LOS ANGELES (CA)
Religion Dispatches

By Omar Shamout

Institutional transparency is tough to enforce in any situation, let alone when it comes to allegations of sexual abuse.

Los Angeles is only the most recent backdrop for a battle that’s been fought in courtrooms nationwide to get secret Church paperwork released. But unlike here, not all judges have ruled in the victims’ favor.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles finally released the 12,000 documents it agreed to make public as part of a 2007 sex-abuse settlement in which the archdiocese and its insurers paid a total of $660 million to over 500 victims.

Ray Boucher was the lead plaintiff’s attorney in the civil suit against the L.A. Archdiocese. He says the nearly six-year battle to make the files public was difficult for the victims due to the numerous appeals made by lawyers for the archdiocese and priests.