Claims Against Priest Reviewed

By Richard Winton
Los Angeles Times
January 15, 2004

An Archdiocese of Los Angeles' clergy misconduct board on Wednesday reviewed allegations that a Pasadena priest sexually abused a teenage girl 23 years ago, and sent a memorandum on the cleric's future to Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, who has power to remove individuals from the ministry.

Although the Roman Catholic Church has a zero-tolerance policy for sexual abuse, Father Walter Fernando has been allowed to continue working for nearly two years after a woman told police the pastor molested her as a 17-year-old in 1981, when he was serving in a Pico Rivera parish. Police detectives and prosecutors said they believed the woman's accusations but could not bring charges because the most serious allegations were not crimes at the time.

Tod Tamberg, archdiocese spokesman, said the details of the memo sent by the Clergy Misconduct Oversight Board are confidential.

He said the panel typically would make a recommendation to Mahony on what action to take against the accused priest.

"Usually, he follows their recommendation," said Tamberg.

Under church law, Mahony has the ultimate authority on whether a priest stays in ministry or is temporarily or permanently removed because of sexual abuse allegations.

The clergy misconduct board has twice before reviewed the case against Fernando, but on prior occasions it did not have enough evidence to remove him from the ministry, archdiocese officials said .

Tamberg said the allegations the archdiocese had received against Fernando were secondhand, from the alleged victim's attorney and an August 2002 Times story stating Fernando was under investigation by police.

The zero-tolerance policy governing dioceses across the United States allows the removal of a priest when there is a credible allegation.

Tamberg said that because the allegations were not directly from the woman or in a sworn statement, the archdiocese did not consider them to meet that standard. He said church officials have requested an interview with the woman and a sworn statement.