Editorial: Sins of the fathers

Wednesday, July 18, 2007 | 7:02 a.m.

The Roman Catholic priest sex-abuse scandal in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles is far from over, despite the church agreeing Monday to pay a record $660 million to settle 508 lawsuits.

Part of the settlement requires the church to hand over personnel documents to a retired judge, who will determine whether they should be released to the public. Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley's office is still investigating whether church officials obstructed justice and expects that those documents could be a key in building a case.

It has been clear that in Los Angeles, as well as Boston and other cities, church leaders for years did little to stop known predator priests and resisted attempts to open records and honestly deal with the scandal. The Los Angeles Archdiocese went as far as the U.S. Supreme Court in its failed effort to keep the personnel documents out of the public light, which frustrated Cooley, who said the church's persistent refusal to cooperate has hobbled his efforts to prosecute criminal abuse cases against priests.

"Cardinal (Roger) Mahony and many others are going to have to live with their conscience and live with their incredible moral failure," Cooley told the Los Angeles Times.

Mahony and other church leaders have continued to apologize for the scandal, but those apologies have rung hollow to the victims of abuse, who see them as too little, too late.

"They sacrificed us - and we were children - to keep themselves in good standing with the church," said Lee Bashforth, an Orange County financial planner who said he was molested by a priest for nearly 10 years. He said he would never forgive Mahony or others who protected the abusers.

The Bible says there is a time for everything, and it is time for church leaders to quit protecting themselves and hiding the past. They should admit the truth, provide documents and answer any and all questions.

Such action would provide more healing than all the money in the world.