LOS ANGELES (CA)
CBS News
By Bill Whitaker
(CBS News) LOS ANGELES – There is new evidence that leaders of the Catholic Church in Los Angeles maneuvered secretly to shield priests accused of sexually abusing children.
Documents just released indicate they never told parishioners — or the police — what they knew.
“What we’re seeing in these files is but a glimpse into a very, very dark, and endless tunnel of secrecy, of abuse, of silence,” said Raymond Boucher, a former altar boy and current lead attorney, representing some 500 victims of sex abuse by priests in the archdiocese of Los Angeles.
The documents offer the strongest evidence yet of a cover-up that reached to the very top of Los Angeles clergy: Then-archbishop, now-retired Cardinal Roger Mahony.
“That has always been paramount for the church for decades: Protect itself from scandal,” Boucher said.
Many of the documents are correspondence between Mahony and Monsignor Thomas Curry, his chief adviser on sex abuse. One concerns whether to allow Monsignor Peter Garcia to return to his duties in L.A. He had secretly been sent away for treatment in New Mexico for sexually abusing as many as 17 youngsters.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.