did not hear the homily from Sunday. This says he failed to acknowledge that he was the cause of the anger and fear in the parish and it was an act worthy of a reckless man. And that he is trying to convince us he is the victim like I thought he would. Can anyone tell us what he said?

Andy T

8/16/2018 09:08:19 pm

Our family has been on vacation since August 5 but I would like to know what Father Daniel said at his sermon that day. It's not on the website like the other sermons. Did he use the word coward?

8/16/2018 09:27:41 pm

Referring to those in the parish who criticize him, he wrote:
“It is the evil work of cowardly ‘snipers’ who shoot from behind the anonymity of the internet.”

You can access the August 5th bulletin by going to my most recent post, "Like a Welcome Flood" where I've made it available as a PDF.
https://roomwithapew.weebly.com/blog/like-a-welcome-flood

School parent PT

8/23/2018 10:23:27 am

I am glad he called more attention to how upset everyone is at the school by talking about bullies. If anyone is a bully it is him. I told my kids to walk away whenever they see him coming their way. They are going to tell their class mates when school starts.

Associate

9/7/2018 09:48:08 am

Paul,

Please remove Mr. Smith's personal cell phone number. He has personally asked me to help him remove it as until yesterday evening he was unaware it was posted here and unaware of this blog in its entirety, but I cannot immediately find contact information for you to request that directly. I understand from previous posts it means that you may need to remove the entire post, and that is regrettable, but it shouldn't have been posted to begin with.

Contacting Mr. Smith for assistance with this issue is not an avenue I would recommend. There are many people who can be contacted at their business location (Diocese of Orange) at the link I've posted below. Many of these people have direct dealings with the elementary schools themselves. Mr. Smith is responsible for athletics and does not oversee the parish of Sts. Simon and Jude.

https://occatholicschools.org/staff/

If anyone still wishes to contact Mr. Smith regarding elementary school sports, he can be reached at a phone number and email address located on that website.

It is imperative that I write to all reading this please note - this statement is not FROM him, it is FROM me and I have zero dealings with the diocese or the school any longer. However, he did in fact ask for assistance in removing his personal cell phone number from all comments on this website, so I am assisting in that manner alone.

9/7/2018 12:07:16 pm

Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

As you know, I'm only able to delete comments on my blog and not edit them. I've since removed the three separate comments in which Mr. Smith's telephone number was mentioned.

However, to preserve the integrity of the original comments, I copied and edited them in a text file (replacing Mr. Smith's phone number with the phrase "NUMBER REMOVED ON REQUEST," and re-posted them below.

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from Scott (Comment first posted: 7/18/2018 08:19:30 pm)

Hi Mike, sorry to say I doubt Mr Smith will be coming back while Fr Daniel is here. I wrote on the other blog the way the students’ voices can be heard because you are the future and you have the power to do something. Here it is on this one too…

Hi Dolphin,
Making fun of someone is what bullies and jerks do. Not priests. If you did this you would get a detention or suspension. He is supposed to be an example to you and follow the rules. Some of the comments say the church has known about complaints about him back to when he was in Santa Barbara and Los Angeles. Moving him here after those parishioners got upset is not OK.
Be sure to post something on this other more recent blog too: https://roomwithapew.weebly.com/blog/dont-show-them-the-money
You Dolphins need to stick together because you are SSJ’s future (if there still is one). Please send the above link to as many kids as possible and ask them to post their feelings on that blog too. Do not use your real names or Fr Daniel might retaliate against you like he did with other people. Fr Dan Lackie and Bishop Vann will see what you post so this is your chance to let them know how you feel. Write anything a priest should not do like yelling, being angry, impatient, abusive, or any inappropriate comments.
Be sure everyone also knows to copy and paste their comments to The Worthy Adversary: joelle@casteix.com She was the victim of an abuser. She needs to read it directly from the students so she can file a report on everyone’s behalf as the school’s adversary. She will not identify you or anyone and keep you safe from his anger.
Keep the comments on the blog and to Joelle coming as many as possible. That is how the church will finally realize the extent of the damage Fr Daniel has done at SSJ.
Fr Daniel has gotten away with everything for years because he knows that most people are afraid to stand up to a priest. And most Catholics are conditioned to keep quiet about problems. We are taught to not say anything unless it is something good. That is how this "priest" continues to get away with emotionally hurting people. A holy man should never take advantage of people who remain silent.

If you want Mr Smith to set foot on this campus please ask him to talk to the bishop because he now works for him. It is important that adults like him and Joelle know your feelings because they can help. His number is pretty widely known but here it is in case your parents do not have it. Text so he can read it to the bishop (NUMBER REMOVED ON REQUEST). Don’t wait so he can come back when school starts. You should also text Fr Dan because he is a boss of the Franciscans (714)392-5622 and he needs to know even more. Pass it around to other students. If just one of you is afraid of Fr. Daniel’s anger that is too much for the adults to ignore. We do not want anyone hurt. Together you can get SSJ back to the good days when people were not afraid of a priest.

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from Anthony (Comment first posted on 7/28/2018 08:10:53 am)

This morning’s news of Les Moonves the head of CBS, accused of sexual misconduct going back years makes me wonder how Fr Daniel’s more recent oil rubbing homily is not also sexual misconduct. He can’t unsay what he said in front of children about standing naked in front of a mirror with oil each morning after he showers. It’s even written in the Sunday bulletin. It does not matter what he now tries to say he meant because bringing it up was completely inappropriate. Paul makes a good point that the diocese cannot ignore. Any parent or student that feels SSJ is unsafe because of Fr Daniel’s sexual references, behavior, and anger need to report their concerns to the Pastoral Outreach Coordinator (800-770-8013), Fr Dan Lackie (714-392-5622) and Russ Smith who works for Bishop Vann (NUMBER REMOVED ON REQUEST). (Thanks Scott for posting the cell numbers.) Start with *67 before you dial if you want to keep your number private. Parents and students, stick together to make a change and get SSJ back to the way it was. It’s your school so don’t be obedient Catholics and stay quiet like the church wants. If the sight of him walking on campus makes you cringe, that is not a healthy and safe environment for our kids. God does not want angry priests. Post what you texted or said to them here so we can all be transparent with each other. By keeping quiet, he might be here many, many

9/7/2018 12:11:59 pm

more years.

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from School mom P (Comment first posted on 8/1/2018 08:45:02 am)

Peter's summary is a sad state of our church for our kids to be exposed to. They are the real victims of the Franciscans moving Daniel here. VBS Volunteer, on July 17 you wrote that you witnessed Father Daniel yelling on the field and being mad at everyone. That is not normal for a priest. Your concern that he is unstable and can hurt the kids is a serious matter. You and all of us school parents need to put it in writing. Father Dan and all the other priest enablers need to stop him or they should resign. They can’t wait until something happens to one of our children. If enough people write about child safety they must remove him. This goes for both physical and emotional harm. Write the diocese and the Franciscans, but if you are afraid to be identified contact Angelica Jochim. I called her she has to keep our names private. You should also write the Worthy Adversary with your safety concerns: joelle@casteix.com

In case you did not see this here is what Mr Fericano wrote on July 26:

IMPORTANT: Many have expressed a serious concern about the children at SSJ. Those who believe their children are at risk and are subject to an unsafe environment at SSJ as a result of Daniel Barica's behavior, should put these concerns in writing and bring them to the immediate attention of the Diocese of Orange and the Franciscans.

The church is mandated to investigate any claims that involve the safety of children.

Below is the address of the Franciscan's Pastoral Outreach Coordinator, Angelica Jochim, a licensed psychotherapist, who should be kept informed about what's happening at SSJ.

Write a letter, send an email, or phone:

Angelica Jochim, MFT
Pastoral Outreach Coordinator
Franciscan Office of Pastoral Outreach
PO Box 1137
Sebastopol, CA 95473
1 800 770-8013
angelica.jochim@gmail.com

You can also contact Teri Sforza OC Register investigator: 714-796-6910 tsforza@scng.com Scott wrote text or call Russ Smith (NUMBER REMOVED ON REQUEST) and Fr Dan (714) 392-5622

The school year is starting soon. Don’t hope he can control himself after reading all this. Mrs C in the parish office told us he is seeing this so how angry do you think he will be the first day of school? Our kids are too precious to be mentally or physically abused. I agree his sex talk can’t let him work where there are kids in school. Just seeing him angry can be enough to harm our kids and their faith. And our kids are passing this blog around so how serious will they be about following Catholicism if their priest is having an affair and taking money. Why are we paying all this tuition to have him affect them so much? Enough is enough we have to take a stand now like they did in SB. After they got rid of him the Franciscans never should have put him here at a school.

No complaints means no action and Daniel gets more power over us. Then everything at SSJ is even worse for our kids.

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School Mom P

9/10/2018 12:12:05 pm

I do not agree that Mr. Smith has nothing to do with this just because he is responsible for athletics. Every teacher has to report abusers by law. I am disappointed in him after getting fired and not helping my upset children and all the school kids who thought he would look out for them. He needs to be there for any kid who wants to call his cell phone. Some of the parents are worried Daniel won't be able to control is anger and hurt a child. Teachers have a duty to stop him, especially Mr. Smith who now works for the Diocese.

9/10/2018 03:22:03 pm

I signed up for new comments with an email alert. I want to know why Russ was afraid to ask to have his number removed himself. Probably because he is under strict orders by the bishop himself to keep quiet or lose his diocese job. These are Catholic values what is going on with our church? The children are more important to protect than an employee blowing the whistle on another church scandal.

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Don't Show Them the Money

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