LOS ANGELES (CA)
Monterey Herald
LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange paid thousands of dollars for medical treatment for priests accused of abuse and for their traumatized accusers and accusers' relatives, but did little else to deal with clergy abuse, according to hundreds of pages of priest personnel files released late Tuesday.
The nearly 1,000 pages of confidential documents from the files of nine accused Orange County priests mark the second mass release of such papers in a week.
Tuesday's documents include bills for medical and psychological treatment for priests, alleged victims and their relatives that were submitted to the diocese for payment.
The files also include evaluations of accused clergy by psychologists, letters between bishops and, in one case, a petition for laicization to Pope John Paul II written by the accused priest himself.
The first batch of some 10,000 pages of files was released on May 17 as part of a record-breaking, $100 million settlement between the diocese and 87 plaintiffs. The second batch was released Tuesday night after the diocese handed them over to plaintiffs' attorneys under court order.
Posted by kshaw at May 25, 2005 06:49 AM