Files show how LA church leaders controlled damage

HI all

This just popped up on ap, and its pretty disturbing.. Makes me wonder how many churches in how many cities are covering for their priests. Why do we keep hearing about priests molesting children?

How long have the churches been covering these actions up? Probably for as long as churches have been around.

I think we should ban priests... We need more priest control
hosted.ap.org...

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Retired Cardinal Roger Mahony and other top Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles officials maneuvered behind the scenes to shield molester priests, provide damage control for the church and keep parishioners in the dark, according to church personnel files.

The confidential records filed in a lawsuit against the archdiocese disclose how the church handled abuse allegations for decades and also reveal dissent from a top Mahony aide who criticized his superiors for covering up allegations of abuse rather than protecting children.

When parents complained the Rev. Nicholas Aguilar Rivera molested in LA, church officials told the priest but waited two days to call police - allowing him to flee to Mexico, court papers allege. At least 26 children told police they were abused during his 10 months in Los Angeles. The now-defrocked priest is believed to be in Mexico and remains a fugitive

Wow, OP. That makes for one heck of a read. I knew parts of the scandal but not that level of detail about Mahony.

26 years...it says he served. Hmm.. So over 2 decades he's been lying, hiding and covering for baby rapers..while putting some back into positions they'd go on to commit more acts of evil against Children.

I don't know who that man thinks he is to stand as a representative of the Church but he doesn't stand for any Catholic I have ever known and it's a shame he isn't serving his last years in a dank cell in one of California's worst prisons.

What really infuriates me is reading this above all else....

"We could open up another firestorm - and it takes us years to recover from those," Mahony wrote in an Oct. 6, 2000, memo. "Is there no alternative to public announcements at all the Masses in 15 parishes??? Wow - that really scares the daylights out of me!!"

The aide, Msgr. Richard Loomis, noted his dismay over the matter when he retired in 2001 as vicar for clergy, the top church official who handled priestly discipline. In a memo to his successor, Loomis said Baker's attorney disclosed the priest had at least 10 other victims.

"We've stepped back 20 years and are being driven by the need to cover-up and to keep the presbyteriate & public happily ignorant rather than the need to protect children," Loomis wrote.

(Op Link)

Someday, if the God he THINKS he's been serving is all the Church says he is, he'll be standing at Judgement for his deeds and works across his life. I really don't believe the Almighty will be the LEAST impressed by the logic. The innocence of children was utterly destroyed and lives ruined IN THE CHURCH by the most rank thing an adult can do to a child....and he spent part of his life helping to keep the criminals perpetrating it safe from answering to charges.

Oh yes...Judgement day will go better for some than others, I'm sure ...and for those late to settle up with St Peter? The screaming blur that goes racing DOWN in a free fall while you're headed UP to heaven is Cardinal Mahony ...on his way to his rightful place for his eternity.

Thanks for calling any attention to it.
Sadly and tragically its been going on for centuries.

Our generations are still paying the price for it.
Each rape; each coverup - each life ruined.
Horrors.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000




thank for replying
you said it so much better then I could have