Cardinal Mahony, the former leader of the Catholic Church in L.A., wrote on his blog Friday afternoon that he was not equipped to handle the numerous accounts of sexual abuse committed by priests and that he apologizes for his mistakes, but some abuse victims said his apology, and Archbishop Jose Gomez's decision to relieve Mahony of his public duties, is not enough.

Gillian Flaccus of the Associated Press says that the documents demonstrate strong evidence that Mahony and his top aide, Bishop Thomas Curry, discussed different ways to protect priests from civil and criminal cases involving child abuse from 1986 to 1987.

Mahony sent multiple priests to out-of-state in-patient treatment centers in hopes to cure these priests of their urges, as well as keep them out of the state to ensure no victims would recognize and report their molesters, according to Flaccus. Mahony also received direct updates on the priests' progress, such as quarterly summaries of what was said during their therapy sessions.

"Doctors in treatment centers would write to Mahony saying, 'this priest has admitted to molesting this many other kids, or we believe there are this many other victims,'" said Flaccus in a broadcasted interview.

Mahony took no steps to find and reach out to these victims. There were some instances when the two church officials discussed calling the police, but that was never done, according to Flaccus.

However, in a letter to Gomez posted on Mahony's blog Friday, the retired Cardinal insisted he was ill-equipped to deal with "this grave problem." Furthermore, he defended his decision to remove priests and refer them to "several residential treatment centers across the country for evaluation and recommendation."

And in response to Gomez's incriminating statements against the cover-up, Mahony reminded Gomez, "Not once over these past years did you ever raise any questions about our policies, practices, or procedures in dealing with the problem of clergy sexual misconduct involving minors."

Though relieved of his public duties, Mahony can still act as a priest, keep his rank as cardinal and participate on a Vatican panel that elects the next pope.

Joelle Casteix, The Western regional director for The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests  (SNAP), says Mahony is still a very powerful man in the Catholic Church and in Los Angeles.

Casteix read through the once-secret documents and compared Mahony's activities to that of Monsignor William Lynn, the first U.S. church official convicted of covering up sex-abuse claims against priests in Philadelphia.  Lynn was a secretary for clergy at the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and concealed child sexual assault complaints from 1992-2004. He was convicted of felony child endangerment in February 2012.

The file of Monsignor Peter Garcia was among the documents recently released by the Church and was cited as one of the most incriminating memos against Mahony.

Mahony's predecessor had sent Garcia to an inpatient treatment facility in New Mexico, where he told therapists he had molested about 20 boys "on and off" since his ordination in 1966. When Mahony took over, Garcia expressed the desire to come back to Los Angeles.

The documents show extensive correspondence between Mahony and his top aide Thomas Curry about Garcia's situation. In the end, Curry told Mahony that bringing Garcia back to the city would be harmful, as "there are numerous, about 20 adolescents and young adults, that Peter was involved with in a first degree felony manner and the possibility of one of them seeing him is too great."

Mahony agreed.

 From the Los Angeles Times:

The files released Thursday contained additional evidence of attempts by Curry and Mahony to stymie police investigations.

In a 1988 memo about Father Nicolas Aguilar-Rivera, a Mexican priest accused of molesting more than 20 boys during a nine-month stay in Los Angeles, Curry expressed a desire to keep a list of parish altar boys from investigators.

"The whole issue of our records is a very sensitive one, and I am reluctant to give any list to the police," Curry wrote.

At the bottom of the memo, Mahony replied: "We cannot give such a list for no cause whatsoever."

Castaix likened the Mahony scandal to Penn State and Jerry Sandusky.

"The cover up of Sandusky went all the way to the top," said Castaix. "And now we are finding out how hands-on a manager [Mahony was] when it came to the careers of priests who sexually abused kids. He knew what was going on, he listened to recommendations of other high-ranking officials and acted on them."

And like Sandusky, Mahony was publicly reprimanded and stripped of his duties. But other members of SNAP argue that it was not enough, and that Mahony's life as a retired priest would remain largely unchanged despite his past.

An archdiocese spokesman, Tod Tamberg, told the Los Angeles Times Thursday that Mahony's day-to-day life would continue rather normally. He resides at a North Hollywood parish, and Tamberg said he would remain a "priest in good standing." He can continue to celebrate Mass and will be eligible to vote for pope until he turns 80 two years from now, Tamberg said.

Mahony said that after the 1980s cover-up he committed himself to protecting the church and making sure the "Archdiocese was safe for everyone." He reminded Gomez that in 1994 Los Angeles became the first Archdioceses in the world to institute a Sexual Advisory Board and moved towards a "zero tolerance" policy for clergy who had sexual abuse allegations against them proven true.
 
"Unfortunately, I cannot return now to the 1980s and reverse actions and decisions made then. But when I retired as the active Archbishop, I handed over to you an archdiocese that was second to none in protecting children and youth," wrote Mahony. 

But to victims and other members of SNAP, apologizing is not enough.

"You have to clean the slate, you have to get rid of these people," said Castaix." The Archdioceses haven't done that."