California: Archdiocese Loses Ruling on Records

By Jennifer Medina
The New York Times
January 7, 2013

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/08/us/california-archdiocese-loses-ruling-on-records.html?_r=1&

A Los Angeles judge ruled Monday that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles must release the names of high-ranking church officials included in some 30,000 pages of confidential records about priests accused of sexually abusing children.

The decision reverses a ruling by a judge who said he worried that including the names could further embarrass the church. But in her ruling Monday, Judge Emilie H. Elias said the public’s right to know how the nation’s largest archdiocese handled molesting charges outweighed other concerns.

The records include reports of abuse, letters to the Vatican and psychiatric reports and are likely to be released in the next several weeks, lawyers said. The Los Angeles Times and The Associated Press had filed an objection to the previous ruling that all names of church employees, including Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, would be blacked out.