LAPD Already Has the Facts on Dismissed Priests, Mahony Says

Responding to a written demand from Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard C. Parks for the names of priests recently dismissed for sexually abusing minors, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony wrote back Thursday that those men already are known to the Police Department.

“Recently dismissed priests who were in the jurisdiction of the Los Angeles Police Department have been duly reported,” Mahony wrote. “They were prosecuted and served probation many years ago. These cases are a matter of public record and known to your detectives.”

In his own letter Monday, Parks had cited a police investigation that was prompted by reports in The Times about the recent dismissals.

Parks requested that the archdiocese comply with state law requiring members of the clergy to report any allegations of abuse to authorities. Parks also asked for the names of victims, as well as the dates when the archdiocese reported the alleged abuse to the Police Department.

Under growing pressure to publicly disclose the names of priests involved in past or current child abuse allegations, it remained unclear Thursday what information Mahony may have passed on to authorities.

Mahony told 300 Catholic priests gathered in Long Beach on Monday that he would support the decision of victims of past sexual abuse to speak publicly, including some who had signed confidentiality agreements. But he said the archdiocese would not release the names of their abusers.

Mahony said in his Thursday letter to Parks that although individual clergy are required to report abuse allegations, the law does not extend to the church.

“We are confident each individual has carried out their responsibilities under the [California Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act],” Mahony wrote. “The law also provides for a penalty to any mandated reporter who fails to report. But institutions, as such, do not report.”

Mahony wrote that priests who report abuse to authorities are not required to notify the archdiocese or their superiors. “Thus there are undoubtedly reports of which we have no knowledge,” Mahony said in his letter to Parks.

In addition, Mahony wrote, the archdiocese stretches far beyond Los Angeles itself, encompassing Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. “Consequently, there are mandated reporting cases which occur in county and local law enforcement jurisdictions outside the city of Los Angeles and hence outside the jurisdiction of the Los Angeles Police Department.”

Parks wrote that on March 8, LAPD Dets. Dale Barraclough and Steven Hales met with Sister Judith Murphy, the archdiocese legal counsel.

Murphy told the investigators that all the abuse cases had “been reported to the appropriate law enforcement authorities.”

LAPD Cmdr. Gary Brennan said Juvenile Division detectives met again with archdiocese officials Wednesday, after they had received the chief’s letter.

Detectives, Brennan said, were given additional information but he would not disclose specifics.

At Wednesday’s meeting, he said, “the archdiocese promised to cooperate and make known new information on allegations of abuse. As a result of that meeting, we are confident that the archdiocese is committed to cooperating and we feel they have been cooperating.”

Lt. Daniel Mulrenin, head of Juvenile Division’s sexually exploited child unit, said his office has received several phone calls in recent days from alleged abuse victims, and a number of LAPD probes are now underway.

In a letter earlier this month, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley also urged Mahony to report any instances of alleged child abuse by priests.

Cooley said he has not been able to confirm whether any such cases in Los Angeles County have been reported to police or child welfare officials.

During Monday’s Mass, the cardinal apologized for “the sinful and deplorable actions of a small percentage of priests” and said he had adopted a zero-tolerance policy for child abusers.

Mahony said, however, that the release of abusers’ names going back years ago would further harm victims.

When new cases of abuse arise, he said, the names of priests removed for sexual misconduct will be announced to parishioners.

In a news conference after the Mass, Mahony said church officials are cooperating with police.

He cited a tip to an archdiocese hotline that led to the dismissal last week of a priest who headed a Catholic high school in Encino and another that led to a Los Angeles County sheriff’s investigation of the sexual abuse of a minor.

The LAPD has asked that anyone with information on child abuse cases telephone (213) 485-2883.

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Times staff writer Jill Leovy contributed to this report.