U.S. Investigates Los Angeles Archdiocese Officials

As the Wall Street Journal is reporting, a federal grand jury has issued subpoenas and begun calling witnesses in a probe of whether top officials of the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles tried to cover up the sexual abuse of minors by priests. Hopefully, the grand jury will ultimately issue indictments against Cardinal Mahoney and others in the Los Angeles Diocese if the findings show a conspiracy to cover up the abuse of minors - which I believe DID occur. But it is important to remember that abuse occurred not only in the Los Angeles Diocese but rather world wide. Having followed the sexual abuse scandal closely for years - I did a guest editorial piece in the Virginian Pilot on the topic back in February, 2002 - the sad reality is that cover up has been the secret official policy of the Church all the way back into the 1960's when John XXIII was Pope. Since the Vatican refuses to do a complete house cleaning of bishops and cardinals who engaged in the cover up of the vile abuse of children and youths, we can only hope that the civil authorities will do what the Church leadership will not do. Here are highlights from the Journal story:

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Federal authorities are investigating the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles to see whether top church officials tried to cover up the sexual abuse of minors by priests, said a person familiar with the matter. A federal grand jury has issued subpoenas and begun calling witnesses in the probe, which began late last year, said this person. The investigation is still in its early, fact-gathering stage, and it isn't known whether any criminal charges will result.

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Cardinal Roger Mahony, who heads the archdiocese, the largest in the U.S., has been criticized by victims' groups for his past handling of sexual-abuse allegations against priests. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's office has been investigating allegations of such abuses for several years. District Attorney Steve Cooley criticized the archdiocese in 2007 for its "institutional moral failure" to "supervise predatory priests." A spokeswoman for the district attorney's office said their investigation is still open.

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The district attorney's investigation began in 2002, around the same time that internal archdiocese emails about priests accused of abuse surfaced in the media. Over the following two years, dozens of alleged victims stepped forward, with many filing lawsuits. They claimed the archdiocese shielded priests accused of molestation by keeping the allegations secret and allowing them to keep working, sometimes moving them from one parish to another.

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No senior Catholic Church officials have been criminally charged in the national scandal. But representatives of abuse victims alleged that senior officials helped perpetuate the crimes by ignoring or covering up evidence of misdeeds. They have argued that prosecuting senior church officials would help stop future abuse. "Everything else has been tried with minimal impact except charging an individual bishop. That would have to an impact," says David Clohessy, national director for the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, a nonprofit victims-advocacy group based in Chicago.

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The federal investigation in Los Angeles is the latest chapter in government's efforts to grapple with the priest-abuse scandals in the Catholic Church that have struck in waves over the past three decades.