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Heads up for Arizona Catholics.

I know a priest who graduated from St. John's and literally removed his shoes as he left the facility for the last time. Like shaking the dust off, only stronger.

Father Michael Baker, who is accused of molesting numerous children during more than a decade after Mahony welcomed him back to the fold in the mid-1980s despite knowing then of his history of pedophilia. As it turns out, Mahony had torpedoed Baker in 1999 and kept it quiet by imposing a "confidentiality agreement" on the victims' families and their lawyers after paying them more than $1.3 million in church funds.

This guy worked at the church I grew up in, St. Paul of the Cross in La Mirada, CA. I had left the area by the time he came there, but I went to mass there on occassion, because my parents still lived there. He was a "charismatic" priest.

From http://theserenity.blogspot.com/2002_05_12_theserenity_archive.html#76506657

The most damaging allegations against Cardinal Mahony concern the case of Rev. Michael Stephen Baker, accused of molesting boys as young as 5 years old. According to the Los Angeles Times, “Baker described going to the offices of the archdiocese in 1986 and telling Mahony of his problem with sexual abuse. He said that in one meeting, an archdiocese lawyer suggested calling the police but that Mahony said no….. Baker continued to have frequent access to children over the next 14 years while he was assigned to nine different parishes. Six of the churches where Baker worked had elementary schools adjacent to the rectory… In an interview last month, the cardinal said the archdiocese had few options in dealing with Baker because the allegations against him were unproven. ‘Our biggest problem was that ... he wasn't found guilty of a criminal act,’ Mahony said. ‘That's a big problem.’” So, just in case you missed it, Cardinal Mahony knew that Baker was a child molester and refused to inform the police, and then gave Baker continued access to children on the grounds that Baker had not been convicted of molestation. Hard to believe, isn’t it? But wait, there’s more. Not only weren’t the police informed, but the victims’ parents, and even the other parish priests, were not informed that Baker posed a danger. Some additional details, courtesy of the LA Times: Two years ago, Cardinal Mahony authorized a secret 1.3 million dollar settlement with two brothers who complained that Baker had molested them for years. However, Mahony was still trying to keep the case from the police: “But leaked e-mail correspondence between top archdiocese officials reveals that Mahony was reluctant to turn over Baker's name to police as recently as late March.”

MICHAEL STEPHEN BAKER
DOB: December 26, 1947 in Pasadena, CA
SS: 570-68-0856
Last known address: P.O. Box 1117, La Mirada, CA 90637
Last known phones: home: (562) 435-8058 cell: (818) 618-8443

If you can stomach it, surf the gay publications on the net. Gay.com and 365gay.com are fairly tame. They are all pulling for the Bishops and concerned the Vatican will influence them to condemn homosexuals. They speak of "Vatican influence" as if the Vatican is pure evil. Gays are gloating that the word "homosexual" is not being used by many Bishops.