Church where plaintiff was allegedly molested by former priest Michael Baker.
(Roselle Chen)

A new child sex abuse case implicating the Catholic Church was announced by the alleged victim's lawyer at the steps of St. Columbkille Church Thursday.

Defrocked priest Michael Stephen Baker, who was sentenced in 2007 to 10 years in prison for molesting two boys, is once again at the center of this lawsuit. Baker had allegedly molested the plaintiff for a number of years starting at the age of 12. He is now 27.

"John MG Doe" (name withheld in court documents due to the sensitive nature of sexual abuse cases) is represented by John Manly. Manly was also the attorney for Doe's brother, Luis, who received a $2.2 million settlement earlier this year by the archdiocese for sexual molestation charges against Baker, according to Barbara Bradley Hagerty at NPR News. The brothers were altar boys and did not know at the time that Baker was molesting both of them.

"He was a little boy and didn't have a dad," said Manly. "Father Baker, like he always did, wormed his way into the family of this child, molested his brother and molested him."

Manly said Cardinal Roger Mahony had knowledge of Baker's actions since 1986 after Baker went to Mahony and confessed that he molested two boys in 1978. Mahony sent him to six months of treatment within the ministry, after which Baker was released. Since then, 23 people have come forward to say they were molested by Baker, according to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

"We can't comment directly on the lawsuit since we haven't seen it yet," said Tod Tamberg, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. "But as for Michael Baker, he lied to his archbishop, lied to his friends, lied to the family of the people abused."

Manly is not convinced that the blame stops at Michael Baker.

"If the pope really wants change, he needs to punish people like Roger Mahony who allowed pedophiles to have access to children for years," said Manly.

Bringing charges against Catholic Church leaders like Mahony is difficult because the abuse by priests occurred over a great number of years and not enough evidence has been gathered, according to the L.A. County District Attorney's office.

"If the cardinal is indicted, it will be the first time a cardinal has been indicted in the history of the world. But our view is enough is enough," said Manly. "If you don't punish the people who are in charge of protecting kids, and knowingly place a molester in a place with access to kids, what's to stop them from just continuing to do it?"

Tamberg said the new case will be given full attention once it has been brought to the archdiocese but could not comment on the allegations against Mahony.

"It never occurred to Cardinal Mahony that a priest would lie to his bishop," said Tamberg. "We feel very betrayed by Michael Baker."

Mahony will retire next year and Archbishop Jose Gomez of San Antonio will replace him. Manly said that Gomez is not an improvement over Mahony.

An earlier report by Neon Tommy said that ongoing investigations by the U.S. Attorney's Office questions the level of involvement and cover up that church leaders had in regard to the sex scandals.

An additional story by the Los Angeles Times cites a San Antonio group that claimed a clergyman accused of sex abuse of a minor under Gomez's supervision was permitted to live next door to an elementary school.

"The new cardinal is basically Cardinal Mahony by another name," said Manly. "There's already been publicity that when he was in San Antonio, he allowed a molester to be administered into the Church. Until the pope cleans people like Roger Mahony out of the church, this is not going to stop."