Church Newspaper Accused of Blocking Ad on Priest Abuse : Conference: Molestation victims say the Tidings quashed the notice after three weeks of indecision. The archdiocese blames the quake, computer problems.

As victims of sexual abuse by priests prepared to open a national meeting in Los Angeles today, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles found itself in the midst of a controversy over why a paid advertisement announcing the conference failed to appear in its newspaper.

Sponsors of the meeting held a news conference Thursday in front of Cardinal Roger M. Mahony’s office complaining that their ad had been quashed.

The archdiocese said it agreed to print the ad in the Tidings newspaper after several weeks of indecision, but that due to either a missed deadline or a computer error, the ad never made the paper.

The incident marked the second time in recent months that the Tidings newspaper has failed to run an advertisement involving sexual abuse by priests. Last March, the archdiocese banned an ad for a new novel on priest pedophilia by Father Andrew Greeley.

“I don’t believe that their excuses are the real reasons that the ad did not run,” survivors network founder and President Barbara Blaine charged. “The real reason . . . is they’re afraid to admit this really is a problem in this archdiocese and that somehow if they were to print the ad they would be admitting that this is a problem,” she said.

She said the survivors group tried to place the ad for more than three weeks. Each time members were told they had missed a deadline or that the ad needed approval from an official of the archdiocese. Then she said they were told the text was unacceptable. Finally, they were told the ad would run--only to receive a letter from the newspaper saying that due to a computer error the ad did not appear. An uncashed check for $12 was returned to the group.

As a matter of policy, the archdiocese must approve all new ads proposed for publication, according to Father Gregory Coiro, archdiocesan spokesman. But during part of January, he said, Mahony and his auxiliary bishops were away on a retreat.

Tod Tamberg, editor of the Tidings, said Thursday: “My understanding is that the problem was that the process took such a long time that by the time (the ad) got back to us the deadline had already passed. It wasn’t a cover-up or trying to deny them any voice in the Tidings. It was just something that happened in the channels that was unfortunate.”

Msgr. Terrance L. Fleming, vice chancellor of the archdiocese, said he gave final approval to the ad last week after speaking with Mahony. He added that to his knowledge the text was not changed.

Tamberg also said the Tidings’ computer was knocked out by the Jan. 17 earthquake and that a number of ads could not be retrieved.

The conference is scheduled to begin today at the Marina International Hotel in Marina del Rey and run through Sunday.