Six Things to Know about the Los Angeles Archdiocese’s Predator-Priest Records

CALIFORNIA
Fort Mill Times

SAN DIEGO —

Last night, the Los Angeles Archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church took two major actions: it released 12,000 documents relating to priests accused of child sexual abuse, and simultaneously announced Cardinal Roger Mahony had been relieved of his duties. Cardinal Mahony has been heavily criticized for his handling of sex-abuse charges against Church officials, and yesterday the Church also relieved his subordinate, Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Curry, the current Regional Bishop of Santa Barbara, of his responsibilities. As the former Vicar for Clergy, Bishop Curry served as Cardinal Mahony’s point person on claims of sex abuse within the Church.

Irwin Zalkin, an attorney with The Zalkin Law Firm who has represented numerous victims of child sexual abuse committed by Catholic priests, and has been directly involved in the efforts to obtain public release of the documents from the Los Angeles Archdiocese responded to questions today about the news from the Los Angeles Archdiocese.

Q: What do you think of Cardinal Mahony’s demotion?

A: The demotion of Cardinal Mahony is nothing more or less than a public relations ploy. He is retired and not very involved with the public anyway. This man is a criminal aider and abetter of child sexual abuse and should be criminally accountable. Criminal prosecution against him is long overdue.

Q: What’s the history of these records and why are we hearing about them now?

A: In the summer of 2007, a $660 million global settlement was reached between 508 victims of sexual abuse within the LA Archdiocese and several Catholic religious Orders. The settlement required the LA Archdiocese to release files on all priests who, over the last 50 years, had credible claims of sexual abuse made against them. While the settlement included a very clear process for identifying which records to make public, it has taken six years to get the LA Archdiocese to comply with that agreement. Finally, the world can know the whole truth about what they did to protect predator clergy members and the Church’s reputation at the expense of young innocent children.

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