On weekends in April, Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Santa Barbara has been going blue.
To mark Child Abuse Prevention Month, blue lights illuminate the church’s exterior and blue ribbons decorate trees and doors of the parish, which is located on the east side of the city and has a predominantly Spanish-speaking congregation of some 3,000 families. Confirmation students also celebrate a “Wear Blue Day.”
The couple behind the commemorative decorations and events is Anthony Rodriguez and his wife, Bianca, Our Lady of Guadalupe parishioners since 2000 when they wed.
Both are victims of child sexual abuse.
Rodriguez has made it his mission to encourage children to speak up by visiting churches throughout the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to share his story and show a video about his journey from victim to survivor, produced by an independent documentary filmmaker.
“I need to make sure these kids know they can come forward and say something,” he said.
On April 1, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors issued a proclamation honoring Rodriguez and Our Lady of Guadalupe for their efforts in shining a light on child sexual abuse and the need to do everything possible to prevent it and encourage victims to come forward.
“Child abuse prevention is not just a cause I advocate for — it’s my story,” Rodriguez said in accepting the proclamation, sponsored by Supervisor Roy Lee.
“I was once a victim, carrying the scars of my experiences in silence,” Rodriguez said. “Today, I’m a survivor. And from that survival came a promise — a promise that I would never again be silent, a promise to be the voice for those who feel that they don’t have one, and to fight for every child who deserves to feel safe, loved, and valued.”
He added: “To everyone here today, this work doesn’t end with one person or one moment. It takes all of us — our compassion, our commitment, and our voices — to create lasting change. And I believe that together, we can.”
Rodriguez then handed out pins for the supervisors to wear.
Rodriguez was 5 when his uncle started sexually abusing him after his father, a drug user and alcoholic, died of a heart attack at age 35.
The abuse continued for a decade.
For years, Rodriguez, an only child, kept quiet. He joined a gang when he was 12 and spent time in a psychiatric ward three times. He was 15 when the abuse stopped after he told his mother about his offender, an uncle who fled to Mexico when she confronted him.
“My mom believed me,” Rodriguez said. “A lot of these kids don’t have people who believe them. She took it hard. I didn’t say anything for so long because I was scared.”
The aftershocks of being sexually abused continued.
When he was 16, he attempted suicide by overdosing on cocaine and methamphetamine. He wanted his heart to stop.
It wasn’t until he was 24, after he had met Bianca, that he began his journey to becoming a survivor.
Now, Rodriguez is eager to discuss his experience so other victims will have the courage to come forward.
He recalled a young lady who heard his testimony at an archdiocese parish. Two years later, she invited him over to her house with her parents present because she wanted to tell him about being sexually abused.
A police report was filed.
Soon after, the girl’s mother and grandmother confided to Rodriguez that they, too, had been sexually abused by the same man.
“The grandmother’s sister’s husband abused all three generations of women,” Rodriguez said.
All churches in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles are required to have Safeguard the Children Committees in the wake of the clerical sexual abuse scandal that rocked the Catholic Church more than two decades ago.
Rodriguez and Bianca are longtime co-chairs of Our Lady of Guadalupe’s Safeguard the Children Committee, whose campaign theme this year throughout the archdiocese is “Keeping Kids Safe Today, Tomorrow, and Forever.”
Rodriguez, an operations and disaster services specialist for the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County, also teamed up with the Glendon Association, a Santa Barbara nonprofit whose mission is to save lives and enhance mental health by addressing suicide, child abuse, violence, and troubled relationships.
He is also active in the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
In 2013, the Santa Barbara Independent newspaper recognized Rodriguez as a local hero, and in 2015, the Santa Barbara City Council honored him and Our Lady of Guadalupe for their efforts in combating child sexual abuse.
“Anthony has been good about going around and talking about his experience not only here but at other parishes in the archdiocese as well as organizations in the community at large to heighten awareness,” said Father Pedro J. Lopez, who’s been pastor at Our Lady of Guadalupe for 10 years.
In his comments after accepting the Board of Supervisors’ proclamation, Rodriguez said of Our Lady of Guadalupe: “We strive to protect [children], to educate others, and to stand boldly and unrelentingly for their rights. As a community, it’s our shared responsibility to ensure that every child has the freedom to dream without fear, to grow without harm, and to thrive without barriers.”
In an interview, he added: “I know for a fact if we would have had this program [Safeguard the Children] for my mom when I was young, things would have been different.
“Nobody talked about it back then. These kids depend on adults, and we have to be the ones who are their eyes, ears, and voice.”
