No Safe Haven, California Catholic Daily [Los Angeles CA], June 20, 2007

No Safe Haven

California Catholic Daily [Los Angeles CA]
June 20, 2007

http://www.calcatholic.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?id=4f9964df-bddd-4702-9c66-65c2cb67e605

Judge’s ruling may mean the Los Angeles archdiocese may be forced to make priest-molesters’ personnel files public. The ruling does not immediately affect the Los Angeles archdiocese, but it may in the future.

On June 18, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Peter Lichtman ruled that confidential personnel files of priests accused of molesting minors may be released to the public, even if the priests in question have never been formally charged of a crime or had claims made against them proven in court.

The case involves ten Franciscans who have been accused of molesting boys and girls for a 30-year period, beginning in the 1950s. Most of the incidents are said to have occurred at St. Anthony's Seminary in Santa Barbara, which has been closed since 1987. Last year, the archdiocese and the Order of Friars Minor settled with alleged victims of the accused Franciscans for $28 million.

The victims asked Lichtman to release to the public the accused priests' personnel files. The judge, however, in 2005 ruled that he could not force the release of files of eight priests and teachers of the Orange diocese because lawsuits against them had been settled and the allegations against them not proven. The Franciscans have argued that the case against their members demanded the same restraint.

But Lichtman on Monday dismissed the Franciscans' contention. The accused Franciscans' right to privacy, said the judge, is trumped by the state's "compelling interest in protecting children from harm," no matter what "the stage of the litigation."

The judge said the priests in question have either admitted their guilt or shown "dangerous propensities toward youth." One, Franklyn Becker, said Lichtman, had given "sworn testimony" of "his attraction to boys, his interest in the Man-Boy Love Association, his leanings toward being attracted to post pubescent boys." He had even given "names of people to the Archdiocese that might come forward with allegations."

Keeping such personnel files secret, said Lichtman, "would provide the alleged perpetrators and enablers with a safe haven for settlement. The defendants' conduct would be forever hidden and safe from scrutiny."

With over 500 claims against it, the Los Angeles archdiocese has fought for years against releasing personnel files. And though, last April, the United States Supreme Court refused to hear an archdiocesan appeal of a lower court's ruling that the Church had to turn over personnel files to the Los Angeles County Grand Jury, on June 7, 2006, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Haley Fromholz ordered lawyers to keep confidential the names of archdiocesan employees not accused of crimes, witnesses, general background information, medical and financial records of plaintiffs and defendants.

Lichtman's ruling, victims' lawyer John Manley told the June 19 Los Angeles Times, "sends a message ... that if you engage in the concealment of child sexual abuses, you will not only pay for your misdeeds but the public at large will be able to see what you did." How Lichtman's latest ruling will affect the archdiocese, however, remains to be seen.

According to Lichtman, Santa Barbara has had one of the highest per capita numbers of clergy sexual molesters. Forty-one clergy have been accused of molesting 76 minors.