Judge orders church to release files

LOS ANGELES, June 19 (UPI) -- A California judge ruled that the Los Angeles Archdiocese must release the personnel files of Roman Catholic clergy accused of molesting children.

"The rights of privacy must give way to the state's interest in protecting its children from sexual abuse," Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Peter D. Lichtman said in a ruling issued Monday, The Los Angeles Times reported.

Lichtman ruled in a case concerning a few Franciscan friars but his decision could have broader implications in a diocese facing more than 500 legal claims from people who charge it didn't protect them from abuse.

"I think it's very significant," John C. Manly, a lawyer with plaintiffs in Los Angeles County, told the Times. "This sends a message ... that if you engage in the concealment of child sexual abuses, you will not only pay for your misdeeds but the public at large will be able to see what you did."

Lichtman's ruling came in the case of 10 current and former Franciscan friars accused of sexually abusing children from the 1950s to the 1980s, mostly at a Santa Barbara, Calif., seminary.

Last year, the church agreed to pay $28 million to 25 accusers, who had sought the files.