LOS ANGELES (CA)
Huffington Post

Michael D’Antonio

In the annals of bureaucratic indifference, the phrase “we didn’t know any better” is often employed by those who looked past human suffering and helped abusers to escape responsibility. In the cases of priests who have raped and molested children, Catholic bishops have often offered this excuse after the world comes to know that they protected their brothers rather than report their crimes to police.

The “we didn’t know better” excuse echoed again from Los Angeles recently where newly released documents show that then Cardinal Roger Mahony and his advisor Monsignor Thomas Curry long maneuvered to shield known abusers from police and prosecutors. In one case Mahony advised a priest whom he knew had abused 20 child victims to stay out of California “for the foreseeable future” to avoid “some type of legal action filed in both the criminal and civil sectors.”…