LOS ANGELES (CA)
Catholic Explorer
By Catholic News Service
LOS ANGELES (CNS) -- The Los Angeles Archdiocese Oct. 12 released summaries of personnel files on 126 priests accused of sexually abusing minors.
Some of the files go back to the 1930s.
They were released as part of settlement talks with attorneys representing some 560 people who have sued the archdiocese, claiming they were sexually abused as minors by Catholic clergy.
The files, posted on the archdiocesan Web site in a 155-page report, show that until recent years the archdiocese often returned accused priests to ministry after treatment -- a practice once common in almost all U.S. dioceses.
In other cases priests were removed from ministry or laicized. Some priests were already dead when the first allegation of abuse was lodged with the archdiocese.
In recent years the archdiocese has adopted a "zero tolerance" policy of permanently removing from ministry any priest who faces a substantiated accusation of sexually molesting a minor.