CALIFORNIA
San Antonio Express-News
BY GILLIAN FLACCUS, ASSOCIATED PRESS : MAY 1, 2015
LOS ANGELES (AP) — An attorney for hundreds of sex abuse victims in Los Angeles released the last batch of files Friday kept by the Roman Catholic church on priests accused of molesting children.
The final 11 files were made public eight years after the Archdiocese of Los Angeles paid $660 million to settle hundreds of sex abuse claims. Overall, 205 confidential clergy files have been released by the nation’s largest archdiocese and more than two dozen religious orders.
The public airing of the final 2,400 pages brings a close to the devastating saga that began in 2002, when state lawmakers created a one-year window that allowed sex abuse victims to sue for abuse that happened years before. In all, more than 500 people filed lawsuits.
Part of the 2007 settlement included a process for the church to open its confidential records on priests who had been accused of molestation.
The files released Friday were kept by three religious orders — the Servites, Carmelites and Redemptorists — that had clergy working in the Los Angeles archdiocese.
“These files are so important and so damning,” said Ray Boucher, the lead attorney for plaintiffs who worked for years to get the totality of the files released. “There are always more cases, but nothing of this magnitude.”
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