Archdiocese Criticized Over Sexual Abuse Case : Clergy: Police say church has withheld names of former Long Beach priest’s possible victims. Church says it is trying to protect confidentiality.

A Long Beach police detective complained Friday that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles has been withholding key information that could strengthen a criminal investigation of alleged sexual abuse by a priest.

Detective Mike Holguin said at least 10 young men have accused Father Theodore Llanos of sexual abuse over a period of several years. However, Holguin said, church officials have declined to give police a list of potential victims at Llanos’ former parish, St. Lucy’s Church in west Long Beach. He said that although police have interviewed some alleged victims, there may be others who have not come forward because of embarrassment or fear of reprisal.

The archdiocese removed Llanos from his post in September after a young man alleged that he had been sexually abused by the priest while a parishioner at St. Barnabas Church in the Long Beach community of Bixby Knolls, where Llanos served from 1985 to 1989.

Llanos, who was ordained in 1974, is now in a residential psychological treatment facility in Maryland that cares for the clergy. No charges have been filed against him.

Church officials said that when Llanos was removed, he turned over a list of at least 10 victims. The Rev. Gregory Coiro, director of public affairs for the Los Angeles Archdiocese, said the church has declined to give the list to police because it feels obligated to protect the identity of the victims.

“It has been our position all along that we would cooperate with the police,” Coiro said. “But we cannot do that by trampling on the rights and confidentiality of our parishioners.”

Holguin said his department would not release any of the names of the victims unless they ask the agency to do so.

The controversy is the latest in a growing number of cases that have forced the Catholic Church to dramatically step up its efforts to deal with sexual abuse by priests.

Bishops in the United States in 1993, for example, asked the Vatican to allow them greater leeway in removing guilty priests from ministries where they could pose a threat to children or women they may have victimized. The Vatican approved most of the bishops’ requests.

Most dioceses have adopted written policies to quickly adjudicate charges of sexual abuse against priests and to extend counseling and other assistance to victims and their families.

A committee of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops last month urged all local dioceses to adopt such policies and offered recommendations to strengthen existing policies. Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles is a member of the committee.

Last year, Pope John Paul II called the continuing reports of priestly sexual abuse a scandal within the church after U.S. bishops raised the issue with him privately.

In light of the increasing number of cases, archdiocese spokesman Coiro said, psychological tests performed in the local seminary training for priests have begun to place more emphasis on candidates’ sexual attitudes.

Coiro said St. Lucy’s has brought in counselors and therapists to help parishioners deal with the incidents.

Father Tom Economus, the head of a national group representing victims abused by Catholic priests, Friday called on Mahony to support the police investigation.

“I think Cardinal Mahony has a moral obligation to the victims, their families and the church,” Economus said. “He also has an obligation to Father Llanos, who seems to be a very troubled man.”