The role of now-Archbishop Levada of SF

Maurice Healy, the spokesman for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, said Levada had no comment on the Portland bankruptcy.

But in a lengthy deposition given in San Francisco on April 7, Levada denied that his predecessor, the late Portland Archbishop Cornelius Power, had given him any warnings about Grammond’s sexual history when Levada took over in 1986.

Church officials in Portland insist that Levada’s actions did not violate church regulations or state law in place between 1986 and 1995.

…The Rev. Thomas Reese, an authority on the American Catholic hierarchy, also warned against judging Levada by rules that were adopted after he left Portland to become the archbishop of San Francisco.

“It makes a big difference when a bishop did something,” said Reese, the editor of America magazine, a Jesuit-run weekly. “There was total ignorance until 1984 or 1985. But after 1993, bishops that made mistakes have more explaining to do.”

Ignorance of what?