CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times
By Jean Guccione, Times Staff Writer
Two decades go when he was bishop of Stockton, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony ordered two priests accused of child molestation to leave the country, according to a transcript of a deposition he gave last month.
Mahony gave the deposition in lawsuits filed by people who claim they were molested by several priests, including a third one whom he transferred when he was bishop of Stockton.
Mahony said the two instances when he told priests to leave the country had slipped his memory.
"I had forgotten about those incidents," he testified in a Nov. 23 deposition in lawsuits alleging the Roman Catholic Church was negligent in failing to protect children from predatory priests. The transcript was made public Thursday.