Community | October 25, 2010 | 44 comments

Files Reveal How Church Shielded Sex Abusers

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(NEWSER) – The church helped a California priest flee the country after his arrest in a child sexual abuse case, according to a cache of shocking documents kept secret for decades. Church treatment of Rev. Luis Eugene de Francisco was part of a pattern of behavior by many officials who knew of complaints against priests, yet shuffled them to different parishes or overseas so they could continue to work, the records reveal. "These documents demonstrate decades of concerted action that has allowed this community's children to be victimized," said attorney Anthony DeMarco, who's representing 150 southern California abuse victim and won a court ruling late last week that the personnel files be released. It's the biggest trove of church documents concerning clergy sex abuse ever released.
At least one of the priests named in the documents is still working, in Mexico, and is "ministering to children," but insists he's doing nothing inappropriate, reports AP. In de Francisco's case, the San Diego archdiocese convinced authorities to drop the charges if he was sent to his native Colombia, where he continued to work. In another case, Rev. Anthony Rodrigue ws repeatedly rotated to various parishes for years despite complaints of child abuse. He eventually admitted he had abused several children each year over two decades working in parishes. "He was probably one of the most prolific abusers in this diocese. They knew about this guy from his days in the seminary, but they kept him in ministry," said attorney Irwin Zalkin.


http://www.newser.com/story/103716/files-reveal-how-church-shielded-sex-abusers....
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