Cracks in the wall?

Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral

DALLAS MORNING NEWS ...

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, serious cracks now appear in the stone wall Cardinal Roger Mahony has erected to protect his archdiocese from victims' lawyers, civil authorities and the media. In October, a court forced Cardinal Mahony to release information from priest personnel files that showed how the local hierarchy shuffled abusers around for years and covered it up.

Earlier this month, a judge put 44 civil sex abuse cases on track for a 2006 trial, which would provide the first public courtroom airing of the scandal's scope in Los Angeles.

And just yesterday, The Los Angeles Times reported that the seminary that has long provided training for Southern California priests has a rate of abuse allegations more than double that of the church-reported national average.