Free Republic

The state Supreme Court declined to overturn an appeals court ruling that forces Cardinal Roger Mahony to turn over the private personnel files of two former priests accused of sexual molestation. The ruling this week is the latest development in a battle between the Los Angeles County district attorney, who subpoenaed the files three years ago, and the nation's largest Roman Catholic archdiocese. Mahony has argued that opening the files would violate the church's constitutional right of religious freedom. Donald Steier, an attorney for the individual priests, said he was considering appealing the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. The...

FATHER LAWRENCE ESTRADA Sacramental Minister "Have stole, will transubstantiate" 25 years ago, Father Lawrence Estrada was ordained a priest at St. Vibiana's Performing Arts Center/Hotel/Restaurant complex over on 2nd and Main. He's held several assignments throughout those years, including a stint as Archbishop Roger M. Mahony's priest-secretary, as well as serving as pastor of St. Stephen's Church in Monterey Park from 1996 to 2003. You can still find him at St. Stephen's, but he doesn't answer to "pastor" anymore. He is now the designated SACRAMENTAL MINISTER. He steps in when you absolutely need something to be done "ex opere operato."...

LA Diocese Sponsored Conference seeks to understand "Blessing" of Gay PriestsI dislike this topic in general and avoid it like the plague. But it is amazing that these people still do not get that the "scandal" was about gays in the Priesthood, more than pedophilia. See Article on John Jay Study" Mr. Bennett, a review board member, blamed seminary officials and bishops for not flagging at-risk homosexual seminarians. There are "many outstanding priests of a homosexual orientation who live chaste, celibate lives," Mr. Bennett said, "but ... more than 80 percent of the abuse at issue was of a...

LOS ANGELES - A civil lawsuit filed against the Archdiocese of Los Angeles which names 28 high-ranking priests, including two auxiliary bishops, presents a stark and disturbing picture of what appears to be a pederast-cadamite system of recruitment of young seminarians and their advancement into the priesthood and high positions in the Church, based on acceptance of the homosexual-pederast-cadamite lifestyle. (A “cadamite” is the beneficiary/victim of an older, powerful, homosexual predator-pederast who is constantly recruiting a succession of adolescents, and showering affection, preferences, professional opportunities and material goods in return for sexual favors.) Many Catholics may have suspected this in...

In a letter read at Catholic churches throughout California, priests challenged a new state law they believe will prompt a flood of sexual abuse lawsuits seeking millions of dollars. Starting Jan. 1, the statute of limitations on the filing of molestation lawsuits will be lifted for one year. Catholic officials intend to contest the new law in court. The letter was drafted by the 12 bishops in the state and was sparked by concerns that a new wave of lawsuits would be so expensive that the church's education and social services would have to be curtailed. Budget problems already have...

LOS ANGELES -- Faced with allegations that parish priests sexually abused minors, the Los Angeles Archdiocese under Cardinal Roger Mahony for many years withheld information from police and allowed clerics facing prosecution to flee to foreign countries, internal records and interviews show. At the same time, Mahony has been more aggressive than many U.S. bishops in dismissing members of the clergy. According to newly obtained information, the cardinal removed 17 priests from ministry during the last decade who had either admitted molesting minors or faced credible allegations of doing so.In recent months, as the Catholic Church has struggled with the...

In Mahony's case, such bonds help explain why one of the most powerful hierarchs in the American Catholic church -- whose name, until recently, had been whispered as among those with a shot at becoming pope -- would go to great lengths to harbor pedophile priests while turning his back on their victims. As detailed in past articles in New Times, he has consistently blocked efforts by victims to extract justice from their molesters. He has resisted cooperating with law enforcement, assigned emissaries to keep scandals from getting into the newspapers and, as a last resort, has authorized spending...