Roger Cardinal Mahony

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His Eminence Roger Cardinal Mahony at the Religious Education Congress in Anaheim in March 2006

Roger Michael Cardinal Mahony (b. February 27, 1936) is the fourth Roman Catholic Archbishop of Los Angeles.

[edit] Biography

Episcopal coat of arms of Roger Cardinal Mahony

Styles of Roger Cardinal Mahony
Reference style	His Eminence
Spoken style	Your Eminence
Informal style	Cardinal
See	Los Angeles

Born in Hollywood, California Mahony was ordained a priest in the Diocese of Fresno on May 1, 1962 and was graduated from The Catholic University of America in 1964 with a M.S.W. He is now a member of the Board of Trustees at CUA. While in Fresno, he taught social work at California State University, Fresno. On March 19, 1975, he was ordained titular bishop of Tamascani, and auxiliary bishop of Fresno. That year, Governor Jerry Brown appointed Bishop Mahony the first chair of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board, where he worked with the United Farm Workers and various growers in the state to resolve labor disputes.

On February 15, 1980, Mahony was appointed Bishop of the Diocese of Stockton. Mahony has admitted to firing at least two priests for sexual abuse while Bishop of Stockton, although critics believe there were additional cases of abuse during Mahony's tenure.

On July 16, 1985, Mahony was appointed Archbishop of Los Angeles, the first native Angeleno to hold the office. Mahony was made a Cardinal by Pope John Paul II in the consistory of June 28, 1991, and was appointed Cardinal Priest of Titulus Ss. Quattuor Coronatorum.

After the former Cathedral of Saint Vibiana was damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake, Mahony began plans to build the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, one of the largest Catholic churches in the United States. It was dedicated on September 2, 2002.

Mahony was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2005 papal conclave that selected Pope Benedict XVI. Mahony will be eligible to participate in any future conclaves that begin before his 80th birthday on February 27, 2016.

[edit] Controversy

Controversy surrounds Mahoney, as depicted in the movie Deliver Us From Evil, and is based on accusations that he knew Oliver O'Grady, the notorious pedophile priest who sexually abused children, including a 9-month-old baby, in a string of Central California towns for 20 years, was a pedophile but failed to keep him away from children. In 1984, a Stockton police investigation into sexual abuse allegations against O'Grady was reportedly closed after diocese officials promised to remove the priest from any contact with children. Instead, he was reassigned to a parish about 50 miles east, in San Andreas, where he continued to molest children. Not long after, Mahony was promoted to archbishop of Los Angeles, the largest Catholic diocese in the country. In Deliver Us From Evil, O'Grady says Mahony was "very supportive and very compassionate and that another situation had been smoothly handled". Mahoney denies ever knowing that O’Grady was a pedophile[3].

Mahony has caused controversy among liberals and conservatives in the Catholic Church. Some liberals were upset about the large amount of money that was spent on the new cathedral. The LA Catholic Worker Movement held protests outside the cathedral. Some conservatives were upset by what they perceived as statements by Mahony on celibacy and the liturgy, which they saw as coming from a liberal perspective. Cardinal Mahony wrote a letter on the Sunday liturgy called Gather Faithfully Together: A Guide for Sunday Mass. The resulting controversy from this letter over the liturgy and the Eucharist led to a public feud between Cardinal Mahony and Mother Angelica.^{[citations needed]}

Mahony has also been both praised and criticized for his stance on provisions of immigration bills debated by Congress in late 2005 and 2006. He has editorialized that certain proposed measures would effectively outlaw the provision of charitable assistance and religious ministry to individuals not in valid immigration status. Mahony has said that he will instruct his priests in all 288 parishes in the Los Angeles Archdiocese to defy the relevant provisions of the Sensenbrenner-King Bill, if they become law.^{[citations needed]}

Mahony recently caused controversy by deciding not to do background checks on volunteers working with youth, saying that this wouldn't allow illegal aliens to volunteer and may limit their opportunities for christian service. Some have used this to say that Mahony cares more about politics than the safety of children.[1][2] ^{[citations needed]}

[edit] Episcopal succession

[edit] References

• [3];"A former priest molested kids in California parishes. Now he talks in a chilling documentary"; SF Gate; retrieved October 25th, 2006
• "Profile of Cardinal Mahony"; Archdiocese of Los Angeles website; retrieved January 21, 2006
• "Roger Michael Cardinal Mahony"; Catholic-Hierarchy.org; retrieved January 21, 2006
• "National Press Club -- Cardinal Roger Mahony"; National Public Radio; retrieved January 21, 2006
• "Called By God To Help"; Editorial by Cardinal Mahony in New York Times, March 22, 2006

[edit] External links

• The Cardinal's website