LA Catholic Church Sex Scandal: Church To Pay $10 Million To Settle Cover-Up Abuse Cases

The Los Angeles Catholic Church must pay about $10 million dollars in order to settle four cases of sexual abuse by a pedophile ex-priest. To simply make matters worse, new evidence suggests that these cases were covered-up by a United States cardinal who is now involved in the Papal Conclave in Rome, voting to elect the 267th pope.

The four cases involve ex-priest Michael Baker: His sexual abuse spanned an astonishing 26 years from 1974 until 2000. Two of the cases have been set to begin trial next month, although the evidence seems to be overwhelming. The attorneys on the cases have also indicated that Baker admitted his pedophilia and crimes of abuse and molestation to Cardinal Roger Mahony 30 years ago.

John Manly, attorney for one of the plaintiffs, has stated that Mahony did little to stop Baker from his continued abuse of children. Cardinal Mahony retired as archbishop in 2011 and is now in Rome taking part in choosing a new pope. His cover up of the crimes came in the form of helping Baker evade law enforcement by sending him out of state to a Church-run treatment center, then placing the priest back in the Los Angeles ministry to further continue his abuse.

According to the Daily Mail, Mahony was criticized by his successor, Archbishop José Gómez, last month after confidential church files showed how he had worked behind the scenes to shield molesting priests and protect the church from scandal.

Archbishop Gomez is not the only one pointing out Baker's and Mahony's egregious wrong-doing, J. Michael Hennigan, an attorney for the L.A. archdiocese, stated "we have for a long, long time said that we made serious mistakes with Michael Baker, and we had always taken the position in these cases that whatever Baker did we were responsible for."

The settlement will be divided between four male victims, a pair of brothers, will get $4 million each, and the two others will get nearly $1 million each.

Confidential church files have documented this long and shameful case. Confidential files revealed that Baker met with Mahony in 1986 and confessed to molesting two boys over a nearly seven-year period.

Mahony took action by sending Baker for psychological treatment, but the priest returned to the ministry in a year, notably not rehabilitated. Doctors at the treatment center recommended that Baker be defrocked immediately if he spent any time with young children.

The doctor's recommendations were hastily ignored, despite several documented instances of being alone with boys; the priest wasn't removed from ministry until 2000 after serving in nine parishes.

Baker was charged in 2002 with 34 counts of molestation involving six victims, but those charges were dismissed because they fell outside the criminal statute of limitations. Then again, in 2007 Baker was charged with child molestation and jailed until 2011, when he was released on parole. Authorities uncovered that baker abused over 20 children in his 26 year long career as a priest.

While Mahony has apologized for his handling of the case, it seems as though not everyone is pleased with the cardinal's words. "The person who could have stopped this in its tracks and prevented three out of four of these children from being sexually assaulted is now sitting in Rome voting for the next vicar of Christ,' said Manly. 'I find that terribly troubling."

This is not the first time the LA Catholic Church has paid a large settlement, the archdiocese settled more than 500 clergy abuse lawsuits in 2007 for a record-breaking $660 million.

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