Posted on 04/05/2002 10:21:34 PM PST by Fitzcarraldo
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Cardinal Roger Mahony, the head of the nation's largest Roman Catholic archdiocese, said Friday he has been accused of molesting a female student at a Catholic high school in 1970.
The cardinal made the revelation in a three-page statement faxed to The Associated Press. He denied the woman's allegations, made last month to Fresno church officials, and said he has called for both church and law enforcement officials to investigate.
Mahony is believed to be the highest-ranking sitting church official to be accused of sexual misconduct in the scandal that has engulfed dioceses across the country in the past few months.
"Such false allegations are hurtful and troubling to me, yet I continue to pray fervently for those who make them," said Mahony, who has been cardinal since 1991 in the diocese that includes 5 million Catholics.
The cardinal said the woman contacted the pastor of St. John's Cathedral in Fresno on March 20 and told Monsignor John Esquivel she was molested in 1970, when she was at San Joaquin Memorial Catholic High School.
Mahony, who was a priest in Fresno at the time, said he did not recognize the woman's name as someone he had ever met, adding that his contact with the school was limited to occasionally celebrating Mass.
Mahony said he has asked Bishop John Steinbock of the Fresno diocese to handle the case. The diocese has opened an investigation and held a two-hour interview with the woman March 25. Mahony said a transcript of the interview has been turned over to Fresno police.
Lt. Tony Bennink of the Fresno Police Department said he couldn't confirm whether an investigation was under way.
The cardinal identified the woman in his statement. A number for her in Fresno was unlisted and she could not be reached for comment. The AP does not identify victims in sexual assault cases.
Mahony said he also reported the allegation to the Los Angeles Police Department's sexually exploited child unit on March 22.
"My personal integrity and reputation demand that I take all possible steps to refute this false allegation," he said. "I pledge my continuing total cooperation with the two investigations under way."
Los Angeles police have said they are investigating reports that the diocese has removed six to 12 priest accused of sexual abuse in cases dating as far back as 10 years. The problems here are part of a recent surge in similar allegations across the country.
The archdiocese has not released the number of priests removed, though Mahony has said some priests were ousted.
Earlier Friday, a series of about 60 e-mails between top officials in the archdiocese were released by radio station KFI of Los Angeles, where officials said they came from a listener.
The e-mails paint a picture of an organization scrambling to handle the wave of sexual abuse accusations against its priests.
"It's the new cases ... that keep the story alive," Mahony wrote in an e-mail Wednesday. "With our various cases now I don't even know what the numbers (of accused priests) are myself!"
The e-mails - most marked "privileged client-attorney communication" - show some archdiocesan officials learned about the removal of at least two priests just last month. Both were members of religious orders, meaning they did not work directly for the diocese.
The e-mails also indicate officials were concerned about priests beyond the "Big 8" Mahony referred to in a March 30 memo to his attorney, Sister Judith Ann Murphy.
Mahony told Murphy in an earlier e-mail that the diocese made a "huge mistake" in failing to turn over three sexual abuse cases involving priests to police, and urged her to talk with detectives about the cases.
"If we don't, today, 'consult' with the detective about those three names, I can guarantee you that I will get hauled into a grand jury proceeding and I will be forced to give all the names," he wrote.
Just how much information to release to police is discussed in several e-mails.
In the case of one priest under scrutiny, "I am leaning towards giving it to the LAPD to review," Mahony wrote in an e-mail Monday. "We could be very vulnerable on any case where there is a dispute among folks, and we have not referred it out."
In preparing Monsignors Craig Cox and Richard Loomis for interviews with investigators, Murphy wrote: "Remember Sergeant Joe Friday - 'Only the facts, sir, only the facts.' ... Do not volunteer information. This is not a session to be chatty."
In the Wednesday e-mail, Mahony estimated that by mid-May, "any new problems will have been uncovered, and that we can begin the healing process over the coming months."
The diocese went to court Thursday to prevent KFI and the Los Angeles Times from disseminating the e-mails, but a judge rejected the request.
In a letter faxed to The AP and others, archdiocese attorney John McNicholas exhorted media outlets not to publish the e-mails and return any copies they receive.
Publishing the communications "will violate state and federal statutes and tort law regarding invasion of privacy," he wrote.
Archdiocese spokesman Tod Tamberg's said e-mails Friday were "illegally obtained" and that police and federal authorities were investigating.
"Beyond that, I would say the people who are in ministry positions in the archdiocese are in full compliance with California law in the mandatory reporting of child neglect and sexual abuse," Tamberg said.
2)I just saw and listened to this woman on the news. I doubt she was even in this country in 1970. I doubt she was ever at that high school. I would like to see records of her attendance. She did not seem credible. It smacks of a grab for cash. Mahoney may be a lot of things, but I don't think he's guilty of this.
Mahoney may be a lot of things, but I don't think he's straight.
Stranger things can happen...
Call it a hunch.
I don't know the numbers, but isn't Africa and Latin America a hotbed of Catholic "liberation theology"?
With that, it's past my bedtime so I'm outta here for tonight. Good night:)
Mmm...is he wearing standard garb here?
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