Southland Woman Sues Catholic Church over Sex Abuse

Patch
February 28, 2013

http://southgate-lynwood.patch.com/articles/southland-woman-sues-catholic-church-over-sex-abuse


A Southland woman who sued the Roman Catholic Church 1984, saying she was sexually abused by seven priests, including one who impregnated her, plans to return to the limelight today to discuss the abdication of the pope and the propriety of having Cardinal Roger Mahony help elect the next one.

Rita Milla said she was sexually molested over a four-year period, starting when she was 16, when she was a volunteer at St. Philomena's Church in Carson. She sued the church after her daughter, Jacqueline, was born, eventually settling with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

Coinciding with the pope's last day in office, Milla will hold a news conference at the law offices of attorney Gloria Allred late this morning. Allred said her client wants to talk about what the next pope should do about sex crimes in the church, about Mahony's inclusion in the conclave that will elect his successor, and about evidence of a church cover-up in her own case, which dragged out for more than 20 years.

Advocates of people abused by priests have railed against the prospect of Mahony, the retired archbishop of Los Angeles, casting a vote for a new pope when the College of Cardinals meets in the Vatican next month because of evidence that he helped shield an abusive priest from prosecution.