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There is no mortgage placed upon the parish property. The parish then pays the loan by payments at specified times and obtains this money from the general income of the parish.

2. It is the custom of the archdiocese for parishes to deposit in the Chancery Office surplus moneys which they may possess. This would happen, for example, if a parish were accumulating moneys which they may possess with the intention of erecting a new building a few years hence … The Chancery Office, in turn, lends this money to other parishes.

This constitutes a substitute for borrowing from the bank. It also places the Chancery Office in somewhat the position of a bank, at least to some of the parishes.21

Unlike Eastern and Midwestern dioceses where ethnic churches anchored urban villages a few blocks apart, the Los Angeles archdiocese was a huge landmass spread over four southern California counties. McIntyre foresaw the patterns of freeways tied to real estate development; he spaced out churches at some distance from one another to create large flocks. The city’s 1948 population of 3,961,800 nearly doubled to 7,110,796 in just twelve years; besides the Anglos, Mexicans and Central Americans came to work the fruit and vegetable fields that provided 40 percent of the domestic market.22 McIntyre’s careful grid approach stood the test of time well. In 2004 the preeminent California historian Kevin Starr wrote:

In Pacoima, Father Tom Rush of Mary Immaculate parish, whose congregation had grown to the point where 8,500 parishioners were attending one of ten masses every Sunday (seven in Spanish, three in English), was completing a $3.2 million renovation and expansion of the parish church and school.23

McIntyre in the 1960s had bitter clashes with Latino activists, black protesters, and nuns inspired by Vatican II. His successor, Timothy Manning, was a more flexible prelate. Manning gave the vicar general, Monsignor Robert Hawkes, a major hand in financial control. “Hawkes was feared by many priests,” a church insider told me, “for his power and absolute control of money.”

“As Manning’s vicar general, Hawkes handled dozens of accusations against clergy predators, mostly by covering them up,” explains John Manly, a prominent Orange County attorney in clergy abuse litigation.

Hawkes was also a pederast. “He paid boys he abused to work at rectories and secured scholarships at a Catholic high school to keep them silent,” says Beverly Hills attorney Anthony Demarco, who represents one of the victims.

In 1985, when Mahony became archbishop, he fired Hawkes, although no reason was publicly given. Hawkes died soon thereafter. His probate shows that he left $30,000 cash and about $100,000 in property, most of which went to relatives.24 He also left behind at least three youths he sexually abused.25

The first native Angeleno archbishop, Mahony came from Irish stock. “I didn’t see Fresno as his career move,” says Jerry Fallon. “Most priests were against César Chávez. Farmers donated heavily to churches in the San Joaquin Valley.” Mahony publicly supported the highly religious Chávez, while privately recycling the pedophile O’Grady, which was an internal matter.

In 1991 John Paul made Mahony a cardinal. With his imposing height, dark eyes, and handsome face, Mahony had the social ease to charm the wealthy who gave and gave again. Among them were the hotelier Baron Hilton; Bob Hope’s wife, Dolores; Richard Riordan, the future mayor; and Daniel Donohue, president of the Dan Murphy Foundation (based on his father-in-law’s fortune). Donohue held a knighthood bestowed by Pius XII for donations to the Holy See; he liked being called Sir Daniel. In the 1940s his wife, Bernardine, gave $250,000 to St. Vibiana Cathedral.26 When a 1994 earthquake jolted St. Vibiana, Mahony wanted to demolish and rebuild; preservationists blocked him. He pitched a world-class cathedral to civic leaders on the site off Hollywood Freeway. The Rupert Murdoch Family Foundations gave $10 million. The Wall Street Journal called it “one of the five most