CALIFORNIA
New University
by: Bryce Plank
The Catholic religion stands for many things that are right in this world. The church unequivocally preaches ideals such as peace, morality, selflessness and tradition. Yet the Los Angeles Archdiocese is forgetting some of these important values at a time when its parishioners need strong leadership the most.
It’s well-known that the church has come under heavy fire in the past couple of years over the widespread reports of child molestation suffered at the hands of Catholic priests. Recently, the church has settled lawsuits with groups of victims around the country—sometimes paying monetary awards of hundreds of millions of dollars to groups of victims.
Last week, the L.A. Archdiocese, led by Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, decided – after much persuasion from victims’ rights groups and others in the public – to release summaries of the personal records of 126 priests accused of molesting children. Yet the records seem to fall short of the full disclosure documents that the public has been waiting for.
The Los Angeles county district attorney’s office is unsatisfied with the latest move by Mahony: “[T]he real question is why the archdiocese refuses to turn over grand jury-subpoenaed personnel records to prosecutors. ... Despite two court rulings ordering disclosure, Cardinal Mahony continues to claim ‘confidentiality privileges’ that no court has recognized.”