Five Catholic religious orders release files on L.A. clergy abuse
Confidential personnel records from five Catholic religious orders
were turned over to victims of sexual abuse Wednesday in the first wave
of a court-ordered public disclosure expected to shed light on the role
the groups, operating independently of the L.A. Archdiocese, played in
the region’s clergy molestation scandal. The documents pertain to a
dozen priests, brothers and nuns accused of sexual misconduct in the
landmark 2007 settlement with hundreds of people who filed abuse claims
against the Roman Catholic Church in Los Angeles. An additional 45
religious orders will release the personnel files of their accused
clergy by this fall, completing what is believed to be the fullest
accounting yet of the abuse crisis anywhere in the Catholic Church.
