Cardinal Mahony Claims "The Archdiocese Today is Safe For Children"

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Posted by Paul KieselFebruary 20, 2009 7:34 PM

Cardinal Roger Mahony believes that hundreds of years of sexual abuse, that has taken place throughout various Catholic orders, is "all behind us" now. What evidence supports his assertion?

Just because the Cardinal paid $660 million to settle more than 500 sexual abuse cases -- the largest settlement in the country -- it doesn't mean his assurances are any more valid than when the Cardinal promised, in 2007, to release sealed documents related to the cases (sealed by the church). Those documents, almost two years later, have yet to be released. So technically Cardinal, it's not all behind us.

Below is an article from the Los Angeles Times detailing recent news concerning the Feds case against the Los Angeles Archdiocese:

Los Angeles - The U.S. attorney in Los Angeles has launched a federal grand jury investigation into Cardinal Roger M. Mahony in connection with his response to the molestation of children by priests in the Los Angeles Archdiocese, according to two law enforcement sources familiar with the case.

The probe, in which U.S. Atty. Thomas P. O'Brien is personally involved, is aimed at determining whether Mahony, and possibly other church leaders, committed fraud by failing to adequately deal with priests accused of sexually abusing children, said the sources, who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the investigation.

Authorities are applying a legal theory in an apparently novel way. One federal law enforcement source said prosecutors are seeking to use a federal statute that makes it illegal to "scheme . . . to deprive another of the intangible right of honest services."

In this case, the victims would be parishioners who relied on Mahony and other church leaders to keep their children safe from predatory priests, the source said.

To gain a conviction on such a charge, prosecutors would have to prove that Mahony used the U.S. mail or some form of electronic communication in committing the alleged fraud, the source said.

The inquiry has been underway since at least late last year, the source added.

O'Brien declined to comment, refusing to even confirm the existence of the investigation.

J. Michael Hennigan, who represents Mahony and the archdiocese, confirmed that federal prosecutors had contacted the archdiocese and requested "information about a number of individual priests, at least two of whom are deceased."

He said he was also aware that some witnesses had testified before the panel.

But Hennigan said he has been informed that Mahony is not a target of the inquiry.

"We have been and will continue to be fully cooperative with the investigation," Hennigan said.

Mahony has repeatedly apologized for the church's sex scandal and asked for forgiveness for not acting sooner to remove priests who abused minors. He has declared that the archdiocese handles abuse allegations seriously, notifying police when complaints are made and removing priests from active ministry when allegations are deemed credible.

As the Catholic Church's highest-ranking official in Southern California, Mahony has been dogged for years by allegations of covering up the sexual misconduct of priests.

The cardinal was accused of transferring priests who molested children to other parishes rather than removing them from the priesthood and alerting authorities.

Rest of article here.

21 Comments

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Albino Luciani
Posted by Albino Luciani
February 20, 2009 9:41 PM

Mahony is a serial pedophile enabler, aid & abettor, perjurer, defrauder, endangerer, obstructor of justice, racketeer and demon, as proven every day at www.bishop-accountability.org/
abusetracker.

The LA Archdiocese Safe For Children? A FLAY OUT LIE, under Mahony, Tim Manning and Pedophile Benjamin Hawkes, as well as Francis MacIntyre who sole nun properties and pension blowing the whistle!

THE SOLUTION? "STOP DONATING LAITY" as St. Peter Damien correctly asserted.

Mahony's Playbook Remains ISAIAH 28:15!

No Removal Of GUILTY Mahony? No Laity Monies! It's THAT Simple!

Fiat Lux & Veritas!

Albino Luciani,
MURDERED POPE,
Not Smiling, From Heaven

Victoria Martin
Posted by Victoria Martin
February 20, 2009 10:28 PM

As a clergy abuse victim who struggles everyday for survival, I and my fellow victims/survivors know Cardinal Roger Mahony for what he is. Mahony and his brother bishops like to say that the sexual victimization of the children of our church is over and done with. They could never be more wrong. If you want to see Cardinal Mahony turn to stone, walk up to him and say these three names: Father Michael Wempe; Father Michael Stephen Band; and (the Hannibal Lector of all Pedophile Priest) Father Oliver O'Grady.) We victims who've suffered so much due to the World Wide Conspiracy of Silence By the Hierarchy of the Catholic Church know that the sexually perverse subculture that has permeated the church for so many hundreds of years cannot be destroyed by a few years of bad publicity. Mahony and his fellow bishops don't care about us, or what happened to us. In the years that I've been connected with my fellow victims, I've seen my friends suffer from all manner of nervous disorders; everything from ulcers, to shingles, to drug and alcohol abuse. I've even seen some of them die; 175 plus by their own hands. And worse still, many have lost Faith in a Loving and Merciful GOD. When it comes to the protection of children, we Victims will never let down our guard. We will be ever vigilant for the signs of sexually trauma in the children of our church. We are watching you, Mahony. We, And GOD, Are ALWAYS Watching You.

Victoria Matin
Posted by Victoria Matin
February 20, 2009 10:31 PM

CORRECTION: Sorry, the second name in that list of three names to say to Cardinal Mahony is, FATHER MICHAEL STEPHEN BAKER (Not Band).

Joseph
Posted by Joseph
February 20, 2009 11:52 PM

Rog "Mahal" Mahony is to minor and child safety in the LA Archdiocese, as Adolph Hitler is to protection of Jews in Nazi Germany.

Mahony is the spawn of SATAN!

Jerry Brown
Posted by Jerry Brown
February 20, 2009 11:59 PM

It remains my hope that Federal RICO prosecution snuffs out Roger Mahony's massive crime sprees, over at least three decades, in Fresno, Stockton, & Los Angeles.

Jerry Brown
California Attorney General

Roger
Posted by Roger
February 21, 2009 12:15 AM

One alleged abuser in Cardinal Mahony’s archdiocese was Jesuit Fr. Jerold W. Lindner who taught for 16-years at Loyola High, Los Angeles from the early 1980s until the late 1990s. Lindner preferred to teach Freshmen and led "Lindner clubs." These included Knights of FRP (a fantasy role-playing group), remote-control car racing, backgammon and chess.

Fr. Gordon Bennett, S.J., then Loyola principal and who subsequently became Bishop of Mandeville, Jamaica wrote, "I want to point out particularly that many of the students in your clubs would have no other avenue into the mainstream of the Loyola community were it not for your energy, ingenuity and organization."

One of Fr. Lindner’s victims, William Lynch said in 2002 that he had suffered nearly three decades of irreparable psychological harm, and attempted suicide two times, because of what happened to him at the hands of Jerold Lindner, S.J. during a church-led, family camping trip in the Santa Cruz Mountains in 1975.

When Lynch's allegations surfaced in 1997, Lindner was removed from active ministry in Los Angeles, said Fr. Thomas H. Smolich, head of the Jesuit California Province in 2002. Fr. Smolich is now apparently the top Jesuit USA leader with an office one-mile from the White House in Washington, DC.

Smolich, who said the Lynch settlement was about $600,000, said Lindner was brought to the picturesque Jesuit retreat complex overlooking upscale Los Gatos, Calif. because, "for lack of a better word, it's a safe house for people accused of these actions.'' The picturesque complex, next to the Jesuit California headquarters, has housed five Jesuits accused or convicted of sex-related crimes.

Lindner’s arrival at the picturesque Jesuit complex in September 2002 was at about the same time the Jesuit Calif. Province paid $7.5 million to settle a lawsuit by two retarded dishwashers who said they suffered years of sexual abuse at the Jesuit complex. After arriving Lindner befriended Br. Charles Connor, an accused abuser of the dishwashers. Lindner then gave Connor computer lessons.

In 2009 Lindner may be teaching English as a second language in the San Jose, Calif. area. Lindner has a master’s degree in linguistics.

mike ference
Posted by mike ference
February 21, 2009 2:02 AM

Content removed at request of commenter.

Thomas Michael Barnes
Posted by Thomas Michael Barnes
February 21, 2009 8:12 AM

Ultimately and essentially the child sex abuse crisis within Cathlicism was never really about just protecting children. It is essentially the Catholic Reformation. The very organizational stuctures of the Church itself have been called into question. No one wants to be led in a 1.2 billion member organization by roughly 3500 male and out of touch bachelor bishops who had to be educated on the job that child molestation was something that required their immediate and highest levels of attention. To put this frankly, if the church was a set of 3500 trains all heading toward Rome, the engineers were all asleep. The passengers that have paid for their tickets want a major restructuring of the railroad.

The Church of Rome was basically set up organizationally around 300-400 A.D. The time has come for major restructuring and major rethinking of theology. To put it bluntly, it is not an accident that bishops and priest are absolutely required for a sacramental church. There can be no Catholicism without sacraments and there can be no sacraments without the priestly caste. This was not a mistake. This was deliberately constructed out of whole cloth. This whole idea of a priestly caste and a "sacramentology" as the heart of Catholicism needs to be rethought at the highest levels. It keeps Catholics in a position of being enslaved by a system of "sacraments" that hugely resemble cultural artifacts of ancient mystery religions, it looks like white magic. It has to go.

Catholcisim must rejoin its Gospel roots and a true Community of Christians within Catholicism must be born. These "bishops" are demons and they know it. They administer a 'church' which is nothing more than an extension of an old boys network. The whole idea of "church" must be rethought and reconstructed from Rome.

We are in heresy. It is really that simple and clercial sexual abuse of children is a small example of our demonic mind set.

Joe The Plumber
Posted by Joe The Plumber
February 21, 2009 3:22 PM

On DVD, or FREE, at your local public library, watch the 2006 US Academy Award Winning BEST DOCUMENTARY nominated: 'DELIVER US FROM EVIL' and the 2007 Cannes Film Festival Winner: 'VOWS OF SILENCE'.

Roger Mahony is way over his head in complicity, guilt, and lack of personal punishment, for his multi-decade serial & ongoing pedo cult rings, in the LA Archdiocese, CA, and Mexico, as well as Ireland, Asia, and elsewhere.

Mahony will go down in Church history, in pure EVIL, and billions of laity offetory plate monies stolen, and squandered assets, as the Devil he is.

Bulldoze OLA, and sell the land, and relocate the few bodies downstairs, in the Rog Mahal skyboxes; including pitch-man for sales, Gregory Peck, into some manipulated LA Archdiocese squandered cemetary asset, also fiancially plundered by Mahony and his twin borther.

After tearing OLA down, salt the earth like the Romans did at Carthage.

Book Worm
Posted by Book Worm
February 21, 2009 3:46 PM

Over 100+ verified, vetted, and totally factual books on Roger Mahony, the USCCB (Unremoved Sexual Criminal Cabal Bishops), as well as the Roman "La Cosa Nostra" Curia, from such salient & cogent authors as Roman Catholic Bishops Jeffery Robinson (Australia) and Thomas Gumbleton (USA) may be found for FREE at your local public library, or at More ...

Additionally, there are illuminating remarks from retired, and medically ailing, Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, (a brilliant theologian), of Milano, Italy, in the UK's THE TABLET.

Other honest authors include: Fr. Thomas Reese, SJ, Fr./Dr./Canon Lawyer Thomas Doyle, OP, David Yallop, Dr. Robert Grant, MD, Attorney & Legal Scholar Marci Hamilton, Jason Berry, Fr. Richard Sipe, Dr. Leon Podles, Fr./Dr. Howard Bleichner, SS, Phillip Lawler, to name only a few.

The evidence is so overwhelming as to Roger Mahony and the Curia's guilt, "in the past", the present, and ongoing, as to cause even the most fervent or devout Roman Catholic to puke in utter revulsion.

Too bad the 'good old days' of the Church, are not here, because the likes of Mahony clearly needs to be burned, S L O W L Y, in front of his eternity project, OLA, at the stake, to remind all others of the massive pedophile and sexual assault global cult, the institutional Roman Catholic Church was, is, and remains.

If there is any poster image of the ongoing EVIL, it's Mahony, Law, Ratzinger, Re, Bertone, Sodano, Scola, Schonberg, Hummes, Rivera, George, Egan, McCarrick, O'Malley, Rigali, DiNardo, Burke, McCormack, Hubbard, Brown, Brom, Cummins, Steinbock, Weagland, Dolan, Maida, Keeler, Foley, Sambi, Leveda, Blaire, Curry, Pell, etc.

The Curia is the cause.

The Curia needs to be removed, immediately, if not sooner, with extreme prejudice.

Fresno Insider
Posted by Fresno Insider
February 21, 2009 4:01 PM

The Mahony twins actively campaigned, twisted arms, BRIBED - big time in Roma, and coerced, to get the LA seat for Roger, with a very calculated PR campaign, publically and behind the scenes.

The brothers knew there was a pot of gold to loot in LA Archdiocese assets, including Marion Davies oil lease revenue income, among many other held properties, bank accounts, properties, and lands, plus insider trading on LA downtown real estate development syndications.

Mahony remains all about the MONEY, stolen laities, or otherwise.

Mahony is a master crook in almost every sense of the word, and probably will not spend one day in jail, when he and his brother deserve several lifetimes of hard labor.

Roger Ebert
Posted by Roger Ebert
February 21, 2009 6:23 PM

For a historical perspective of how pervasive the pedophile and sexual assault of minors is globally in the Roman Catholic Church, by clergy and curia, check out on DVD: "GOYA'S GHOSTS".

Sister Mary Ann
Posted by Sister Mary Ann
February 21, 2009 7:02 PM

Cardinal Mahony is indeed evil. I pray for the redemption of his soul. I also pray that such a prayer goes unanswered.

Tod Tamberg's Ex Gay Lover
Posted by Tod Tamberg's Ex Gay Lover
February 21, 2009 10:35 PM

Tod Tamburg, my ex gay lover, who is Roger Mahony's Press Secretary, told me that there are over 400+ cases for child sexual assault still pending in the LA Archdiocese, not part of the %660 Million Dollar Settlement, that Mahony is trying to stall off & obstruct jutice on, and sweep under the carpet legally, until he retires, and is gone in another 2 and one half years.

The hundreds of millions of dollars "missing" under Mahony's office holding is but the tip of the iceberg; the man is a pathological liar, and master thief.

Robert M. Kelly
Posted by Robert M. Kelly
February 22, 2009 3:32 AM

What if a well-known Diocesan Bishop was addicted to secrecy, and committed to keeping the lid on over 50 years of sexual abuse at all costs, even at the cost of seeing loyal and long-suffering laity turn their back on the church in disgust?

What if a Diocesan Bishop inherited a mess, and then continued to follow in the footsteps of the previous bishop, fighting tooth and nail to protect the clerical abusers at the expense of victims?

What if this bishop actively campaigned to prevent the victims of sexual abuse from getting their day in court? What if, in order to control the flow of information, he worked at consolidating cases, so that victim pools were treated as if they were single cases, thus preventing facts about collusion in chancery ranks from reaching the public through the discovery and trial process?

What if the Bishop had a huge stack of paperwork relating to decades of abuse under his sole control and discretion? What if he hoarded this information and refused to release it, even under the threat of a court order?

What if the Bishop's lawyers, at his behest, opposed the release of incriminating documents by claiming a laundry list of so-called 'confidentiality privileges' that are almost never recognized by civil courts?

What if there were two such bishops?

What if one was the Most Reverend Roger Mahony of Los Angeles, the subject of a federal grand jury, and if the other was the Most Reverend Timothy McDonnell, a more familiar figure?

for Marci Hamilton's column about Mahony, see:More ...

for more about the Springfield effort to conceal so-called "privileged" documents, see:More ...

The Aminals
Posted by The Aminals
February 22, 2009 1:36 PM

"You were a soldier of God, you must understand
The fate of The Holy See, is in your hands,
May God give you strength, do your job real well,
If is all was worth it, only time will tell...

In the morning they return with tears in their eyes,
The stench of your body count Roger, drifts up to the skies,
Thousands of young abuse victims so ill look at you,
Remember Roger the words: "Thou Shall Not Kill?"

SKY P I L O T, Sky Pilot, how high can your fly?
You'll never, never, never reach the sky!"

The Aminals
Posted by The Aminals
February 22, 2009 1:36 PM

"You were a soldier of God, you must understand
The fate of The Holy See, is in your hands,
May God give you strength, do your job real well,
If is all was worth it, only time will tell...

In the morning they return with tears in their eyes,
The stench of your body count Roger, drifts up to the skies,
Thousands of young abuse victims so ill look at you,
Remember Roger the words: "Thou Shall Not Kill?"

SKY P I L O T, Sky Pilot, how high can your fly?
You'll never, never, never reach the sky!"

The archdruid
Posted by The archdruid
February 22, 2009 1:58 PM

If the LA archdiocese is safer for children it is only, repeat ONLY, because of the brave victims of the sexual abuse of the LA priests and the excessive abd brutal spiritual and emotional abuse of Mahony, his lawyers and his PR firm. It is also safer because of the attorneys who have consistently been on the side of the victims and fought for them. For mahony to have the audacity to claim that he is responsible for the safety of children is insane and the result of a narcissistic and sociopathic outlook. Had the victims and their supporters not continued to put pressure on Mahony the archdiocese would still be as bad a cesspool as it was before. In spite of the zillions of dollars of the believer's money the archdiocese has spent trying to stonewall justice and the victims, the truth will triumph.

Across The Tiber Scholar
Posted by Across The Tiber Scholar
February 22, 2009 4:12 PM

Until the laity cease donating, the guilty & dangerous, like Roger Mahony, will not be removed or punished.

St. Mark
Posted by St. Mark
February 22, 2009 4:21 PM

Then they came to Jerusalem. And Jesus entered The Temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in The Temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves...And Jesus began to say to them: "MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER FOR ALL THE NATIONS! BUT YOU (Roger Mahony) HAVE MADE IT A ROBBER'S DEN!"

Sister Maureen Paul Turlish
Posted by Sister Maureen Paul Turlish
February 23, 2009 9:33 PM

“Total Power is the world’s illusion,” is a line spoken in dialog from “The Power and the Prize,” a 1956 movie nominated for an Academy Award but true nonetheless because it so aptly describes the archetypal figure of Roger Cardinal Mahony, Archbishop of the Diocese of Los Angeles, California.

The use and abuse of power has brought the Roman Catholic Church to its present condition and it is also what keeps it unable to rise above it.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has paid out billions of dollars not only in settlements made on the eve of going to trial in numerous sexual abuse cases but also in lawyers’ fees, lobbyists’ fees, PR campaigns, Catholic Conference media blitzes and God only knows what else to obfuscate, to harass and to intimidate known victims of sexual abuse and their families.

It also appears that many of those in church leadership positions like Cardinal Mahony still believe that they can exercise total power by the manipulation of the facts and the media.

How many bishops, for example, support the removal of all statutes of limitation regarding the sexual abuse of children and direct their state Catholic Conferences to do the same instead of falsely accusing legislators of being anti-Catholic as has been the case in Maryland, the District of Columbia, Pennsylvania, New York and Colorado.

While I cannot say where this latest federal investigation will lead, any efforts at all that will force the files, records, correspondence or the like, that have anything to do with the conspiracy to cover-up the activities of rogue, sexually abusive clerics or bishops who used children, young persons or vulnerable adults for purposes of sexual exploitation, should be welcomed by all who seek the truth.

To say, as a archdiocesan lawyer has said, that Mahony “has been at the forefront of dealing with” issues of clergy sexual abuse is an attempt to rewrite history and just more dis-information as records forced into the public venue by a brave Boston Catholic judge have already proven.

Although numerous records and files have been ordered released by the Los Angeles court in the last few years, I understand that they have yet to be made public because the Archdiocese of Los Angeles continues to fight it.

The revelations in the Archdiocese Boston forced the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to mandate that the bishops deal with the problem of sexually abusive clergy in 2002 instead of continuing their decades long pattern of covering them up. The bishops’ actions were not altruistic, they were compelled to act by public opinion.

They were shamed into writing their guidelines.

Cardinal Roger Mahony, like every other bishop in the United States was forced to act in establishing safe “environments for children in the United States,” by the USCCB because their actions were exposed.

In other words, they were caught!

Yes, programs and procedures have been put into place and in five or ten years they can be evaluated, not before.

If Mahony’s comments that he “publicly acknowledged making mistakes in handling certain clergy accused of child abuse,” can be directly connected to the sexual abuse of even one child, he should be charged with reckless endangerment for putting that child in harm’s way and suffer the consequences.

But at this point in time it has become obvious that because of the conspiracy that he has been a part of, he is probably guilty of much more.

(Sister Turlish is a Delaware educator and advocate who testified before the Senate and House Judiciary Committees in support of the 2007 Delaware Child Victims Law. She is also on the Board of Directors for the Delaware Association for Children of Alcoholics)

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