Who Is Deacon James Orr?

What we appear to have in the public record now is a credible allegation of child sexual abuse against now-retired OLA Deacon James Orr. I never obsessed over the clergy pedophilia question -- certainly it didn't keep me from becoming Catholic -- but I did do a fair amount of research on it several years ago, and of course, I took the Virtus class when I volunteered as an usher in our previous parish. It's a little puzzling to me that, based on Msgr Kurzaj's reported remarks, the allegation that's come to light is from 1994, before Orr's ordination as a deacon, yet he got through whatever evaluation was needed at the time, and he also remained in his position after the pedophila scandal fully emerged and Virtus became required.

I was puzzled enough to do some googling. Dcn Orr was closely associated with the OLA parish, as far as I can understand it, pretty much from its founding. He was also closely associated with the Atonement Academy, again from its founding, and he had been the school's administrator and business manager at the time he "retired" in 2016, when he was about 56. He was also a geography teacher in the school.

When I googled Dcn Orr, one of the first hits that came up was at ratemyteachers.com. Ratemyteachers and ratemyprofessors are, I've found, often pretty accurate -- I've run into ratings now and then for former professors, fellow grad students, and others. While you have to screen for bitter enemies or fawning sycophants, you can also find ratings that are remarkably perceptive and just plain spot on. The first thing I noticed about Dcn Orr's rating was this:

Average 2.47 based on 10 teacher ratings

James Orr is a Geography teacher at Atonement Academy located in San Antonio, Texas. When comparing James Orr's ratings to other teachers in the state of Texas, James Orr's ratings are below the average of 4.08 stars. Additionally, the average teacher rating at Atonement Academy is 3.82 stars.

But below that is one from 2015 that's truly disturbing:

Deacon is arrogant beyond belief and uses power point of wiki stuff. His class is a joke and not part of a classical curriculum. He plays favorites worse than anyone else in the school (mainly boys of middling intellect--the smart ones know what he is up to...)

This seems consistent with a pattern that came up in my earlier research: whether or not abuse was reported up the chain, the boys in the school or parish had a clear understanding of what to avoid on camping trips and such. The word was out -- Fr Flanigan is a perv, watch it. Seems like this was the case here. That Orr was eased into "retirement" a year later isn't a surprise, but I definitely wonder how much of this was common knowledge years earlier.

Another question that came up was that Orr and Fr Phillips were so closely associated that Orr lived next to the OLA rectory. The original lot was split for the two residences, I'm told. The corporate information in the link also shows that Orr was closely associated with Our Lady's Dowry, a corporate OLA account that apparently was not under diocesan control or subject to diocesan audit, which may have been a bone of contention with the diocese as well.

The Virtus class, along with my other research, suggests that pedophiles will go to great lengths to work themselves into positions -- teacher, priest, athletic coach, counselor -- where they have access to children. It's plain that abuse can take place for long periods without it coming to light, and it's the duty of adults in these situations to be prudent and vigilant. I strongly suspect that the 1994 case will prove not to be unique, since the teacher evaluation from 2015 indicates that at least Orr's brighter students knew what to avoid. The question comes up of how much Fr Phillips knew, or should have known.

A somewhat similar case came up here in 2014, regarding Robert W Bowman, a former REC priest who was arrested on child pornography charges in 2009, yet was hired as interim at the ACA All Saints Fountain Valley parish in 2014. Part of the fallout from Bowman's arrest was that the Christian school of which Bowman had been headmaster was forced to close, and his REC parish disbanded.

With Orr so closely associated with the OLA parish throughout its history, as well as with Fr Phillips, I've got to think this will prove a major crisis for the school and parish that could well threaten their survival. Msgr Kurzaj and Abp Garcia-Siller have a major problem on their hands. I would suggest that the OCSP is not in any sort of position to deal with a problem like this.