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	Mahony Denies Being Told Priest Was Suspect Cardinal Says He Was Unaware That a Code Existed, Which Warned Other Dioceses about Priests Suspected of Sexual Abuse or Misconduct By Tony Castro Daily Breeze October 2, 2007 http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/articles/10173796.html Cardinal Roger Mahony has denied that his Mexico City counterpart warned him that a priest who transferred to Los Angeles and racked up 19 felony child molestation charges had been suspected of sexual abuse before his arrival. In a deposition made public Monday, Mahony rebuts statements made by Mexico City Cardinal Norberto Rivera that Rivera had warned Mahony through code words in a letter introducing the Mexican priest to Los Angeles Archdiocese officials in 1988. The original letter from Rivera to Mahony said the priest, Nicolas Aguilar Rivera, wanted to move to Los Angeles for "family and health reasons," which Rivera maintained were code words used among the clergy to refer to sexual problems. In his deposition, Mahony denies knowing such words were code for priests who could sexually abuse children. The Mexican cardinal's statements were part of documents filed last month by his lawyers in a Los Angeles lawsuit alleging he and Mahony conspired to protect the priest, who fled to Mexico rather than face justice in the United States. Mahony's deposition was released Monday by the victims' group Survivor's Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, at a news conference outside the Los Angeles Archdiocese headquarters downtown. The Mexican cardinal is quoted as saying: "I granted Father Aguilar permission to serve in Los Angeles on the condition that Cardinal Mahony first accept him for said service, and I warned Cardinal Mahony of my suspicion that Father Aguilar suffered from homosexual problems." But Mahony denies in the deposition that Rivera warned him of Aguilar before he started his service in L.A. At the news conference, SNAP leaders called on Mahony to fire Bishop Thomas Curry of Santa Barbara, who in the late 1980s was a monsignor and vicar for clergy in the Los Angeles Archdiocese. SNAP leaders released documents that they contend show Curry allowed Rivera to escape prosecution in Los Angeles, giving him a three-day head start to Mexico before notifying authorities. "These documents and Curry's own deposition prove that he intentionally let a criminal flee the U.S. to Mexico," SNAP Western Regional Director Mary Grant said. Nineteen felony counts of sexual abuse of minors were filed against Aguilar Rivera while he was in Los Angeles in 1988, but he fled the country and was never extradited by Mexican authorities. Mahony said the archdiocese notified Mexican church officials within days of learning of the local sexual molestation allegations against Rivera and that it was his understanding a police investigation was under way within days of the complaints. SNAP leaders said Aguilar Rivera remains a priest hiding in Mexico. Contact: tony.castro@dailynews.com
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