ABUSIVE PRIESTS WENT UNCHECKED

According to church documents produced in response to lawsuits by hundreds of alleged sexual abuse victims, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles allowed at least eight priests to remain in contact with children even after receiving complaints that the clerics had a sexual interest in minors.  That is twice as many as the church had previously conceded.  In a newly revealed case, a parishioner in 1980 passed a rumor to officials of the archdiocese that a young boy was spending every weekend at the Rev. Richard Henry's home.  In the decade that followed, the church received additional reports about Henry.  Despite the reports, Henry was allowed to remain in his parish while undergoing therapy.  Church leaders say they did not know that he continued to sexually abuse young boys.  He wasn't removed from ministry until the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department launched an investigation in 1991 that ended with Henry's pleas of no contest to four counts of lewd conduct with a child.  He went to prison in 1993 and served three years.  He was removed from the priesthood in 2003.

(Los Angeles, California)