Why Cardinal Mahony Should Have Resigned 10 Years Ago

By Phil Lawler
Catholic Culture
January 23, 2013

http://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/the-city-gates.cfm?id=485


In 2002, when Pope John Paul II called the leaders of the US bishops’ conference to Rome for a discussion of the sex-abuse crisis, one cardinal, speaking to the Los Angeles Times under cover of anonymity, said that the prelates would push for the resignation of Boston’s Cardinal Bernard Law.

Cardinal Law was in trouble, of course, because of the revelations that he had covered up evidence of sexual abuse by priests, and shuffled abusive priests from one parish to another without informing parishioners.

The anonymous prelate who called for Law’s scalp was never identified, but most informed observers believe that it was Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles.

That was back in 2002. Now, after a decade of legal resistance, the Los Angeles archdiocese has released files that show how Cardinal Mahony had handled sex-abuse complaints: roughly the same way Cardinal Law did. Thanks to the dogged efforts of lawyers for the LA archdiocese, this evidence became public only after Cardinal Mahony’s retirement. But if it was indeed Cardinal Mahony who wanted Cardinal Law to step down in 2002, it seems quite clear that he should have followed his own advice.

To tell the truth, the evidence that has emerged this week only confirms what you already knew, if you've read my book, The Faithful Departed. (See pp. 242-246 for a comparison of the Law and Mahony cases.) More to the point, what we all know now, Cardinal Mahony himself knew in 2002.