Posted on 04/07/2002 4:09:56 PM PDT by grimalkin
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A woman who accused Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony of molesting her more than 30 years ago said in a newspaper interview on Sunday she suffers from schizophrenia and decided to sue the cleric after her disability payments were cut.
In the latest accusation in a sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the Roman Catholic Church in the United States, Flora Mae Hickman, told the Los Angeles Times Mahony sexually abused her in 1970 when she was a teen-ager attending a high school in Fresno, Calif.
Fresno police are investigating the allegation against the head of the nation's largest Roman Catholic archdiocese.
The cardinal, who was a priest and an auxiliary bishop in Fresno, has denied the charges and said that until the allegations surfaced, he had never heard of the woman.
Scandals have led to the removal of priests in several U.S. states since the trial earlier this year of defrocked Boston priest John Geoghan, who was sentenced to prison for child molestation. Similar scandals have also forced bishops to resign in the important Catholic nations of Ireland and Poland and prompted Pope John Paul to call sexual abuse in the church a grievous evil.
Hickman, who wants cash compensation from the church, said her only encounter with Mahony came after she fainted outside the band room of the Catholic high school, where he taught.
"I can't even tell you when it happened," Hickman told the Times.
Hickman, 51, acknowledged her accusations sounded farfetched but insisted they were true. "I didn't imagine it. It really happened," she told the newspaper.
Hickman also told the Times that although she takes medication for schizophrenia, her mental problems have grown worse in recent weeks and she decided to press her accusations partly because the state reduced her disability benefits.
"I kept it to myself for a long time, and then I saw people on the news who said, 'If something like this happened to you, come forward,"' she said. "Then I got a letter from the state that they're going to cut my disability to $235 a month. I won't be able to pay my rent ... I need compensation."
She added that nearly everyone she has encountered in her life, including classmates, family members and former co-workers have abused or molested her.
A supervisor at a fast-food restaurant where Hickman worked for seven years claimed Hickman often made unfounded accusations of abuse against co-workers, the Times reported.
Hickman said she has been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic and is taking medication for depression. She told the Fresno Bee for Sunday editions: "All I said was that when I opened my eyes, some of my clothes were gone and he was the only one around. I was unconscious. I don't know if he molested me, but he could have."
Ya gotta take that "kick me" sign off your backside every once in a while, hon.
The media has a different agenda of course.
She told the Fresno Bee for Sunday editions: "All I said was that when I opened my eyes, some of my clothes were gone and he was the only one around. I was unconscious. I don't know if he molested me, but he could have."
A supervisor at a fast-food restaurant where Hickman worked for seven years claimed Hickman often made unfounded accusations of abuse against co-workers, the Times reported.
Ca-ding, Ca-ding, Ca-ding, Ca-ding,Ca-ding, Ca-ding, Ca-ding, Ca-ding,Ca-ding, Ca-ding, Ca-ding, Ca-ding Ca-ding, Ca-ding, Ca-ding, Ca-ding,Ca-ding, Ca-ding, Ca-ding, Ca-ding,Ca-ding, Ca-ding, Ca-ding, Ca-ding Ca-ding, Ca-ding, Ca-ding, Ca-ding,Ca-ding, Ca-ding, Ca-ding, Ca-ding,Ca-ding, Ca-ding, Ca-ding, Ca-ding Ca-ding, Ca-ding, Ca-ding, Ca-ding,Ca-ding, Ca-ding, Ca-ding, Ca-ding,Ca-ding, Ca-ding, Ca-ding, Ca-ding
but no cha-ching!
Not after this. In fact, the Cardinal will probably try to damp down the news stories to prevent the poor woman from being ridiculed in public.
How convenient. It's all about money, isn't it.
Now that's a good point to bring up.
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