CNA<\/a>).- Archbishop Jos\u00e9 Gomez's decision to relieve Cardinal Roger Mahony and Bishop Thomas Curry of their duties in the L.A. archdiocese is being welcomed as \u201cthe best possible thing he could have done.\u201d<\/p>\n\t\u201cThe archbishop has in one stroke, opened up the doors and let in the sunlight,\u201d historian and author Charles Coulombe told CNA Feb. 1. \u201cIt is an enormously difficult task he has taken on\u2026it would have been the case no matter what he did.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cHowever, he handled it brilliantly, wisely, pastorally, truthfully, honestly, openly,\u201d he reflected. \u201cVery, very different than what we're used to here in Los Angeles.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI can't overemphasize how grateful I am that the Holy Father gave us this man.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tOn Jan. 31, Archbishop Gomez announced that with the release of personnel files of priests accused decades ago of sexual abuse, his predecessor, the retired Cardinal Mahony, and his one-time vicar for clergy, Bishop Curry, would no longer have official duties in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
\tThe files showed that in the late 1980s, Cardinal Mahony and Bishop Curry, who was then vicar of clergy, corresponded often about dealing with priests who had sexually abused minors. The Los Angeles Times said the memos show a campaign to hide sex abuse cases from police.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI find these files to be brutal and painful reading\u2026We need to acknowledge that terrible failure today. We need to pray for everyone who has ever been hurt by members of the Church,\u201d Archbishop Gomez announced.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cEffective immediately, I have informed Cardinal Mahony that he will no longer have any administrative or public duties. Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Curry has also publicly apologized for his decisions while serving as Vicar for Clergy. I have accepted his request to be relieved of his responsibility as the Regional Bishop of Santa Barbara.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThe decision has been roundly welcomed throughout the Church in America. On the archbishop's Facebook page, 278 have liked the statement, and virtually all of the comments have been supportive of Archbishop Gomez.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI applaud Archbp. Gomez. and plan to have Masses said for him for his courage,\u201d one online commenter wrote. \u201cLiving in Santa Barbara for the past decade, I have seen what a barren land for solid Catholicism the LA archdiocese has been for decades.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tCoulombe continued saying, \u201cit signals above everything else that the church in Los Angeles has entered a new, and if I may so, a much better age.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tCardinal Mahony served as the head of the Los Angeles archdiocese for 26 years, and as such has had a profound effect on the local Church.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cSuffice it to say, it's been a very long, difficult time here. What the archbishop has done, I think, is draw that period to its end.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tCoulombe went on to compare Archbishop Gomez' task to that of the character John O'Hanlon in the 1970 film \u201cThe Cheyenne Social Club,\u201d who \u201cinherited a house of ill repute.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIt's not that far-fetched of an analogy, unfortunately, because he inherited a huge risk.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tArchbishop Gomez has both brought in \u201cvery fine people\u201d from out of state to help in the archdiocese, Coulombe said, and retained some of the \u201cbest of the people who were here before.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cFor his Grace to succeed, on the one hand at re-Catholicizing the archdiocese, and on the other, of pursuing the archdiocese's rightful work \u2013 evangelization in this part of the world \u2013 he's going to need the help of everyone. And fortunately, he really seems to know that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tCoulombe praised the archbishop's pastoral letter \u201cWitness to the New World of Faith,\u201d in which he gave a mission for the diocese focused on evangelization and the salvation of souls.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIn every way seemingly, he's the opposite of his predecessor, and that's what we need,\u201d Coulombe said.<\/p>\n
\tCardinal Mahony's removal will be largely unchanged, the archdiocese's media relations director said, according to the Los Angeles Times. The biggest effect for Cardinal Mahony is that he will no longer administer confirmation in the archdiocese.<\/p>\n
\tHe remains in good standing and a cardinal, Tamberg said. No cardinal has resigned from the College since Father Louis Billot in 1927.<\/p>\n
\tThe larger change in the day to day functioning of the diocese comes with Bishop Curry's removal. He has been an auxiliary bishop of the diocese since 1994, and was responsible for Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. As Bishop Curry is now 70, he is stepping down five years before bishops' mandatory retirement age.<\/p>\n
\tLast week, both Cardinal Mahony and Bishop Curry offered apologies for their failures in adequately protecting youth.<\/p>\n
\tOn Feb. 1, Cardinal Mahony released a letter he wrote to Archbishop Gomez explaining his history of dealing with clergy sexual abuse.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cNothing in my own background or education equipped me to deal with this grave problem,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
\tHe reproached his archbishop for not expressing displeasure with his policies before now.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cNot once over these past years did you ever raise any questions about our policies, practices, or procedures in dealing with the problem of clergy sexual misconduct involving minors.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThe Los Angeles archdiocese has been found in compliance with every audit of child protection measures, which have been conducted since 2004.<\/p>\n
\tCoulombe said Archbishop Gomez' removal of the two prelates may \u201cfree him up in making appointments.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI don't know who Curry's replacement will be, but I'm very confident it will be someone\u2026much better for the job.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tCoulombe concluded his reflections on Archbishop Gomez' statement by quoting Gerald Ford at his presidential inauguration, following Richard Nixon's resignation following Watergate.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cOur long national nightmare is over.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n
![](\"https:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\")
<\/a>\n<\/div>\n![](\"https:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews\/~4\/PnyRxKrxBLA\")
<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Los Angeles, Calif., Feb 1, 2013 \/ 05:22 pm (CNA).- Archbishop José Gomez's decision to relieve Cardinal Roger Mahony and Bishop Thomas Curry of their duties in the L.A. archdiocese is being welcomed as “the best possible thing he coul…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\n
Archbishop Gomez praised for ideal approach to LA removals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Los Angeles, Calif., Feb 1, 2013 \/ 05:22 pm (CNA).- Archbishop José Gomez's decision to relieve Cardinal Roger Mahony and Bishop Thomas Curry of their duties in the L.A. archdiocese is being welcomed as “the best possible thing he coul...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/02\/archbishop-gomez-praised-for-ideal-approach-to-la-removals\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Archbishop Gomez praised for ideal approach to LA removals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Los Angeles, Calif., Feb 1, 2013 \/ 05:22 pm (CNA).- Archbishop José Gomez's decision to relieve Cardinal Roger Mahony and Bishop Thomas Curry of their duties in the L.A. archdiocese is being welcomed as “the best possible thing he coul...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/02\/archbishop-gomez-praised-for-ideal-approach-to-la-removals\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-02-02T00:22:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/02\/archbishop-gomez-praised-for-ideal-approach-to-la-removals\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/02\/archbishop-gomez-praised-for-ideal-approach-to-la-removals\/\",\"name\":\"Archbishop Gomez praised for ideal approach to LA removals\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-02-02T00:22:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-02-02T00:22:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\"},\"description\":\"Los Angeles, Calif., Feb 1, 2013 \/ 05:22 pm (CNA).- Archbishop José Gomez's decision to relieve Cardinal Roger Mahony and Bishop Thomas Curry of their duties in the L.A. archdiocese is being welcomed as “the best possible thing he coul...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/02\/archbishop-gomez-praised-for-ideal-approach-to-la-removals\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/02\/archbishop-gomez-praised-for-ideal-approach-to-la-removals\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/02\/archbishop-gomez-praised-for-ideal-approach-to-la-removals\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Archbishop Gomez praised for ideal approach to LA removals\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\",\"name\":\"CNA Daily News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"CNA Daily News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Archbishop Gomez praised for ideal approach to LA removals","description":"Los Angeles, Calif., Feb 1, 2013 \/ 05:22 pm (CNA).- Archbishop José Gomez's decision to relieve Cardinal Roger Mahony and Bishop Thomas Curry of their duties in the L.A. archdiocese is being welcomed as “the best possible thing he coul...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/02\/archbishop-gomez-praised-for-ideal-approach-to-la-removals\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Archbishop Gomez praised for ideal approach to LA removals","og_description":"Los Angeles, Calif., Feb 1, 2013 \/ 05:22 pm (CNA).- Archbishop José Gomez's decision to relieve Cardinal Roger Mahony and Bishop Thomas Curry of their duties in the L.A. archdiocese is being welcomed as “the best possible thing he coul...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/02\/archbishop-gomez-praised-for-ideal-approach-to-la-removals\/","og_site_name":"Catholic News","article_published_time":"2013-02-02T00:22:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA"}],"author":"CNA Daily News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"CNA Daily News","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/02\/archbishop-gomez-praised-for-ideal-approach-to-la-removals\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/02\/archbishop-gomez-praised-for-ideal-approach-to-la-removals\/","name":"Archbishop Gomez praised for ideal approach to LA removals","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-02-02T00:22:00+00:00","dateModified":"2013-02-02T00:22:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1"},"description":"Los Angeles, Calif., Feb 1, 2013 \/ 05:22 pm (CNA).- Archbishop José Gomez's decision to relieve Cardinal Roger Mahony and Bishop Thomas Curry of their duties in the L.A. archdiocese is being welcomed as “the best possible thing he coul...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/02\/archbishop-gomez-praised-for-ideal-approach-to-la-removals\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/02\/archbishop-gomez-praised-for-ideal-approach-to-la-removals\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/02\/archbishop-gomez-praised-for-ideal-approach-to-la-removals\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Archbishop Gomez praised for ideal approach to LA removals"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/","name":"Catholic News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1","name":"CNA Daily News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"CNA Daily News"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1031"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2183\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}