Cardinal Roger Mahony, who retired with a tainted career after dodging criminal charges over how he handled pedophile priests, was stripped of his archdiocese duties in an unprecedented move by his successor, who described the actions by abusive priests described in the files as evil.
It wasn’t clear whether the Vatican supported Archbishop Jose Gomez’s decision to publicly criticize a fellow priest and colleague. The announcement was seen as long overdue by victims and surprising to church experts who said it was unusual for an archbishop to take action against a higher up.
I have little to write about Cardinal Mahony, I only met him passingly many years ago. At the time, I was trying to recover from my past, while working at a Catholic rectory in the Los Angeles area, not far from St. John's Seminary in Camarillo. The grounds of the LA Archdiocese seminary were beautiful. I went there often, sometimes only to pray. Oftentimes, I visited some of the seminaries whom I befriended. The atmosphere among many of these men was not good, I imagine it was similar to Pope John Paul II's experiences as a underground priest candidate during the Nazi occupation of Poland. Paranoia and fear often reigned. My heart went out to them. Sparing the confidential details shared with me, there was a considerable amount of persecution going on towards those seminaries deemed “conservative.” I didn’t particularly find it a happy place. The legacy Cardinal Mahony left is still in question; I suppose much depends on how the new Archbishop handles what has been left behind. God bless him.