Why Catholic bishops like Roger Mahony of L.A. should be prosecuted, in one paragraph

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"About a year later, Father Jerry was removed from our parish. Nobody told us why, although whispers began to spread that he had been touching the children of parishioners. At the time, I dismissed the rumors as unsubstantiated. After all, Father Jerry hadn’t gone to prison; he was simply transferred somewhere else. I could hardly believe that he would have been permitted to have a farewell address to my CCD class if he had been an accused child molester. I was, of course, wrong. We found out later on that Father Jerry had been facing numerous accusations for decades, dating back to the early 1970s." -From opinion piece at Heights of Boston today by Charlie Mangiardi. The Heights is the student newspaper at Boston College.

Because the same thing happened in nearly every parish in the United States, the bishops should be prosecuted on a national level. Same MO, same pattern of criminal behavior, almost like the bishops had a boss (pope) telling them to commit the crimes.

They did. The document that told bishops all over to world to keep pedophilia in the priesthood a secret is called Crimen Solicitationes dated 1962. (This CofA story also running in SoapBox at AlterNet )

Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles oversaw an archdiocese that produced 510 settled lawsuits in 2007 from a one-year window of opportunity that opened in 2003 to bypass statutes of limitations. Since December 31, 2003, when the SOL window closed at midnight, plaintiff attorneys report their phones have continued to ring. People did not hear about the window in time so now their cases cannot be litigated, AND by persons with New Allegations that fall within the statute of limitations.

Currently attorneys on both sides wait for a Supreme Court of the State of California decision on how to handle the new cases that have come forward since the 2003 window closed. The Court's decision could change the statute of limitations for child sex crimes in the state of California.

Plus Roger Mahony's career before becoming bishop of L.A. includes time as Bishop of Fresno, a diocese that produced dozens of pedophile priests and hundreds more victims.

Yet Roger Mahony still sits on a throne on an altar in front of thousands of misinformed people, every week.

Why haven't bishops all over the country who aided and betted the pedophile priest perpetrators been prosecuted yet?

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By Kay Ebeling, Producer
City of Angels blog

*Pic of Mahony came from picaccess, washed in red.

Story also running in the SoapBox at AlterNet