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Subscribe to RSSRetired Cardinal Roger Mahony was stripped of duties Thursday. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
The archdiocese of Los Angeles apologized Thursday night and stripped retired Cardinal Roger Mahony of all public duties for allegedly covering up years of child sexual abuse by Catholic priests.
In a move that came hours after the release of personnel files detailing years of alleged abuse by Los Angeles priests, Archbishop José H. Gomez announced Thursday night that Thomas Curry, Mahony's longtime top aide, was also resigning as regional bishop of Santa Barbara.
The files indicated that Mahony and other top archdiocese officials maneuvered behind the scenes for years to protect molester priests.
Mahony will "no longer have any administrative or public duties," Gomez said in a statement.
NBC 4 of Los Angeles reported that as Mahony's vicar for clergy, Curry assigned priests and deacons and was responsible for promoting "spiritual and physical well-being" for all priests and deacons in the archdiocese.
Mahony was head of the Los Angeles archdiocese from 1985 to 2011, when Gomez succeeded him.
"I find these files to be brutal and painful reading," Gomez wrote in a letter to parishioners. "The behavior described in these files is terribly sad and evil. There is no excuse, no explaining away what happened to these children."
NBC Los Angeles: An ex-Mahoney aide, Santa Barbara bishop resigns amid church abuse probe
"We need to acknowledge that terrible failure today," he wrote.
Gomez said the church would "immediately report every credible allegation of abuse" and promised to support victims of priests' abuse.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Emilie Elias ordered release of the personnel files a week after internal church records revealed striking evidence of a coordinated campaign to shield priests accused of abuse.
The new files are especially damaging because they include the names of the accused priests, which the archdiocese — the largest Catholic diocese in the U.S. — had fought to protect.
Release of the files is expected to end years of legal battles over whether to identify the priests, the Los Angeles Times reported.
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prosecute this guy and put him in jail!
Joachim - tell that to the DA's, if they can still prosecute! They have to do their jobs.
It's what I've been saying for years. If it were not for Catholics, the killing of unborn children would cease.
There are about 65 Catholics in the House of Representatives, led by Democrats - Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Dennis Kucinich who ran for the presidency.
There are l5 in the Senate, led by Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, Dick Durbin, Chris Dodd, Joe Biden, Tom Harkin, Pat Leahy, Patty Murray, Susan Collins, Barbara Mikulski and Jack Reed. All are all Democrats except Collins.
Then you have the Catholic supporters and spinmasters of this "Party of Death." They appear all over TV and radio. Many of them, you will recognize. There names are:
Chris Mathews, the host of "Hardball."
Bob Shrum, one of the biggest names in the campaign business.
James Carville. Democrat consultant
Ellis Henican, An attorney who was president of the Catholic Council on Human Relations
Joe Trippi was the national campaign manager for Howard Dean's 2004 campaign
Katrina Vanden Heuvel of the liberal editor"Nation" magazine
Terry McAuliffe Chairman of the Democratic National Committee from February 2001 to February 2005
Leon Panetta, former chief of staff, White House,
Phil Donahue, former TV host
Bob Beckel, Democrat campaign adviser and TV regular on Fox News.
Margaret Carlson, Columnist and guest on TV shows
Donna Brazile, Democrat consultant
Nancy Keenan, NARAL president
I've talked about this on the vine before, but I think it bears repeating. Tha Catholic Church is an eveil entity that is responsible for countless of generations of children growing up totally screwed up. And not just through child sexual abuse, just through their everyday dogma. I spent every night of my childhood awake, terrified and with my stomach in knots because I was certain everything I did would end up in me going to hell. I have cousins who are not going to get into heaven because they were born of my uncle's second marriage. When I was suffering from a serious illness, and also being abused by a boyfriend as a teen, a priest told me it was all because of my sin and told me to pray for forgiveness. I rejected the church at age 17, but my mother still goes weekly and puts money in the basket, even after I pointed out to her that that money was going to pay for the defense of pedophile priests (we live in the Boston area). They are masters at mind control and all about the money and power. Dismantle the church!
ECF,
I think God would agree on this one --- it would be a situation like when Jesus dealt with the money changers.
The entire Catholic Church, or certain people in it, ECF?
thank you for sharing that, we need more of the truth to come out. I am tired of the deceiveness and the lies that I am hearing.
The only lies you are hearing (more accuately, inaccuracies brought about by complete ignorance of the subject matter) are the broad smears of the Catholic church and all its members. You will never believe me, but I'll say it again--the evil acts of a few within a group (in this case the Catholic church) do not make the entire group an evil enterprise. Another form of evil is the insidious evil that has drawn men away from the church for centuries and encouraged them to cherry pick the parts of Christ's religion that they like and cast aside the rest. Every Protestant sect has their own interpretation of what being a Christian really means, and none can agree. More evil still are the vast hordes of people who claim to be Christians but support the killing of innocent babies. Some of these are Catholics, but the VAST majority are not
The Catholics I have spoken with are ashamed by the actions of persons such as Roger Cardinal Mahoney.
The authorities in Los Angeles should pursue criminal charges against him.
The Pope should laicise Cardinal Mahoney.
The only reason Mahoney is expressing any "sorrow" or anything is because HE GOT CAUGHT COVERING UP THE TRUTH!
Yes, Michael, and the media was complacent in this for years, only because Mahony played along on certain liberal policies. As long as he did, the media kept things under wrap. Incredible, is it not.
Beware of men wearing funny hats
"Gomez said the church would "immediately report every credible allegation of abuse" and promised to support victims of priests' abuse."
It isn't the churches responsibility to decide what is credible or not, they should report all abuse and let the courts decide! Hold them all accountable and lock them up. Jerry needs a BF!
"The behavior described in these files is terribly sad and evil. There is no excuse, no explaining away what happened to these children."
Yes, there is. It's called organized religion. It's all in The Bible; read it.
America: When are you going to demand that these evil organizations, including churches, mosques, and synagogues need to be taxed?
Will taxing the Church make it any less evil, Captain Jack?
Labor unions don't pay any taxes, and we all know how immune THEY are to graft and corruption, right?
As a Catholic it pains me to say this, but the Church is not only sick but is probably beyond all hope of recovery. Molester priests can no longer be said to be an aberration: They are commonplace, as is the systemized, institutionalized cover-ups and lies by more than just a few bishops. These people were given long enough to come clean, and they have shown their lack of interest in doing so. It's time to do to the Church what they do to our children: F**k 'em.
Statistically, it is not even one half of one percent of all priests.
And should the innocent be punished with the guilty?
As a survivor of priest abuse, I am seeing a great cleansing going on in the Church. This latest move by Gomez is a huge one, and more will be coming. The Church is not beyond recovery - its on its way to renewal, with many good bishops finally entering the stage and cleaning up the filth of the previous generations. And you have Pope Benedict to thank for it (he defrocked my abuser in 2005).
Dude I am sorry for went you went through but if think the church is trying to cleanse anything you have brain washed as well as abused. Their first priority os to cover it up and save face, they dont admit to anything until they are backed into a corner. Your percentages would grow exponentially if you included all those in the church hierarchy who covered up the abuse, which is just as evil as doing it.
If you are willing to utter those words, then you sir, are NOT a Catholic. The mother church is never beyond hope of recovery unless we all become lukewarm in our beliefs and simply give up. This is a problem that can, and must, be fixed. Our belifs, however, are timeless and true.
a) That you would dare to tell me what I am or am not is a clear indication of your own talent for self-delusion. b) If your beliefs and faith cannot survive without a Church, then perhaps they weren't very hardy in the first place.
I see the apologists are out in storm this morning, but I don't care. I do care about the kids who've been raped, abused, molested and injured (many beyond repair) ffor centuries within this church, so let's follow up this slap on the wrist for Mahony, et. al., with indictments.
Let's begin to include the prosecutors and DA's across the coutry who failed to do their jobs, too, and who colluded with each and every diocese in the biggest Cover Up we should ever have been subjected to.
A Survivor.
As a fellow survivor, I am with you. Regretfully though, most if not all cases will not prosecutable due to statutes of limitations. And many times it was because many DA's did fail to act on what they knew.
Yes, it f----g sucks, doesn't it. At least I got to see my abuser defrocked by Pope Benedict, so there was accounability there.
Hope you are doing all right, John. Take care of yourself.
I'm not sure who you are calling an apologist, but I'll bet you would be one of the many, many here who would burn down an entire apartment building to eliminate an infestation of pests in one little area. I truly believe that the guilty should be punished, but the entire church is NOT guilty--only the ones responsible for committing or covering up the acts. In a religion of billions, this is a tiny, tiny minority.
Life sentences for all clergy involved. Nothing less will be justice.
Screw your god.
While this is a step in the right direction, one has to wonder if the archdiocese took this action only because they were forced to release the names, and therefore did so to "save face"? I personally think everyone involved with the molestations, and with the protection of those who molested should both be forced from the church and prosecuted.
I appreciate the sentiment, but no one can be "forced from the Church". The Church doesn't kick anyone out - it always has to have the door open to genuine repentance. This does NOT mean though, that all will be OK if they do and then will be restored. Some things just cannot be undone.
I would love to see a prosecution done as well, but DA's will be limited by statutes of limitations. This happened in my case, so I didn't get a chance to see my abuser to go prison. But I did get to see the pope defrock him, so he can no longer function as a priest. Some justice there.
May the Church continue to step in the right direction.
How about a criminal prosecution under RICO laws? Seems to apply here.
The church of pedophilia, more commonly known as the Catholics, sure inspires mankind doesn't it? They have been raping little boys for centuries, millenniums and their GOD looks on! Religion, just part of the fairytale world some people live in, they followed the Greeks and Olympian Gods, the Egyptians and Pharaoh Gods, the Roman Gods, the Inca, Aztec and Mayan Gods, the Monkey Gods etc...all the while believing they to were real! They threw their daughters into volcano's, slit the throats of their children, burned disbelievers, enslaved, waged war, MURDERED! all in the name of GOD! But then again there's no God like the present God to make one feel enlighten to the times....LOL
yes STANDAR, I am glad you know about that, that is why they build the paramids, not only to kill but to have orgies on top of the paramids. In egypt they also had orgies and so did the pharaohs.
I can see you are truly a student of the Catholic religion. You get an "F"
trying2serve: Student of what?, this fictitious religion has no meaning other than debauchery, lunacy and comic relief. If you are a student or teacher (as you are grading) you are woefully misguided (brain dead) and properly incapable of rational thought but I'll take you "F" with pleasure!...
The only way to fix this mess is what you do, if you find termites in your house you dig out the infested wood till you get to uninfested wood. No matter how high you have to go!
Unfortunately, Kent, most of the people here would lock the doors and windows shut, then burn down the entire house. It's a lot easier to blame the whole institution than taking the time to ferret those who are actually responsible
trying2serve: It is the "institution itself", the money grubbing, brainwashing, nonsensical beliefs that needs to be burned down, with all doors and windows locked as not to let any of it escape, especially if you need a ferret like attitude to get to the bottom of their problems. The jibber-jabber of mindless people looking for a reason why the impossible doesn't work in the real world...LOL
Most of you posters are tools for the money grab attorneys!
This is small potatoes compared to the public schools!
The only reason you don't hear about that is because they aren't required to have private insurance for this kind of thing!
Internal Cal teachers assoc memos state that between 5& 6% of current teachers & coaches are having inappropriate sexual relationships w/students. (which is the national ave according to psychologists.)
They're prevented from being sued because they're a state entity.
So give up being morally superior in your ignorant comments.
Get a clue!
How are people still catholic? You belong to a pedophile cult that abuses kids and uses the veil of religion to trick all you stupid into gving them money so they can continue to do so. Read the history of the catholic church, it is ripe with scandle and abuse yet because they "preach" about god you all just follow along. Lets say another organization hasd this much child rape and cover up but wasnt a religion, the goverment and citizens would step in and disband it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The entire Church, Dan, or certain people in it?
Is there anything in Canon Law or the Catechism that teaches that abusing children (or anyone, for that matter) is all right? I have my copies of both - if you can show it to me, I will look it up.
No, what has happened here are certain individuals in power who have used their positions of authority to harm the innocent. They should and must be punished - and it is happening now. They are not the Catholic Church - the Catholic Church IS the people, making up the Body of Christ, with Jesus as the Head of the Church. Now that IS Catholic teaching! For that, I am glad to still be a part of it, despite what happened to me because of a certain priest who forsook his vocation to harm me and many others.
The problem really is rampant, Dan, and the cases we know about are undoubtedly just the tip of a huge iceberg. How any person with a scrap of decency could even think about supporting this horrible pedophile cult is beyond reason.
I've thought of that, too - but it would not work. Too many innocent people would get hurt, and you have to know that the ones who did the crimes are not "the organization" - if anything, they have gone completely against the organization (since there is nothing in Catholic Church teaching that says it is all right to harm children).
Since many cases cannot be prosecuted due to statutes of limitations, the real work has to be done in the Church - my abuser was defrocked by the pope, and so should Mahony and many, many others. This is what I, and many other survivors, work towards.
Dan629,I am a catholic by baptism so I shall ever remain catholic but I do not condom actions like this and I am firm believer we all have the right to speak and say are mind. I am also a firm believer in the sacraments and the commandments. But done right, I also believe we are all profets, and believe it are not if you have a child you are a pope. Pope=papa=father that resembles God's will to love him as a father would love his child.
This guy only got punished because it has become public? They have had these files for decades and yet only punished him "hours" after they became public. They were deciding whether to identify the abusers, since when do the child abusers get protected? How nice that he is being reprimanded after he retires, after the damage was done. The Catholic religion sure has some weird sense of loyalty, they deny a gay daughter communion at her mothers funeral yet will allow their known child rapers in authority to continue to receive communion and rites afforded to them. News flash when a man has sex with another male he just may be gay, and in this case also a pedophile, no wonder this religion is going extinct, when you use authority for abusing others and then cover it up you are losing all credibility and will drive away the faithful in droves.
It came down to the right people in place to make this happen, gramgigi. With Gomez in place, he is there to clean up and throw out the garbage. We who follow this knew when he was named the new archbishop of LA that the pope put him there especially to do this.
The gay daughter who was denied communion - she was a Buddhist, not a Catholic, and non-Catholics may not receive communion. How can you receive something that you do not believe in?
You are right about the credibility though - it will take a long time to rebuild. But it is being rebuilt. Survivors of abuse like me are glad to see it.
Now if only the DA's can do their jobs, if certain cases have not expired yet (statutes of limitations).
They are only sorry after they got caught. If they had not gottn caught it would still be going on and then after abusing the young boys threaten them by telling them if you tell on me you are going to hell.
You're next Ratzinger.
HEY Catholic People Wake Up! Your church has paid out over a billion + in law suit settlements. Your contributions each Sunday are going to pay for your priest's kinky sex and you keep giving. How stupid are you people?
And how much of that settlement money has gone to the lawyers? Ka-ching!
And no, my Sunday contributions don't go to my priest's "kinky sex", unless you know something about my pastor. If so, please feel free to post about it.
Ditto here. As a matter of fact, NONE of the priests I've encountered have been involved in any of this, and every church I've ever attended has given deep from its pockets for the poor and needy. Instead of asking how stupid Catholics are, you should ask yourself how stupid it would be if we abandoned our deepest beliefs because of the actions of a few bad apples within our ranks, just to pander to the mob outside our organization. As an institution, Catholics believe in hope, faith and redemption.
Pedophilia is much more about power and domination than it is about sex. Peddies have the highest recidivism rate of virtually any offender. Those sick pieces of s*** will molest again and again.
It will never cease to amaze me that so many defend the rcc with overwhelming evidence of corruption and whitewashing of their many transgressions.
From the pope on down the rcc has been covering up these crimes for centuries. The apple is rotten from the core out.
I firmly believe the age of religion is coming to an end, slowly but surely. As more and more evidence mounts to explain things once believed to be from the divine, people are seeing through the facade of superstition. It cannot happen soon enough. Religious zealotry has caused quite enough harm to the world already, and it is still causing massive problems. Putting aside rational thought for religious extremism is pure insanity. It has helped make the middle east the powder keg it is today.
I don't hate the religious, but I hate many, many of the acts carried out in the name of some fairy tale figure in the sky. It is time to put aside the beliefs of the middle and dark ages and get firmly into the 21st century. Science, logic, and rational thought will save us, if we are to be saved, NOT religion.
Very well said.
Hmm, and I see renewal and a better Church because of the filth being cleansed from it.
As for science, logic, and rational thought - well, I am sure you'd agree with Fr. Georges LeMaitre (Belgian astrophysicist and Catholic priest, developer of the Big Bang Theory), Fr. Gregor Mendel (Benedictine monk and the scientist who established the science of Genetics), Galileo Galilei (who remained a devout Catholic despite running afoul with the Church of that time), Thomas Aquinas (philosopher whose work in logic and reason is still used today), and many others:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Roman_Catholic_scientist-clerics
Now, you were saying?
Amen to that, Benedicteenacc!
Ok, benedict etc., I am happy to say that there have been many fine scientists that were catholics. I never said a word about the two being mutually exclusive. There are many catholics, in fact most of them, that are wonderful, caring people that I would be happy to call friend.
None of that, however, takes away from the main point of my post. That point is that belief in some mythical being in the sky that does not exist has and does lead to crazy behaviour. All the stuff people claim to be the "word of god" is nothing more than their own thoughts. So when those thoughts are insane, or antisocial, or tell them to do terrible things in the name of god, some people do those things. There are examples of it every day.
My number one problem with catholics is that every time they put money in the collection plate, they are contributing to the cover up and defense of pedophiles. The rcc has swept this issue under the rug for centuries, often by simply sending the offenders to another parish. That is something I cannot and will not accept or forgive. When the congregations stand up and demand that the child rapers be outed and prosecuted then maybe something will be done. I often run across rcc apologists and supporters that say "yeah, but look at all the good stuff the church does". True, but that is not enough when thousands of children have been and are being abused.
I maintain that religion is overall bad for the human condition, and citing a few catlick scientists in no way changes that. There is still too much reliance on the hocus-pocus and mummery that is religion. I stick by my post, but thanks for the oh so superior reply.