(CA)
Press Democrat [Santa Rosa CA]
October 30, 2026
By Emma Murphy
Sylvia Lemus, one of two candidates vying for the 2nd District Sonoma County supervisor seat, has been a community organizer for decades, volunteering her time for organizations ranging from Santa Rosa’s Cinco de Mayo festival to Los Cien, the prominent Latino leadership group. Her appointment to the Cotati City Council and eventual selection as mayor — as the first Latina to serve in that role — were made in part on the strength of that civic record.
Less well known, until it came to light this week, was her executive-level service on two councils tied to a benevolent religious society focused on supporting law enforcement and other first responders in Monterey County, about 130 miles south of the area she hopes to represent in higher office.
Lemus’ time on those councils has coincided with the leadership tenure of Carl Faria, a priest named in a 2019 report released by the Diocese of Monterey as being credibly accused of sexual abuse of a minor.
Social media photos and the group’s website show Faria and Lemus crossed paths at events and during meetings. A banner photo on the Facebook page for one of the councils shows them standing side-by-side in a group.
A screenshot showing the banner photo on the Facebook page for the Order of Saint Michael the Archangel in Monterey County. Pictured second row, third from left is Sonoma County supervisor candidate Sylvia Lemus. Standing next to Lemus, in the center of the photo, to her left, is Carl Faria, a retired priest who is listed as the group’s vice president and was named in 2019 in connection with credible allegations of child sexual abuse made in 2002. The photo was posted at least as far back as 2017.
Lemus, in interviews, has denied any close connection with Faria or prior knowledge of the allegations made against him, which stretch back to the 1960s and 70s before he was ordained as a priest in 1988.
Faria was named in multiple local news reports in January 2019 about the updated list of clergy credibly accused of child sex abuse. The coverage touched on some documented fallout among a separate association also tied to Monterey County law enforcement.
Lemus, however, said she first learned about the diocese’s report Thursday, when a Press Democrat reporter asked about her service with the religious society, The Most Honorable Order of Christian Knights of the Rose. She said she was not aware of the allegations against Faria.
“Anything negative like that it’s not good, but I don’t know all the details,” Lemus said. “The report came out in 2019. I haven’t heard about it so I don’t know what to say. I just knew him from being part of the group with all the other members. I didn’t really know all the details of his life or anything.”
A few hours later, in a follow-up statement sent to The Press Democrat, Lemus said she “may have met Faria in passing.”
The second council, called the Honorable Order of Knights of Saint Michael the Archangel is a more local group operating under the umbrella of Knights of the Rose, with the same listed Grand Priory Council members. Photos posted on the Knights of Saint Michael the Archangel’s Facebook page, dating as far back as 2015, show Faria and Lemus attending the same events and standing in group photos.
Lemus, in a pair of interviews and text messages, said she has not been involved with the group for seven years. But publicly available business records indicate otherwise, showing she remained one of four listed executives, including Faria, through at least 2025.
Photos posted in 2023 on the Knights of Saint Michael the Archangel’s Facebook page, show Lemus and her husband attending an event with other members. Lemus suggested those photos were taken years earlier.
Two forms filed with the California Secretary of State’s Office, one from 2023 and the other for 2025, list Lemus as secretary for The Grand Priory for the United States of America for the Most Honorable Order of Christian Knights of the Rose. Faria is listed as the group’s agent.
Lemus, in a text message late Friday night, after The Press Democrat added references to those documents in this story, again said she had left the group in 2019. She said the organization did not have her permission to include her name in those business filings.
However, a public-facing website for the two councils, as of Friday, also still listed Lemus as secretary for The Honorable Order of Knights of Saint Michael the Archangel and The Most Honorable Order of Christian Knights of the Rose. Faria, identified as the group’s vice president, is listed two names above.
On the site, the Knights of Saint Michael the Archangel describes itself as an “ecclesiastical order of chivalry,” recognized by the Catholic Church and dedicated to humanitarian work. That work largely focuses on supporting the work of law enforcement, military personnel and first responders. The website says the organizations also raise money for scholarships to support students interested in careers in public safety and military service.
Public records link the Faria named in the diocese report about credible accusations of child sex abuse to the one serving on local boards, including for the two society councils where Lemus has been involved.
Speaking with The Press Democrat this week, she failed to say where she stood on that association or Faria’s apparent continued involvement with the groups.
“I’m against any kind of sexual assault whether it’s a church or any organization,” she said in a Friday morning follow-up interview.
The continued presence in church circles and other religious and civic groups of known or alleged child sex abusers has been a troubling pattern for years, with lasting harm for victims, said Dan McNevin, a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and former board member for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP.
“This is a man who’s been accused of a sex crime and he’s a vice president of a society that is supporting the cops, it just reeks of power and of conflict of interest,” McNevin said, referring to Faria’s positions with The Honorable Order of Knights of Saint Michael the Archangel and The Most Honorable Order of Christian Knights of the Rose.
In Sonoma County, where Lemus is in the final days of her campaign, her ties to the group and Faria’s involvement have been injected this week into the race.
Their connection was called out in a new political mailer, distributed by a spending committee sponsored by Service Employers International Union Local 1021, which has endorsed her opponent, Petaluma City Schools Trustee Joanna Paun.
“Before you vote for supervisor, look at the company Sylvia Lemus keeps,” the mailer read.
Enduring ties to the church
The January 2019 report from the Diocese of Monterey named 30 clergy in all who had credible accusations against them of “sexual misconduct” with a child.
Faria was among those named, listed as “Category 1: Credibly accused Clergy not previously released or otherwise in the public domain.”
According to that report, the allegations against Faria were made in 2002, the same year the U.S. Catholic Church faced a national reckoning in the wake of the Boston Globe’s Pulitzer Prize winning coverage of the church’s history of concealing sexual abuse by clergy.
The published details of the accusations brought against Faria are limited, but the report shows the incidents of alleged abuse took place from 1968 to 1971 and 1973 to 1976. He was ordained in 1988, according to official directories maintained by the Catholic Church and digitally archived by the Boston Public Library.
Following his ordination, Faria served as a priest at the Madonna del Sasso parish in Salinas between 1989 and 1992.
In 1993 and 1994, Faria disappeared from church archives completely.
Archives then show Faria as the priest at St. Jude’s Catholic Church and Shrine in Marina, a parish about 10 miles away from his previous one, between 1995 and 2002.
For several of those years, Faria also worked as a Scouting chaplain for parish-sponsored youth programs, church records show.
Faria retired in 2002, and his faculties were removed that same year, essentially serving as a demotion but falling short of expelling him from the priesthood. On the orders’ website where he was listed above Lemus, he retains the honorific title Rev. used to denote priests.
Generally, a clergyman whose faculties are removed can no longer perform the sacraments such as taking confession, leading Mass or performing the last rites for those who are dying, according to McNevin.
But even clergy with faculties removed still retain the benefit of association with the church, and it was not uncommon for them to be reassigned to less public positions, McNevin said.
That appears to be the case for Faria.
Though listed as “on leave” between 2004 and 2007, Faria continued to work for the Diocese of Monterey in its archives department and on special assignment until 2021 when he was first listed as retired — two years after the Diocese of Monterey released its report of credible allegations.
Such reassignments, even after credible reports of abuse are made public, can make it difficult for victims to come forward, McNevin said.
“Survivors need to know that they’re going to be believed because they’re climbing the wall of credibility and a priest of the catholic church automatically, is considered to be above the law and to be holy and highly moral,” McNevin said.
The Diocese of Monterey declined an interview with The Press Democrat Thursday.
“Information concerning Carl Faria was previously published in the Diocese’s 2019 Report of Credible Allegations, which remains publicly available,” said the Diocese’s spokesperson Matthew Godinez. “At this time, the Diocese has no additional comments to provide beyond what has already been published.”
The Press Democrat attempted to reach Faria over the phone, through the Diocese and via email and social media. Requests for comment were unreturned.
The visibility and influence that such accused clergy or former clergy retain through positions on councils and executive boards for community groups outside the church can further dissuade victims from coming forward, said McNevin, the former SNAP official.
In addition to his roles on those councils, Faria is also a listed board member on two other civic groups: HEROES of Monterey, which works to increase support for law enforcement and military personnel; and The Marina Foundation, a support group for “youth, teens, and seniors.”
Describing the church’s system for addressing sexual abuse as “broken,” McNevin said local boards and organizations have the responsibility of removing credibly accused clergy from influential positions.
“It’s one thing to have a kept secret until 2018, but 2019 he’s on a list, he shouldn’t be on any boards and his board members would be the ones to say ‘Hey, you’ve got to step down,’” McNevin said. “It’s a conflict of interest. It’s not appropriate that a person who is credibly accused of these things is on a board.”
Lemus said she could not say whether Faria should hold those board positions in light of the Diocese’s report.
“Sorry, I have no comment about that. I’m not involved in those organizations,” she said.
The Press Democrat also shared the Diocese’s four-page report on credibly accused clergy with Lemus, who on Friday said she had not had time to read it.
“I’m too busy with the campaign right now,” she said.
Scholarships, fundraising and first responders
Lemus said she joined The Honorable Order of Knights of Saint Michael the Archangel and The Most Honorable Order of Christian Knights of the Rose in 2014 after her husband, Ron Quintana introduced her. Quintana is also currently listed on the two leadership councils as a constable.
Lemus said she was particularly proud of the scholarships the group provided for prospective first responders including firefighters, paramedics and police officers.
She also highlighted the group’s fundraising efforts.
“Whenever there was a situation where someone needed help, the organization would also donate money to those in need,” Lemus said. “In today’s world that’s really badly needed.”
Lemus said she volunteered as secretary for the two councils for four or five years and in that role primarily took notes during meetings and distributed agendas.
Though still listed among the leadership on the councils’ website, Lemus said she stopped participating in the group around 2019 citing a busy schedule between her full time job and involvement with Sonoma County nonprofits, including Los Cien, the Sonoma County Latino leadership group.
“Life gets busy and I’ve always been very involved in community,” she said.
Photos posted on the Knights of Saint Michael the Archangel’s Facebook page show Lemus and her husband attending an event with other members, including Faria who is shown sitting at a group table adjacent to the one shared by Lemus, Quintana and other attendees. The photos were posted December 2023.
Lemus said she doesn’t remember attending any group events after 2019 and in a text said the photos were taken prior to 2019. She did not know why the photos would be posted years later.
The group does appear to recycle old pictures by posting the same posed group photos every few years. But the event photos posted in 2023 only appear once on the group’s page.
The Press Democrat reached out to leadership at Knights of Saint Michael the Archangel to confirm whether Lemus and Faria are still members. Multiple requests for comment were not returned ahead of publication.
You can reach Staff Writer Emma Murphy at 707-521-5228 or emma.murphy@pressdemocrat.com. On X @MurphReports.
You can reach Staff Writer Anna Armstrong at 707-521-5254 or at anna.armstrong@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) @annavarmstrong.