John Urell Leaving

Monsignor John Urell, longtime pedophile protector in the Catholic Diocese of Orange, announced last week he's leaving St. Norbert's in Orange (where he currently serves as pastor) for St. Timothy in Laguna Niguel. In a letter he read to parishioners two weeks ago and reprinted in this past weekend's St. Norbert church bulletin, Urell gave no real explanation other than "I know it is time for me to go and use my talents and abilities in a new place and with a fresh start."

Urell will now serve at a parish with its own connection to the Orange diocese sex abuse scandal: its former choir director, Albert Lee Schildknecht, was arrested last year by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department on two counts of oral copulation with a minor and one count of digital penetration; this crime was part of the $6.685 million civil settlement between the Orange diocese and four sex-abuse victims.