Sexual abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles

The sexual abuse scandal in the Los Angeles archdiocese is a major chaper in the series of Catholic sex abuse cases in the United States and Ireland.

Challenging aspects of investigations of sexual abuse

Cardinal Roger Mahony appealed an attempt to gain access to church documents relating to sexual abuse all the way to the Supreme Court. The Court refused to hear the appeal, and the decision required the archdiocese to comply with a subpoena from the Los Angeles County District Attorney for letters to the former priests and notes from counseling sessions conducted by the church.^[1]

Oliver O'Grady

In 1984, a Stockton police investigation into sexual abuse allegations against Oliver O'Grady was reportedly closed after diocesan officials promised to remove the priest from any contact with children. Instead, he was reassigned to a parish about 50 miles (80 km) east, in San Andreas, by Mahony where he continued to molest children. Not long after, bishop Mahony was promoted to archbishop of Los Angeles, the largest Catholic diocese in the country.

The letters also were a subject of discussion in Mahony's deposition in a civil lawsuit related to O'Grady. Mahony, under oath, denied knowing of O'Grady's activity despite evidence to the contrary. During one particular line of questioning, Mahony was asked why he claimed not to remember multiple allegations of rape by one of his own subordinates (O'Grady) when he was the Bishop of Stockton. Mahony was advised by his attorney not to answer the question.

Litigation and lawsuits

In this regard, on August 24, 2007, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Louise DeCarl Adler ruled for immediate jury trials for 42 sex-abuse lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego duly filed by 150 litigants, who alleged sexual crimes by priests to children. The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego offered about $4 million to settle the claims but plaintiffs' counsels demanded 10% of a million. With 1 million Catholics and several holdings, the diocese is the largest and wealthiest of the five U.S. dioceses which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection under the shadow of civil claims over sexual abuse. The Los Angeles Archdiocese settled 508 cases for $2 million in July, 2007, while the Orange County, California diocese settled 90 claims for $.2 million in 2004.^[2]

Rita Milla, an American citizen who was sexually abused by 7 priests was paid a $500,000 (€339,190) settlement on December 4, 2007, from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, America's largest, in her 23-year legal fight. Milla, 46, was one of the plaintiffs in a $660-million-dollar (€447.73 million) global settlement paid by the diocese reached for past abuse victims of molestation by priests. At 16, she was first abused by Fr. Santiago at Los Angeles and the Roman Catholic Church's failure to help here caused her loss of faith: "It felt like God hanging up the phone on me. I'll never escape the memories and I'll always be fighting the after effects of the trauma I went through, but now I can work on healing." She sued the church in 1984, and Tamayo apologized to her in 1991. Deceased (1999) Tamayo was paid to remain in the Philippines.^[3]

Mexico case

On September 11, 2007, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) accused Mexico City Cardinal Norberto Rivera of having in bad faith transferred a priest he knew had committed sexual offenses upon children to the United States in order to cover up the crimes. Joaquín Aguilar Méndez stated that he was raped by priest Nicolás Aguilar in Mexico City in 1994 (at age 12). A damage suit accused Rivera and Mahony of negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, civil conspiracy and sexual battery.^[4]

Apology

On July 16, 2007, Mahony and the Roman Catholic Church in Los Angeles apologized for abuses by priests after 508 victims reached a record-breaking settlement worth $660m (£324m), with an average of $1.3m for each plaintiff. Mahony described the abuse as a "terrible sin and crime", after a series of trials into sex abuse claims since the 1940s were to begin. The agreement, if approved by a judge, will settle all 15 upcoming pedophilia trials against the Los Angeles archdiocese and avoids the threat of Mahony being forced to testify about how the Church dealt with abuses spanning the 1940s to 1990s. Since 2002 nearly 1,000 people filed sexual abuse claims in California. The $660m-deal dwarfs the $157m settlement paid by the Archdiocese of Boston.^[5]

Agreements

The archdiocese agreed to pay out .5 billion dollars to settle 45 lawsuits it still faces over -2 other pending cases of sexual abuse. According to the Associated Press a total of 22 priests were involved in the settlement with cases going as far back as the 1930s. ^[6] 20 million dollars of this was paid by the insurers of the archdiocese. The main administrative office of the archdiocese is due to be sold to cover the cost of these and future law suits. The archdiocese will settle about 500 cases for about $2 million.^[7]

2006 documentary

The 2006 documentary Deliver Us From Evil is based on accusations that the Archbishop of Los Angeles, Cardinal Mahony, knew that Oliver O'Grady, a priest who sexually abused children, including a 9-month-old baby, in a string of Central California towns for 20 years, was a sexual abuser but failed to keep him away from children.

In the film, O'Grady says Mahony was "very supportive and very compassionate and that another situation had been smoothly handled". Mahony denies knowing that O’Grady was a child molester. ^[8] However, the documentary provided copies of letters between Mahony and O'Grady during this time.

Federal Investigation

On January 29, 2009, the Los Angeles Times and the Wall Street Journal reported that a federal investigation "will determine whether Cardinal Mahoney and possibly other church leaders committed honest services fraud against parishoners by failing to keep children safe from predatory priests". ^[9]

Impact on the diocese

On January 22, 2008, Tod Tamberg announced that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles sold its 12-story Archdiocesan Catholic Center on Wilshire Boulevard to Jamison Properties (/ David Lee, President) of Los Angeles for $31 million to pay $660 million 2007 settlement on sex abuse by clergy. It was donated in 1995 by Thrifty PayLess.^[10]

References