Los Angeles, the largest Catholic archdiocese in the United States, has already paid out $720,000,000 to victims of clergy abuse. On February 14, 2014, on the courthouse steps, they agreed to pay out another $13,000,000 to settle the last of the outstanding cases, involving a de-frocked fugitive priest who abused 25 boys here in Los Angeles, and over 100 in Mexico. He went on the run in 1988 after being tipped off by the archdiocese with the authority of Cardinal Mahony that the police were going to be notified; he is believed to be alive somewhere in Mexico. His name is Aguilar Rivera. He would now be in his late 60s.
Former Cardinal Roger Mahony (pictured above) devoted a lot of his time trying to shield these serious offenders. When he stepped down in 2011, he was rebuked by his successor, Cardinal Jose Gomez, for his actions.
The authorities have not, as yet, brought Mahony to the seat of justice for his part in condoning the despicable conduct on the part of Rivera and others.Los Angeles Cardinal unlikely to face charges
Retired at age 78, Mahony keeps a low profile these days, though he did go to Rome for the College of Cardinals enclave to elect Pope Francis, and has since met with the Pope in private. I'm sure those were very interesting conversations.
I like Pope Francis, and I wish him health and a long life. He has said he will end this cycle of child abuse within the church. He's been supportive of gays. He's humble, he still lives in the Vatican guest house, carries his own luggage when traveling, all very much in the style of his former life as an Argentinian archbishop; living in a small flat, cooking his own meals, and riding the bus to work. He's wordly, inasmuch as he used to love to dance the tango, worked as a nightclub bouncer, and certainly dated women. His devotion and attention to the poor would have brought him into contact with abused and exploited children. So, the slimy halls of child abuse would be anathema to him, not something he would defend under any circumstances. He's been offered the riches of the world, and he has chosen to reject them. When he was shown the Papal apartments he remarked that 600 families could be housed in them, and went back to his quarters at the guest house.
As someone who endured prejudice because I reported child molestation to the headmistresses of my first boarding school, Langsmead in Pyrford, on behalf of a terrified school mate, I know how those complaints were received in the 50s. Especially from someone as young as I was.
For my pains, at age 8, I was then shunted off to Ascot Priory, and subjected to abuse at the hands of a Sister Florence, who supervised St. Christopher's, the junior school.
I was singled out by this woman for absolutely no reason. She would steal gifts that were sent to me by mail, thereby making it seem that I was ungrateful because I had not thanked the person who sent me the gift, took money from my Post Office account, put me in coventry for an entire term - meaning none of the other girls were allowed to speak to me and vice versa, only my teachers, and other abusive behavior. The whole school knew, and were talking about it, and though I complained to my mother, she brushed it off as drama, and it took nearly three years for her to understand I wasn't lying. (Eternal thanks to family friend Kay St. George and her daughter Mirabelle - a senior at Ascot Priory, who asked her mother why my mother wasn't doing something - for convincing her). I left mid-term, after profound apologies from Reverend Mother, and went to day schools after that - Sarum in Walton on Thames and Oakfield School in Pyrford. No more boarding schools, thank you. (Unless you count Duncroft, of course, who have indicated in my file that they believe something bad happened at Ascot Priory. Well, they got that right!)
I've been accused of being a 'paedo defender' because I've expressed serious doubts about the veracity of accusations against certain elderly celebrities in the UK. All I can tell you about celebrities is that I felt safer around them than I ever did around clergy. Not a one that I met ever behaved inappropriately in any way.
I can only add that if a child comes to you with a complaint of abuse, please take it seriously, and waste no time looking into it. Contact licensed professionals, and keep it out of the press. Do not go to self-proclaimed "child protection experts," or television producers or, worse still, journalists looking for some titillating scandal to whet the appetite of certain members of the public. These matters are best left in private - they are not for entertainment, profit, fifteen minutes of fame, or the News of the World. Real victims shrink from such exposure.
So, will Cardinal Mahony pay the price for his gross negligence and conspiracy against the many victims of scum of the earth such as Aguilar Rivera, who is still out there, in all likelihood still molesting young boys in Mexico? Someone needs to pay for this and not just with money. Rivera is a fugitive on the run - surely his co-conspirator Mahony should face a jury of his peers? Something tells me he won't, but one thing is for sure, he's as nocente as hell in the eyes of heaven.
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