Many intersections of Church hierarchy and the law this week. Of course if you read the Abuse Tracker, none of this is news. But if you don’t, here are the highlights:

Judge orders files released:

Judge Keith Brown ruled that more than 100 pages of documents belonging to former priest Mark A. Campobello must be released for judicial inspection as part of a civil suit alleging negligence on the part of the diocese and Bishop Thomas Doran.

Campobello, 39, pleaded guilty in May 2004 to sexually abusing two adolescent girls while he was a priest in residence at Geneva’s St. Peter Parish and School and a teacher at Aurora Central Catholic High School. He was first arrested by Geneva police in October 2001.

British man gets $1mil settlement in abuse case

Dioceses of Sacramento and Santa Rosa agree to settlements

Still partly cloudy: A DMN editorial on the grand jury findings

Happily, the investigation appears to vindicate Bishop Charles Grahmann’s claims that the diocese has learned from its past mistakes. The bishop says that "the findings confirm our position that there has been no wrongdoing by the Diocese of Dallas or its officials in reporting cases of child abuse."

Well, yes …but. The grand jury found no criminal wrongdoing in its narrowly defined investigation, but that’s not the same thing as saying there’s nothing worthy of concern.