The Orange County Register
February 9, 2002
He was beaten by a pedophile and left for dead as a kid. He saw, as a Burbank
cop, how violence devastates youths and families. And it was after he had to
kill a kidnapper to save his partner that he stopped resisting the spiritual
pull to the priesthood and started working to bring peace to the inner city.
So, with his installation today as bishop of the 85,000- member Episcopal
Diocese of Los Angeles, which includes 23 Orange County congregations, Bruno,
55, begins his mission to teach clergy and children to combat violence in their
communities and families.
He is undaunted by the enormity of the task.
``We will eat the elephant one bite at a time,'' he says.
Bruno's highly unusual service will be set outdoors at Echo Park Lake, in an
economically and culturally diverse neighborhood near downtown Los Angeles where
gangs and drugs have historically been a problem.
He's using the occasion to launch ``Hands in Healing,'' an anti-violence
program he hopes to take nationwide to many religious groups. Convocations to be
held throughout the diocese will explore gang violence, date rape, child abuse
and more.
``I really support what the bishop is doing. He's really on the right
track,'' says Orange County Superior Court Judge Pamela Iles, who will be
keynote speaker at the Orange County convocation Feb. 16 in Tustin. Iles is
known nationally for creating a model program in the courts to deal with family
violence.
She says clergy too often back away from the issue in the pulpit.
``Ministers have to overcome the notion that people in churches don't act
that way,'' she says. ``They act that way; they just don't tell their minister
they do.''
Iles said that more than 30 percent of the time, children are first to report
violence in their home to police. Often, victims of family trauma will go to
their pastor before they go to police for help. Pastors aren't always educated
or ready to deal with the problem, she said.
``There is a great need for them to have information so they can minister to
their congregations,'' Iles said.
The ``Hands in Healing'' task force cites Los Angles Police Department
statistics that indicate 25 percent of households in Southern California are in
some way affected by sexual misconduct, violence or gang activity.
``People hide their head in the sand when it comes to things like domestic
violence and teen date rape,'' said the Rev. Diane Jardin Bruce, ``Hands in
Healing'' task-force member and rector at St. Clements by the Sea
Church in San Clemente. ``They think it doesn't happen in our beautiful Orange
County suburbs. But it does. And it happens across ethnic and economic lines, in
wealthy families as well as inner city.''
Her own experience has born out how the program might work. With materials
she got from Iles, she addressed violence in a sermon.
``All of a sudden after my sermon, people were coming to me and saying, `This
happened to me,' '' she said. ``It gave them permission to talk about it.''
Bruno's focus is to teach kids to control anger, report abuse and mentor
other kids. He wants to break the cycle that sends victimized youth into the
community as violent, aggressive adults.
``The home is especially the place where children learn to be violent,''
Bruno says, citing such influences as spousal and child abuse, and TV and video
games. He adds that not all such games are evil, nor can youths be shielded from
all of society's ills. ``We want to teach proper behavior so they act from a
Godly perspective. Kids can cope if they have been taught to be concerned about
other humans.''
In essence, he hopes the program will inspire children to be the catalyst for
change among their peers.
Bruno has a master's degree from Virginia Theological Seminary and a license
in criminology from Long Beach State University. He and his wife, Mary, a
law-firm administrator, have three children.
Bruno always had a bent toward spirituality and activism. As a kid, he used
his mother's Irish linen and his sister's toy tea set to fix up a homemade
altar. ``Then I'd gather up all our dogs and have communion.''
In the '50s, his mother went door to door in their East Los Angeles
neighborhood distributing information on polio.
``She took my sister and me along to the immunization clinics that she helped
set up in parks,'' he said. ``She taught me that you used your faith out in the
community.''
Nevertheless, for years he studiously avoided a ministerial calling.
When he was 12, an adult male pedophile beat him up and left him on the
street for dead. A priest and a nun found him and saved his life. He declines to
talk much about the incident, saying only that he was ``physically abused.'' His
voice is tight as he recalls: ``The experience was an important force in my life
in many respects.''
He dealt with the anger he harbored in questionable ways. A 6-foot-4-inch
high school football player, he started bullying kids off the field.
``Thankfully my father and a policeman friend found out and made it clear
that kind of attitude wasn't an option for me.''
Later, as a policeman, he helped coach a local high school football team. The
kids were the leadership core of the school but found plenty of ways to generate
trouble, he recalls. He worked to teach them ethical decision-making skills.
Then one day, Bruno killed a kidnapper who shot at him and his partner. He
received a commendation but was shaken.
``It taught me there are better ways to avoid destruction of what God
created,'' he said.
And so he became a priest, spending much of his time working to reclaim
violence-torn neighborhoods. In his office hangs a painting of a young child.
``It's there to remind me,'' he says, ``that children are the most precious
resource the world has.''
Contact McGraw at (714) 796-4945 or cmcgraw@ocregister.com
BRUNO: Bishop once policed streets BRUNO J. Jon Bruno
J. Jon
Bruno, new bishop of the local Episcopal community, knows from personal
experience there's no time to waste in his ministry against violence.