LOS ANGELES (CA)
National Catholic Reporter
[links to the documents – Anthony DeMarco, Jeff Anderson & Associates]
by Joshua J. McElwee | Jan. 22, 2013
Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony and an auxiliary bishop shielded archdiocesan priests known to be sex abusers from law enforcement during the 1980s, even suggesting they leave the state of California to avoid prosecution, according to a series of church records released Monday.
The records, which were filed as part of a civil lawsuit against the archdiocese and were first reported Monday by the Los Angeles Times, indicate Mahony and Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Curry intentionally sent abusive priests to out-of-state treatment facilities as protection from arrest.
L.A. county prosecutors “will review and evaluate all [newly released] documents as they become available to us,” Sandi Gibbons, a public information officer for the L.A. County District Attorney’s office, said in a brief statement.
The release of the files, which concern 14 priests, comes as the archdiocese is preparing to release records of at least 75 more accused abusers under the terms of a separate 2007 civil settlement with more than 500 clergy abuse victims.
While the files of the 14 priests are almost three decades old — coming from long before the U.S. bishops started to address the wider issue of sex abuse by clergy in 2002 — the revelations they contain point to lingering questions about the accountability of bishops, says a former chairman of the U.S. bishops’ National Review Board for clergy sex abuse.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.