Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez has never been a big fan of Cardinal Roger Mahony, and this morning he isn’t sending him any valentines:

Roger the Dodger has already admitted — albeit without much detail — that he left five priests in the ministry despite complaints of molestation. And my newspaper has counted 11 other cases in which priests stayed on the job despite parishioners’ concerns about inappropriate behavior with children.

Although the settlement agreement requires the archdiocese to turn over internal documents to a judge who will decide which ones go public, Mahony said he still considers some files “privileged” under the law. Prosecutors and victim attorneys, who have fought for years to get the good cardinal to come clean, don’t necessarily agree.

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley described Mahony’s surrender of documents as “giving with one hand and taking away with the other.”

Whether additional criminal charges against clergy will ever be filed is still uncertain, Cooley said, given legal challenges, including the statute of limitations.

But he didn’t rule out the possibility, and called inquiries into church activities “active.”

The archdiocese has spent untold millions on PR and legal fees, on top of the huge settlements.

“Where does that money come from?” asked Richard Sipe, a former priest and an expert witness on church scandal and clergy abuse. “That comes from parishioners, and they have a right to know.”

It comes from the hardworking employees of the archdiocese, as well.

I have a copy of a June 18 memo from top administrators to department heads informing them that lay staff will receive no raises this year because of “the seriousness of the financial crisis the archdiocese is facing due to the impending settlements.”

Perhaps the church could have avoided squeezing the staff — as well as the sale of property — if it hadn’t spent a fortune on spin and legal fees over the last several years.

But as I said, this was never about money. It was about protecting Mahony’s image.

Lopez concludes by more or less calling for Mahony’s resignation. I wouldn’t be surprised if we hear more of that in the days to come.