The Archdiocese of Los Angeles could end up paying out more than $1.5 billion for sex abuse lawsuits. Granted, that’s the claim of one of the lawyers who is suing the archdiocese and probably represents a lot of wishful thinking on his part: “Let’s see, one-third of $1.5 billion is ...”
Still, it shows that while Boston was first, it is by no means the worst of the lot, nor is it alone, among American dioceses dealing with the Scandal. And I think it’s an embarassment to Cardinal Mahony. He was severely critical of Cardinal Law in early 2002, saying that if he had done what the cardinal was accused of doing, he would have resigned in shame, and so on. Looks like Cardinal Mahony is accused of doing much worse than Cardinal Law. But like Alec Baldwin’s promise to move to France if Bush won in 2000, Cardinal Mahony seems to have forgotten his own words. Too bad, because I really do think that it would be a step in the right direction for Los Angeles.
1/3 of 1.5 billion is equal to the price of a very large and very ugly Cathedral . . . right?