Mahony is a big man in the church: L.A. cardinal makes friends and enemies with equal energy in most varied diocese on earth - Cardinal Roger Mahony - Cover Story - Interview

Archbishops and gravediggers are rarely an easy mix. New York's Cardinal Francis Spellman went to his grave with labor, like Marley's ghost, hauntingly recalling 1949 when Spellman led in the seminarians as gravediggers in order to break a strike.)

Mahony's ambivalence about the media is not untypical of prominent public figures. He complained in one letter, as he had said in person, "For me the most onerous duty is having to spend time on news stories about my life and ministry. That surely is my greatest purgatory, and I do hope the Lord gives me a lot of "time off for good behavior" because of these various stories."

But he gives the interviews anyway.

In 1991, Mahony fiercely went after the local public television station, KCET, for airing "Stop the Church," the film of the 1989 AIDS activists' demonstration at St. Patrick's Cathedral, in which Cardinal O'Connor was vilified.

In Los Angeles Times and Daily News advertisements, Mahony urged KCET contributors to withdraw their pledges. Nearly 2,000 did, and one Catholic resigned from the KCET board and took his $100,000 pledge with him. Other Angelenos, outraged by Mahony's tactics, contributed $85,000 to offset the losses.

The truce came a year later when an unyielding Mahony and the somewhat bloodied local Public Broadcast System executives met face-to-face.

One priest remarked, regarding Mahony and the media, "Mahony's a strong leader. He's on the front page of the LA Times regularly. I want my bishop there. He's a national and international figure. Sometimes, when he goes off half-cocked, I usually agree with his initial reaction -- before the Vatican or someone gets on to him and he pulls back. On condoms he said at first it was okay to use a condom or to teach about condoms in AIDS prevention programs as long as you put the emphasis on abstinence. Then Washington (the Vatican Embassy) got on to him.

"Again, he broke ranks over gays in the military, but backpedaled. Sometimes when he backpedals, people question his integrity.

"Of course, he goes off half-cocked when he writes those nasty, bawling-out letters, too. He has wounded some of the guys through those."

Mahony counters, "Well, I've sent out an awful lot of letters and I just don't see it that way. I can think of only two or three letters that were harsh and were meant to be so. I've asked people, show me what, I'd like to be able to change my style."

Sometimes the national media seek him out, as they did when he opposed U.S. entry into the Gulf War, declaring it immoral.

Once the war was reality, he pulled back: A "Dear Pastor" letter talked of the war as the "necessary step in achieving full freedom for the people of Kuwait."

In the run-up to the 1993 mayoral contest, in which his friend and attorney Riordan was the final victor, The Tidings interviewed both candidates. But the questions were softballs, and issues that challenge Mahony -- abortion, freedom of choice, condoms in schools, styles of AIDS education -- were not raised. Riordan is said to be prochoice.