Catholic World News : LA archdiocese knew accused priest's plan to leave country

Los Angeles, Aug. 31, 2007 (CWNews.com) -

A Los Angeles archdiocesan official knew in 1988 that a priest accused of molesting children planned to leave the country, an internal memo shows.

In a 1988 letter released that was this week to a California court, Msgr. Thomas Curry-- who was then a chancery official, and is now an auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles-- said that Father Nicolas Aguilar Rivera disclosed plans to return to Mexico.

Soon thereafter, Aguilar Rivera fled to Mexico, escaping prosecution in California. He is now a fugitive, presumably in Mexico.

A spokesman for the Los Angeles archdiocese stressed that although Bishop Curry knew that the accused priest was planning to travel to Mexico, he had no reason to believe that Aguilar Rivera would attempt to escape prosecution. California prosecutors unsuccessfully sought to extradite the priest later in 1988.

The letter from Bishop Curry was included as evidence in a lawsuit filed by a Mexican man who says that he was abused Aguilar Rivera, and the Cardinals Norberto Rivera of Mexico City and Roger Mahony of Los Angeles had conspired to protect the priest from prosecution after previous instances of abuse.

Cardinal Mahony has reached an out-of-court settlement with the plaintiff; Cardinal Rivera remains a defendant in the case.