An L.A. County Superior Court Judge has ruled that names will be named as the Archdiocese of Los Angeles releases records, expected to be in the 30,000 page range, that document how the church leadership handled sexual abuse claims against priests.
The records include formerly confidential personnel records that could include psychiatric files, parents’ letters of complaint and even Vatican correspondence. They are being released as part of a 2007 settlement between the archdiocese and more than 500 victims, 200 accused priests and abuse going back for decades. The settlement included $720 million for victims.
Superior Court Judge Emilie H. Elias said, in effect, that the public’s right to know how the church leadership handled molestation allegations outweighed other concerns. The judge reportedly asked a church lawyer: “Don’t you think the public has a right to know … what was going on in their own church?”
The L.A. Times was part of the request for making the names public and its story is here.
