Archbishop Gomez Relieves Cardinal Mahoney of Public Duties, Accepts Resignation of Bishop Curry

By Archbishop JOS� GOMEZ
2/2/2013
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

Effective immediately, I have informed Cardinal Mahony that he will no longer have any administrative or public duties.

There is no excuse, no explaining away what happened to these children. The priests involved had the duty to be their spiritual fathers, and they failed.We need to acknowledge that terrible failure today. We need to pray for everyone who has ever been hurt by members of the Church. And we need to continue to support the long and painful process of healing their wounds and restoring the trust that was broken.

Archbishop JOS� GOMEZ

Facebook Delicous MySpace

Twitter Stumble Digg

More Destinations

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - ( Editor in Chief Note: Our admiration for Archbishop Gomez has been noted in articles I have written in the past. This swift, definitive and pastoral action again demonstrates the mettle of the man. We ask our readers to pray for him, for those involved, for all the victims and for the Church. We offer the full letter just released by the Archbishop below.)

My brothers and sisters in Christ,

This week we are releasing the files of priests who sexually abused children while they were serving in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

These files document abuses that happened decades ago. But that does not make them less serious.

I find these files to be brutal and painful reading. The behavior described in these files is terribly sad and evil. There is no excuse, no explaining away what happened to these children. The priests involved had the duty to be their spiritual fathers, and they failed.

We need to acknowledge that terrible failure today. We need to pray for everyone who has ever been hurt by members of the Church. And we need to continue to support the long and painful process of healing their wounds and restoring the trust that was broken.

I cannot undo the failings of the past that we find in these pages. Reading these files, reflecting on the wounds that were caused, has been the saddest experience I've had since becoming your archbishop in 2011.

My predecessor, retired Cardinal Roger Mahony, has expressed his sorrow for his failure to fully protect young people entrusted to his care. Effective immediately, I have informed Cardinal Mahony that he will no longer have any administrative or public duties.

Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Curry has also publicly apologized for his decisions while serving as vicar for clergy. I have accepted his request to be relieved of his responsibility as the regional bishop of Santa Barbara.

To every victim of child sexual abuse by a member of our Church: I want to help you in your healing. I am profoundly sorry for these sins against you.

To every Catholic in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, I want you to know: We will continue, as we have for many years now, to immediately report every credible allegation of abuse to law enforcement authorities and to remove those credibly accused from ministry.

We will continue to work, every day, to make sure that our children are safe and loved and cared for in our parishes, schools and in every ministry in the archdiocese.

In the weeks ahead, I will address all of these matters in greater detail. Today is a time for prayer and reflection and deep compassion for the victims of child sexual abuse.

I entrust all of us and our children and families to the tender care and protection of our Blessed Mother Mary, Our Lady of Guadalupe and Our Lady of the Angels.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Most Reverend Jos� H. Gomez
Archbishop of Los Angeles

UPDATE: In response to reports and questions throughout the day on Friday, the following update was released from the office of Archbishop Gomez:

"Questions from the faithful and some members of the news media indicate that it would be helpful for me to clarify the status of Cardinal Roger Mahony and Bishop Thomas Curry.

"Cardinal Mahony, as Archbishop Emeritus, and Bishop Curry, as Auxiliary Bishop, remain bishops in good standing in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, with full rights to celebrate the Holy Sacraments of the Church and to minister to the faithful without restriction."

- - -

Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: Archbishop Gomez, Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Archbishop JOS� GOMEZ, Cardinal Mahoney, Cardinal Roger Mahony, Bishop Thomas Curry, Sex abuse, clergy sex abuse

NEWSLETTERS »

Rate This Article

Was this helpful to you? Very Helpful Somewhat Helpful Not Helpful at All

Would you be interested in more articles like this? Yes, I am Interested No, I am not Interested

Rate Article

1 - 10 of 14 Comments

Gerald Poulin
2 months ago
Bishop Gomez: Please relieve Mahomey and Currie of all duties and contacts with the faithful. Shame on the Pope if he keeps these men in their roles and lets them minister to the Faithful in any way. GLP
Albert
3 months ago
Just disgraceful. They should be relieved of ALL duties.
John Kauffman
3 months ago
This repremand of sorts comes a little late! What has the Pope done or said about htis matter? Many faithful are loosing thier trust in the magisterium when there is silence in such matters.
aloysius
3 months ago
The declaration of Archbishop Gomez denouncing these atrocities is wonderful to see. Unfortunately, the follow-up clarification calling Cardinal Mahoney and Bishop Curry as in "good standing with the archdiocese of Los Angeles" and "able to minister to the faithful without restriction" is nauseating. This is why public perception of the catholic church's handling of the sex abuse scandal is appropriately negative. We loose church members daily because of this illogical two-handed approach.
robert matzinger
3 months ago
This shame and immense stain on oiur Church and what we believed to be our leaders, our priests, bishops, Cardinals, will end when the last child abuser among us is exposed and properly dealt with by the proper legal authorities.

Who knows when that day will come though as it seems the horror and shame of it all runs deep. But we have to somehow keep our faith in our Church andin our leaders, our priests, bishops and Cardinals even though we no longer can be sure which ones deserve our faith. And yet we know that the good in our church and it's leaders far far out weigh any of the bad..
Alice
3 months ago
I agree with Theresa about the "Scandal" issue... found by the Fathers to facilitate the "Greater Good" of the children, priests, and the Church. Whether you agree or not w/ Cardinal Mahoney's and The Church's decisions, they were made prayerfully and in good faith. To "chastise" him now after a possibly "politically motivated" retirement is pandering . What other good does it do to relieve the Cardinal from his administrative duties, NOW ?

I would think the Bishop would stand up for the church and the Cardinal's good faith ( and probably collaborative ) decisions--- not to diminish his reputation.

In case I am misunderstood, my comments do not diminish my contempt for the damage done by priests, preachers, and other pedafiles.
Tom McGuire
3 months ago
Power corrupts. All the excuses given are attempts to avoid moral responsibility. The laity are not free of blame. What serious action did the laity take even after the news of the crimes against children became public? Sin is sin crime is crime, as those who preach dictatorship of relativism repeatedly emphasize. There was never any doubt the action of bishops avoided moral responsibility to take action that would have protected children from harm.

The clerical system, that contributed to these sins and crimes, needs to be reformed. Bishops must be held accountable for their actions. There is a role for the laity in calling bishops to accountability. Catholics can no longer accept the moral corruption of bishops.
KarlVDH
3 months ago
If a shepherd allows, through negligence, the sheep in his charge to be devoured by wolves, and then covers up the bloody evidence to keep it secret, he is no shepherd; if discovered, the land owner or lord for whom he works will fire him and cast him out.
There is no acceptable explanation for either of these men- failed, dishonest shepherds- to retain ANY standing. This is an absolute disgrace.
Theresa H
3 months ago
Reading the comments, all I can think is that when these events occurred (mostly some years ago) the menatlity of the Bishops was more of a concern over the scandal a (comparatively-speaking) few priests' shameful/terrible behavior toward children, especially, would bring to the Church. I don't think it was so much a matter of protecting the priests, as an endeavor to spare the Church the disrepute/scandle it would bring to her and to the Priesthood over all. (Which it has, indeed, done--nonetheless....) Today, as the observations below seem to indicate...people want everything made public--Perhaps something like in the early Church (?), when the Penance for everyone's grave sins was to sit in sackcloth and ashes at the Church door and publically beg pardon for their sins....
Susan
3 months ago
WHY, WHY are they still Bishops in "good standing??"

Prev12 Next

Comments submitted must be civil, remain on-topic and not violate any laws including copyright. We reserve the right to delete any comments which are abusive, inappropriate or not constructive to the discussion.

Though we invite robust discussion, we reserve the right to not publish any comment which denigrates the human person, undermines marriage and the family, or advocates for positions which openly oppose the teaching of the Catholic Church.

This is a supervised forum and the Editors of Catholic Online retain the right to direct it.

We also reserve the right to block any commenter for repeated violations. Your email address is required to post, but it will not be published on the site.

We ask that you NOT post your comment more than once. Catholic Online is growing and our ability to review all comments sometimes results in a delay in their publication.

Name *

Email *

Comment *

Send me important information from Catholic Online and it's partners. See Sample

Post Comment