L.A. archbishop relieves retired cardinal of duties

Updated 10:55 PM ET

LOS ANGELES Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez announced Thursday night that he has relieved retired Cardinal Roger Mahony of his remaining duties and a former top aide to Mahony has stepped down from his current post, on the same night the church released thousands of pages of personnel files of priests accused of sexual abuse.

"I find these files to be brutal and painful reading," Gomez said in a statement, referring to the newly released files made public by the church Thursday night just hours after a judge's order. "The behavior described in these files is terribly sad and evil. There is no excuse, no explaining away what happened to these children."

Gomez announced that he has "informed Cardinal Mahony that he will no longer have any administrative or public duties."

Mahony, who retired in 2011 after more than a quarter-century at the helm of the archdiocese, has publicly apologized for mistakes he made in dealing with priests who molested children.

Gomez also said Thomas Curry, former vicar of the clergy under Mahony who was the cardinal's point person in dealing with priests accused of molestation, has stepped down from his current job as auxiliary bishop for the archdiocese's Santa Barbara region. Curry also issued an apology earlier this month.

Earlier Thursday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Emilie Elias ordered the diocese to turn over some 30,000 pages from the confidential files of priests accused of child molestation without blacking out the names of top church officials who were responsible for handling priests accused of abuse.

The judge gave the archdiocese until Feb. 22 to turn over the files to attorneys for the alleged victims, but they were released almost immediately.

The archdiocese, the nation's largest, had planned to black out the names of members of the church hierarchy who were responsible for the priests, and instead provide a cover sheet for each priest's file, listing the names of top officials who handled that case. The church reversed course Wednesday after The Associated Press, the Los Angeles Times and plaintiff attorneys objected in court.

A record-breaking $660 million settlement in 2007 with more than 500 alleged victims paved the way for the ultimate disclosure of the tens of thousands of pages, but the archdiocese and individual priests fought to keep them secret for more than five years.

A first round of 14 priest files made public in Los Angeles nearly two weeks ago showed that Mahony and other top officials maneuvered behind the scenes to shield molester priests, provide damage control for the church and keep parishioners in the dark about sexual abuse in their parishes. Those documents, released as part of an unrelated civil lawsuit, were not redacted and provided a glimpse of what could be contained in the larger release.

The files, some of them dating back decades, contain letters among top church officials, accused priests and archdiocese attorneys, complaints from parents, medical and psychological records and — in some cases — correspondence with the Vatican.

Similar document releases in other dioceses, including Boston, have shown top church officials shuffled molesting priests from parish to parish, failed to call police and kept parishioners in the dark.

[cleric77]

Let's remember that in accordance Roman Catholic dogma the Pope has the highest civil, legal, and religious authority on earth. No legal or civil authority can question his power--therefore, the bishops and priests are symbols of his authority--don't be surprized that this cardinal will be sent to the Vatican to "retire" away from USA secular legal authorities--remember Cardinal Law of Boston?

[Martha12345]

Those involved in the cover-ups should be tried and if found guilty sentenced to prison. End of story.

[farmmike]

It infuriates me that all of the money I have given over the past 40 years has gone to cover up the crimes of the church instead of going to the poor as it was intended. My money will now go directly to the charities in need who actually help people.

[oldmuddy]

It seems that once again the true purpose of the catholic church is being exposed. It goves every indication of being one of the largest pedophile rings in the world.

[PourpaixPourpaix]

Well, at least we found an organization that lifts the used car business off the bottom rung.

[LarryMoniz]

While it may seem blasphemous to some, organized religion has proven over the centuries to be a highly lucrative category of business venture. Offering little but "faith" to followers who can ill afford to donate their meager incomes to the religion's aristocracy, selling "faith" generates consistent revenue from followers from birth to the grave. Even that would perhaps be somewhat acceptable were it not for the types of people attracted to the easy (sleazy?) life of a clergyman. Many priests do little during the week except write a sermon (or use a canned one from a paid service) and put in a few hours per week conducting services. Among those drawn to such a life are the clergy who see such a life as a perfect cover to prey on parishioners. Most parishioners are predisposed to revere their "holy" leaders who, in turn, can abuse that power to molest parishioners from the oldest to the youngest. Because of the power they wield, they are able to cover up even the vilest misconduct. Only now is the widespread extent of such perversion being realized in the United States, Ireland, Germany, Italy and numerous other countries. While some religions have no powerful central authority and, thus, frequently appear to have less perversion, not so with the Roman Catholic Church. On numerous occasions, its status as a separate state has served it well in concealing monstrous misdeeds such as described above. In addition, the Vatican reportedly issued hundreds of passports to fleeing Nazi murderers-many of whom wound of in South America. It's unlikely the world will ever know the true extent of outrages perpetrated under the guise of "religion" but it's like more people have been killed in the name of various religion's gods than by all the diseases that ever affected humankind.

[PourpaixPourpaix]

Well, they sure seem like a bastion of morality, no? Perhaps we should rethink the idea of leaving the definition of morality to a bunch of hormone-enraged opportunists who are trying to swear off sex?

[IntellectOne]

Who gave the fleeing Nazi murderers passports? The Vatican? What proof do you have? The Vatican released their archives. Where are the Nazi archives and the American archives (all of them) about what happened during those horrible days.

[aintfakin]

organized religion will always poke its own eyes out because its leaders crave power as much as the depraved politicians.
catholics, jews, muslims, money ripping evangelicals are just another form of gang