14 Irish priests in LA files on abuse allegations

Denis Staunton in Washington
13/10/2005

The US: Fourteen Irish priests are among 126 whose personnel records the archdiocese of Los Angeles has released in connection with sex abuse allegations.

The files show the church offered therapy to many priests accused of sexual abuse of children, teenagers and adults and sometimes moved them to new duties, but seldom reported allegations to the police.

Six of the Irish priests identified in the documents are dead and some of the allegations of sex abuse date back more than 50 years. The archdiocese released the documents as part of settlement negotiations with lawyers for 560 people who say they were abused by priests in Los Angeles.

Lawyers for some of the accused tried to block the release but a court ruled last month the papers could be published.

The records are sketchy and accusations are often described obliquely in phrases such as "boundary issues" and "inappropriate" behaviour. They show that women and girls were as vulnerable to predatory priests as were boys and young men.

Raymond Boucher, a lawyer for alleged victims who are suing the church, dismissed the release of the files as a public relations exercise and complained that much damaging detail had been removed before publication.

"It pales in comparison to the truth. Based on the documents that we've seen, based on the investigations that we've conducted, based on the police reports that have been made public, this is a scant glimpse into the truth. They reveal decades of participation by the archdiocese in molesting children," he told the Los Angeles Times.

When one Irish priest working in a Los Angeles parish was accused of associating with boys in his room during the 1970s, his superior told the archbishop there was some doubt about what had happened and the accused priest was moved to a new post - as a school teacher. The priest taught at a number of schools and colleges until the late 1990s, when adult students complained about sexual harassment. Lawyers say the priest was guilty of sexual misconduct with minors during the early 1970s. Another Irish priest was identified to the archbishop in 1974 as having "personal problems" involving "women and wine" and left the archdiocese.

An Irish Jesuit was accused in 1992 of having "touched inappropriately and kissed" three teenage sisters 15 years earlier. The archdiocese extended the priest's assignment at his parish and paid him a bonus when he retired in 2002. A priest who returned to Ireland after a six-year posting in Los Angeles was accused of sexually abusing a brother and sister when they were children in 1965.

Among the most shocking cases is that of Fr Michael Baker, who is not Irish. He told the current archbishop, Cardinal Roger Mahony in 1986 he had pursued a sexual relationship with two boys for the previous seven years. The archbishop did not report the priest to the police but sent him for counselling. Fr Baker was soon back in a parish where he had access to children. He was removed from the priesthood in 2000 after further evidence of child molestation.

? The Irish Times