L.A. Archdiocese Loses Religious Liberty Defenses

The Associated Press yesterday reported on two California court decisions rejecting religious freedom defenses asserted by the Catholic Church. In one, the California Supreme Court required the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to turn over the personnel files of two former priests accused of molestation. In a separate case, Judge Haley Fromholz, supervising a global settlement of more than 550 civil lawsuits against the Archdiocese, held that a monsignor must cannot assert "clergy privilege" to avoid revealing in depositions whether or not he heard confessions of a deacon accused of sexual abuse. The Church argued that all communications between a priest and a bishop are privileged. Fromholz responded, "The penitential privilege protects 'a communication made in confidence.' It does not prohibit the disclosure of the fact that the communication occurred."