READ THE LA ARCHDIOCESE PRIEST ABUSE FILES

LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Victims of sexual abuse by priests in the Catholic  Archdiocese of Los Angeles demanded today that former Cardinal Roger Mahony and  other high-ranking officials be publicly admonished for trying to cover-up  clergy molestations.

Diocese officials said, however, they have apologized for actions of the  past and taken wide-ranging steps to prevent abuse and report it quickly if  it does occur.

The exchange came in response to internal church documents that were  released Monday as part of a pending civil lawsuit against the archdiocese.

``We are here in response to the hundreds of pages of documents that  were released yesterday that showed that Cardinal Roger Mahony had personal  involvement in the cover-up of childhood sexual abuse in the archdiocese,''  Joelle Casteix of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP,  said outside the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles.

``He personally managed the careers of predator priests. And he and  other high-ranking members of the archdiocese, including now-Bishop (Thomas)  Curry, worked diligently to ensure that men who hurt children, who abused  children and who destroyed communities were never going to see a day behind  bars,'' she said. ``We were shocked and disgusted to see these documents.''

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