LOS ANGELES – After a lengthy legal fight, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles says it will soon turn over 30,000 pages of confidential priest personnel files without blacking out the names of church leaders who made key decisions about how to handle priests accused of sexual abuse.
Michael Hennigan, archdiocese attorney, said Wednesday that the church has given up on its plan to redact the names and the files should be turned over within weeks.
The Associated Press and Los Angeles Times have been fighting in court with the church over how much identifying information would be revealed about church leaders responsible for the abusive priests.
The files' disclosure was triggered by a $660 million settlement in 2007 but was delayed five years by a legal battled over priests' privacy rights.
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