In 2001, amidst public outrage at decades of sexual abuse by Catholic
priests and repeated promises by the clergy to catch offenders, a young
priest named Father Fernando Lopez Lopez joined the Los Angeles
Archdiocese.
Four years later Lopez Lopez was convicted of multiple
accounts of lewd acts with a child, and one of sexual battery, having
admitted to molesting three teenage boys during his time at the St.
Thomas the Apostle church in Koreatown.
He had been hired smoothly by
the L.A. parish, but refused employment and duties earlier that year by a
monsignor in the San Bernardino diocese, who had discovered Lopez
Lopez’s past.
It turned out that the young priest had been asked to
leave his former position at a parish in Italy, on allegations of
homosexual involvement with youths and drug activity. None of this
information, however, was dug up by the L.A. Archdiocese.
The excitement
surrounding the case died down after the priest served a prison
sentence and was deported to his native Columbia.
But now, one of the
abuse victims is suing L.A. Archdiocese Cardinal Roger Mahoney for
exposing him to harm by hiring Lopez Lopez.
The trial will begin in
October, and is already being covered in an investigative piece by Dan
Rather.
Could Mahoney have prevented teens from being molested?
How will
the suit affect Angelenos’ perception of their diocese?
And has there
been significant reform in the way priests are hired?
"And has there been significant reform in the way priests are hired?"..
As long as the secret system within the catholic church is still
firmly in place, nothing will ever change.. until those who commit
crimes against kids and those who enable, empower and protect predator
priests, are held accountable.
I mean accountable to the "law of the land", when crimes are committed criminals go to jail.
The LA diocese needs to be investigated by outside law enforcement
for crimes committed by it's church officials, and that includes Mahony.
A recent grand jury investigation was done in the Philadelphia Archdiocese.
This is what needs to happen in the LA Archdiocese.