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LA Cardinal Relieved of Duties For Covering Up Sexual Abuse

In a move unprecedented in the American Catholic Church, Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez announced Thursday that he had relieved his predecessor, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, of all public duties over his mishandling of clergy sex abuse of children decades ago.

Gomez also said that Auxiliary Bishop Thomas J. Curry, who worked with Mahony to conceal abusers from police in the 1980s, had resigned his post as a regional bishop in Santa Barbara.

The announcement came as the church posted on its website tens of thousands of pages of previously secret personnel files for 122 priests accused of molesting children.

“I find these files to be brutal and painful reading. The behavior described in these files is terribly sad and evil,” Gomez wrote in a letter addressed to “My brothers and sisters in Christ.”

I’m sure PR at least partly motivates Gomez’s decision, but it’s still the right one. The Catholic Church has a massive problem with this sort of corruption, and the only way out is through; they have to start being open about their abuses and making sure the culprits are visibly punished.

Via the Feminist Majority Foundation Blog.

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