Former Abp. Roger Mahony, Los Angeles Archdiocese agree to $10 million payout in sex abuse scandal
LOS ANGELES, March 18, 2013 ( LifeSiteNews ) – Cardinal Roger Mahony , the former archbishop of Los Angeles , along with a defrocked priest who served time in prison for engaging in sex acts with boys, will together with the archdiocese pay approximately $10 million to settle four civil lawsuits over child sex abuse , Reuters reports. Cardinal Mahony was censured and relieved of his public duties by Archbishop Jose Gomez in January after a court order forced the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to release documents detailing Mahony’s cover-up of sexual abuse by priests . Cardinal Roger Mahony Archbishop Gomez said at the time, “I find these files to be brutal and painful reading. The behavior described in these files is terribly sad and evil.” The newly settled civil suits accused Mahony of shielding pedophile priest Michael Baker from the legal consequences of his ongoing abuses by quietly sending him to a Church-owned rehab center in New Mexico and later placing him b