Clergy Abuse

A Los Angeles judge Tuesday ordered the release of secret church files on a late Orange County priest convicted of molesting children, ruling the documents show that "priests with known sexual proclivities have been handed off from one location to another without regard to the potential harm" to children. Superior Court Judge Peter D.

"Deliver Us From Evil," a documentary about pedophile priest Oliver O'Grady and his devastating California legacy, has earned its filmmaker multiple awards and an Oscar nomination. Now the film is kicking up new controversy and litigation from L.A. to Ireland, where O'Grady now lives. Released in the U.S.

A threat by the Roman Catholic diocese to file for bankruptcy in the face of lawsuits by people alleging they were sexually abused by priests is an attempt to prevent disclosure about the diocese covering up for such priests, an attorney representing victims said Monday. "It's a bad idea for the church," said attorney Irwin Zalkin. "It's nothing but a way to protect this bishop and his predecessors -- to keep the truth from coming out."

The Catholic Diocese of San Diego announced Tuesday that it was filing for bankruptcy protection rather than face lawsuits from 150 people who alleged that they were sexually abused by priests. The first court case was set to begin today. The diocese decision came despite a request Monday from a settlement judge to not file for bankruptcy until after a negotiating session set for Friday.

At least six months after Cardinal Roger M. Mahony told his superiors at the Vatican that a videotape provided proof of a priest's criminal misconduct with high school boys, the head of the Los Angeles Archdiocese told the public that the tape showed no sexual activity between Father Lynn Caffoe and the boys, according to court records.

An elderly nun, under questioning by a lawyer, recently said she could remember almost nothing about his client, a child who had been sexually molested by a Roman Catholic priest. Lawyer Irwin Zalkin was puzzled because church records showed she had heard several complaints about the San Diego priest, and the file noted that she had reported them to higher authority.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego on Friday released the names of 38 priests accused of sexual abuse, following up on a pledge it made when filing for bankruptcy protection a month ago. Diocese officials said the roster is an exhaustive account of priests facing "credible allegations," listing the dates and parishes in San Diego where the priests served and noting their current status. Plaintiffs' attorneys said the list was incomplete.

In an unusual confrontation between church and state, San Diego Roman Catholic Bishop Robert H. Brom was grilled for hours Friday by a bankruptcy trustee, lawyers and seven victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy. In a federal courthouse, Brom and church officials were clearly on the defensive as U.S. Trustee Steven Jay Katzman repeatedly questioned items in bankruptcy papers filed by the church in the face of 150 damage claims by sexual abuse victims.

A victims' rights group released documents Thursday that showed the Jehovah's Witnesses settled lawsuits with 16 people, 14 of the cases in California, who claimed that they were sexually abused by church elders or that church officials failed to act on abuse allegations. At a news conference in Nashville, the group, called Silentlambs, demanded that the denomination change its policy for responding to sex abuse reports.

A New York jury ordered the Roman Catholic Church on Friday to pay a man and a woman a combined $11.4 million for the sexual abuse they suffered as teenagers at the hands of a Long Island church youth minister. The jury found the Diocese of Rockville Centre and the parish negligent in hiring practices and in allowing the abuse -- much of which took place in the parish church -- from 1999 to 2002.