LOS ANGELES (CA)
Wall Street Journal
By TAMARA AUDI and ERICA E. PHILLIPS
The Catholic Archbishop of Los Angeles removed retired Cardinal Roger Mahony from public and administrative church duties Thursday night, just before the church released thousands of pages of personnel files of priests accused of abusing children.
Cardinal Mahony was a well-known figure in Los Angeles who had led the diocese as archbishop from 1985 until his retirement in 2011. His removal from public duties came on the heels of a previous document release that showed he and other church officials allegedly attempting to keep priests accused of abuse from prosecution.
Shortly after announcing the decision regarding Cardinal Mahony, the church unexpectedly released thousands of pages of documents about more than 100 priests believed to have abused children. The document release is part of a $660 million civil settlement reached with more than 500 plaintiffs in 2007.
In a statement, Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez called the files “brutal and painful reading.”
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