LOS ANGELES (CA)
The Catholic World Report
January 22, 2013
By Catherine Harmon
In the wake of the release of confidential documents showing how leaders of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles conspired to keep priests who sexually abused children out of jail, Cardinal Roger Mahony—archbishop emeritus of Los Angeles—has apologized for his role in “the archdiocese’s long struggle with the sexual abuse of minors.” Mahony claims he was “naïve” about the impact of abuse upon the priests’ young victims.
That archdiocesan leaders failed to report to the police priests who admitted abusing children was already known; Mahony admitted as much in a 2010 deposition. The documents posted yesterday on the L.A. Times website, which are part of the on-going civil case against the archdiocese, demonstrate a coordinated effort on the part of archdiocesan officials—specifically Cardinal Mahony and his then-vicar of clergy Thomas J. Curry (now an auxiliary bishop for the archdiocese)—to keep abusive priests away from law enforcement. From the Times report:
The newly released records, which the archdiocese fought for years to keep secret, reveal in church leaders’ own words a desire to keep authorities from discovering that children were being molested.
In the confidential letters, filed this month as evidence in a civil court case, Curry proposed strategies to prevent police from investigating three priests who had admitted to church officials that they abused young boys. Curry suggested to Mahony that they prevent them from seeing therapists who might alert authorities and that they give the priests out-of-state assignments to avoid criminal investigators.
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