Follow-up: LAPD begins investigation of Cdl. Mahony assault claim

Since yesterday's post about Cardinal Mahony's claim that he was violently assaulted this summer is receiving a great deal of traction, I've decided to post an update.

For starters, in today's world you can't simply mention to your priests "Oh, and by the way I was assaulted" and expect it to stay quiet.

Indeed, LAPD detectives began investigating Mahony's report yesterday (the same day the story went public):

LAPD detectives Tuesday began investigating reports that Cardinal Roger Mahony told hundreds of priests he was assaulted by a man angered over the Catholic Church's sexual-abuse scandal, police said.

Police found no reports regarding an assault on Mahony and contacted church officials to ask them about it, said Andrew Smith, assistant commanding officer for the Los Angeles Police Department's Central Bureau.

"If it came to my attention that something happened to Cardinal Mahony, I would have called him and offered my assistance and assured that it was fully investigated ... which is exactly what we're going to do now," Smith said.

... Smith said while Mahony's under no legal obligation to cooperate in an investigation, he hopes that the cardinal does.

"What I'd really like to do is find out who the guy who did it was," Smith said. "Maybe he's going around and assaulting priests all over the diocese. ... Despite whatever your personal feelings are about the Catholic Church or the abuse, you can't walk up to anybody on the street and assault them."

Smith said detectives will do a thorough job and leave no stone unturned as they try to piece together what occurred. - DailyNews

More details on the alleged attack:

“[Mahony] went down there to drop something off at the mailbox when this guy approached him, saying some stuff,” said Father Gutierrez, pastor of St. Anne Catholic Church in Santa Monica. “Then, boom, the guy was on him.”

The attack, according to Father Gutierrez and others, occurred days after a Los Angeles Superior Court judge approved a $660 million settlement between the archdiocese and more than 500 local victims of abuse by the clergy. The settlement is the largest of its kind in the country. - NewYorkTimes

Associated Press details:

Mahony, 71, told the priests about the attack during a conference in October, said the Rev. Joseph Shea, pastor of Holy Family Catholic Church in Glendale. The cardinal said it occurred in late July or early August as he was dropping off letters at a mailbox near Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral in downtown Los Angeles, Shea said.

"The comments people made as they kicked him were connected to the sexual abuse lawsuits," he told The Associated Press.

Shea said Mahony was so badly beaten that the cardinal was hospitalized, and that it took him weeks to recover.

... Shea said Mahony did not report the attack to police "because he felt he could offer it up in reparation for the sins of others."

... The Rev. Sal Pilato, principal at Junipero Serra Catholic High School in Gardena, who was also at the conference, told the Daily News that Mahony's account was "shocking because it was an act of violence and it was someone we know and respect."

Another witness account from the LA Times:

The priest said Mahony offered the story almost in passing, as a way of illustrating the personal toll that the sexual abuse scandal had exacted on everyone in the church, but especially its hundreds of victims.

"He said he was walking to the post office or the store and that a man recognized him and started shouting obscenities about the abuse," the priest said. "Then the man came up and punched him and he fell to the ground. We were all shocked. Nobody had heard anything about it."

... Another priest who attended the conference said Mahony was struck in the face during the assault. The priest, along with a third source familiar with the meeting, confirmed the details of Mahony's statements, but both also asked not to be named.

The response from the Archdiocese (besides declining to comment):

The cardinal could not be reached for comment. A spokeswoman for the archdiocese, Carolina Guevara, said, “The annual pastoral meeting with the priests of the archdiocese is a private meeting, and whatever conversation that might have taken place was between the priests and their bishop and was not meant to be public.”

Priests at the meeting reported that Cardinal Mahoney said it had taken him a month to heal from the assault. “The cardinal is fine,” Ms. Guevara said when asked about his condition. - New York Times

Finally, local station CBS 2 has a video report on its website.

That's the pesky thing about mentioning something you decided to keep private: you can't.

More as I hear it.