Film on Pedophile Priest Revives Focus on Cardinal Mahony

Looks like Mother Angelica's favorite Cardinal could be back in hot water:

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 6 — A documentary film featuring an extraordinarily candid interview with a former priest convicted of molesting children has heightened interest among law enforcement officials here in considering a criminal case against Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, says a prosecutor who has been investigating sexual abuse cases involving priests.

In the documentary, “Deliver Us From Evil,” the former priest, Oliver O’Grady, describes how he abused young boys and girls across central California over 20 years, including a period in the 1980’s when Cardinal Mahony was his superior as the bishop in Stockton.

The former priest, who lives in Ireland, said he was able to continue abusing children in part because of actions by Cardinal Mahony, who now heads the country’s largest Roman Catholic archdiocese, here in Los Angeles, and is among the church’s most influential American leaders. Mr. O’Grady says in the film that as bishop in Stockton, the cardinal moved him from parish to parish in the face of abuse accusations.

“The film does certainly charge the atmosphere here in Los Angeles,” said William Hodgman, the top deputy of the target crimes division of the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office, who coordinated prosecutions of priests in Los Angeles.

The film also “will fuel ongoing consideration as to whether Cardinal Mahony and others engaged in criminal activity,” Mr. Hodgman added.

Joe Scott, a spokesman for the district attorney, Steve Cooley, confirmed that characterization.

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It features a taped deposition from 1997 stemming from a civil trial in Stockton in which the brothers in the criminal case against Mr. O’Grady brought suit against the local diocese, alleging that its bishops — including Cardinal Mahony — failed to prevent Mr. O’Grady from having contact with children in the face of evidence of his history of abuse.

In that deposition, Cardinal Mahony denied having known that Mr. O’Grady was a pedophile. The brothers’ lawyers presented a police report about Mr. O’Grady’s being accused of molestation along with a 1976 letter to one victim, an 11-year-old girl, in which Mr. O’Grady admitted molesting her.

In a 2004 deposition related to civil trials in Los Angeles, Cardinal Mahony stated that expressing sexual urges toward a 9-year-old would not be automatic cause for removing a priest from duty. He also said he barely knew Mr. O’Grady, though lawyers in the cases presented warm letters exchanged between the two.

In the Stockton civil case, a jury awarded $30 million in damages to the brothers in 1998, an award reduced to $7 million in negotiations. According to news media accounts at the time, jurors said they did not find Cardinal Mahony’s testimony, that he was unaware of Mr. O’Grady’s proclivities, credible.

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