Today's post makes available materials related to the case of Kathleen Machado vs. Father Joseph Illo. This case was decided in 2005 related to Fr. Illo’s handling of an accusation of sexual assault. The full set of documents are available at the bottom of this post.
To get started, documents have been organized to highlight the parallels. Facts show that behaviors are in indeed not changing.
History Repeats Itself
To get started, documents have been organized to highlight the parallels. Facts show that behaviors are in indeed not changing.
History Repeats Itself
Safety and security
Fr. Illo is not fit to be around children. His handling of the reporting of sexual abuse by an 11-year-old girl in in Modesto was clear. In the short time since coming to star, Parents have seen an ongoing pattern that raises questions and serious concern.
MODESTO ● Jury verdict in Machado v. Illo “Negligent infliction of emotional distress…was Fr. Illo negligent?” See the document (p. 17 of the PDF) ● Canonical Investigation “… Fr. Illo on occasion can exhibit two opposite facets of his personality – on the one hand kind and helpful and sensitive and on the other hand dictatorial, manipulative and insensitive.” See the document (p. 4 of the PDF) ● The abused’s account “ Rather than protect, and minister to the 11-year-old who was confused and in pain, Fr. Illo breach (sic) child’s confidences by forcing the child to confront the offending priest.” See the document (p. 2 of the PDF) | SAN FRANCISCO ● Fr. Illo’s impact on the families of Star of the Sea: “Our youngest son is having sleepless nights and is wondering what he did wrong and questions if he is a bad person and not deserving of a blessing. He is worried and scared that the school will close and he will go to hell for not being baptized. He is questioning if he is a child of God.” (Naomi Kelly and Sebastian Lee) See: http://welovestarsf.com/march-25-parent-meeting-naomi-kelly-and-sebastian-lee.html “Where he was finding the value of Catholicism, he may now be reconsidering.” (Margaret Farrugio)See: http://welovestarsf.com/march-25-parent-meeting-margaret-farruggio.html “…the particular "Church" envisioned by Father Illo is one steeped in what I can only characterize as a rhetoric of division and deep-rooted animus against Catholics and non-Catholics alike who do not adhere to his "vision" of the Church.” (Scott Castro) See: http://welovestarsf.com/march-25-parent-meeting-scott-castro.html ● Pamphlet detailing adult sins distributing to young children by parish clergy “Did I perform impure acts by myself (masturbation) or with another (adultery, fornication or sodomy)?” See: http://abc7news.com/education/sf-catholic-school-pamphlet-about-sexuality-upsets-parents/523654/ ● Summer School Incident. After nervous complaints from multiple families, the Archdiocese does a brief investigation and then later a more thorough investigation with a psychologist. Fr. Illo claims nothing happened yet neither report was released. |
Denials
Fr. Illo’s account of events in Modesto stands in sharp contrast to the testimony of the plaintiff as well as his own staff. He denies the incident took place to this day. As with many of the incidents at Star in recent days, these denials raise serious questions for parents. It is important to remember that Fr. Illo was found liable of negligent infliction of emotional distress.
MODESTO ● Fr. Illo’s reaction to the initial accusation “The pastor and the offending priest then called the child a ‘liar’, yelled at her and defamed her mother by insinuating to an 11-year-old girl that her mother was fabricating the allegations against the offending priest because ‘all she wanted to do was have sex’ with the pastor.” See the document (p. 10 of the PDF) Fr. Illo’s side of the story “Illo upon hearing the claim about his associate, made the decision to summon Arakal, who already bearing rumors being spread about him by Ms. Machado, understandably became defensive. Amber, now in the presence of two upset adults likewise became upset to the point where parish staff members summoned not only her mother, but also a counselor.” See: http://www.welovestaroftheseasf.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Diocese-of-Stockton-SC-statement.pdf | SAN FRANCISCO ● Star of the Sea Parish Website “At no time during this episode did the girl accuse Fr. Arakal of criminal behavior.” See: http://www.welovestaroftheseasf.com/modesto/ |
Dealing with perceived disloyalty
Fr. Illo is incapable of working with others who do not share his point of view. This is evidenced in his treatment of staff in Modesto as well as school parents and parent board members at Star of the Sea.
MODESTO ● Planttiff’s Testimony Exhbit F. “Both Mary Mullins and Owen Kummerle testified that Father Illo admitted that he had lied to the choir about what was contained in Jose Munoz’ personnel file when he implied that Jose had committed sexual misconduct in the church. That statement is an admissible admission by a party.” See the document p. 48 of the PDF) ● Interfering with police investigation See the document ● Letter to Elaine Shields threatening to drop her as a parishioner from the ministry for not liking him. See the document (p. 2 of the PDF) ● Letter to Elaine Shields demanding that she pick a side See the document (p. 125 of the PDF) ● Pew squeeze - staff testified that they would occupy pews in the church to keep Machado and her friends from getting a place to sit See the document (p. 72-73 of the PDF) | SAN FRANCISCO ● Fr. Illo has told parents who disagree with his actions and vision for the school that they can just leave. ● He threatened parents that he would withhold money to pay for the first stages of a seismic retrofit project that is required to make the school building safe for our children, because they had hurt him and tarnished his reputation in 2015. ● He also recently expressed a willingness to sue parents who said negative things about him in Parent Club meetings. |
Ministering to a diverse community
Fr. Illo has a history of difficulty ministering to women and girls as documented in an internal church investigation and his handling of altar girls. Further, in a diverse community such as Star of the Sea, Fr. Illo has shown he is incapable of ministering to our LGBTQ parents and their children.
MODESTO ● Jury verdict in Machado v. Illo Defamation per se - Kathleen Machado - “All your mother wants is to have sex with me.” See the document (p. 56 of the PDF) ● Canonical Investigation Conclusions and Recommendations. Some of the key findings: “1. Fr. Illo needs to be aware of the fact that he is an attractive man, physically, spiritually and socially. This leads to a need for him to take great care in his pastoral ministry with women, particularly vulnerable women. Perhaps some counseling for Fr. Illo in gender boundaries and the pastoral care of women would be appropriate.” “5. There is sufficient testimony to indicate that Fr. Illo on occasion can exhibit two opposite facets of a personality - on the one hand kind and helpful and sensitive and on the other hand dictatorial, manipulative and insensitive.” See the document (p. 4 of the PDF) | SAN FRANCISCO ● About removing Altar girls, “...I want to develop the leadership potential in our boys, for which single-sex programs are clearly more effective.” ● He’s used a now familiar tactic to distract from the issue of removing altar girls. He described news coverage of the story by saying “CBS invented and aired a story on how the Church hates women the night before the massive Walk for Life yesterday. Satan is behind all this, for he wants to destroy human life, and destroy it in its most precious sanctuary, the wombs of our mothers. Consider the real news story: In 1968 Martin Luther King had been assassinated, which led America to guarantee civil rights for all Americans.” In a Parent Club meeting of February 2015, a mother asked Fr. Illo what she should tell her daughter about feeling less than boys now that girls were not able to serve on the Altar. Fr. Illo responded, “Part of loving children is telling them the truth.” |
A few notes about the court documents. All of these materials were obtained via a public records request from the Superior Court of San Joaquin County. Anyone is able to go and get copies themselves. Every document available for this case was requested. The materials were kept as paper copies and no digital record is available from the Court. More than 2,600 pages have been received, yet the transcript is not complete. This might be explained by the fact that the trial was so long ago. It should be noted that there were multiple duplicates of several documents in the materials that have been received. The files have been scanned and shared as delivered.
Bundle 1 Set 1
Bundle 1 Special Verdict
Bundle 2 Set 1
Bundle 2 Set 2
Bundle 3 Set 1
Bundle 3 Set 2
Bundle 3 Set 3
Bundle 3 Set 4
Bundle 4 Set 1
Bundle 4 Set 2
Bundle 4 Set 3
Bundle 5 Set 1
Bundle 5 Set 2
Bundle 5 Set 2b
Bundle 6 Set 1
Bundle 6 Set 2
Bundle 6 Set 3
Bundle 7 Set 1
Bundle 7 Set 2
Bundle 7 Set 3
Bundle 8 Set 1
Bundle 8 Set 2
Bundle 8 Set 3
Bundle 8 Set 4
Bundle 9 Set 1
Bundle 9 Set 2
Bundle 9 Set 3
Bundle 1 Set 1
Bundle 1 Special Verdict
Bundle 2 Set 1
Bundle 2 Set 2
Bundle 3 Set 1
Bundle 3 Set 2
Bundle 3 Set 3
Bundle 3 Set 4
Bundle 4 Set 1
Bundle 4 Set 2
Bundle 4 Set 3
Bundle 5 Set 1
Bundle 5 Set 2
Bundle 5 Set 2b
Bundle 6 Set 1
Bundle 6 Set 2
Bundle 6 Set 3
Bundle 7 Set 1
Bundle 7 Set 2
Bundle 7 Set 3
Bundle 8 Set 1
Bundle 8 Set 2
Bundle 8 Set 3
Bundle 8 Set 4
Bundle 9 Set 1
Bundle 9 Set 2
Bundle 9 Set 3