Former priests from six Coachella Valley churches ‘credibly accused’ of sexual abuse
The Diocese of San Bernardino today released the names of priests it says were accused credibly of sexually abusing minors over the past 40 years, with 7 instances of abuse occurring at parishes in the Coachella Valley.
The list of Coachella Valley priests:
Peter McCormick*, assigned to Sacred Heart in Palm Desert from 1984-2000 Year of abuse: 2000 Diocese became aware 02/07/2000 Removed from the ministry 02/09/2000, permanently banned from ministry in the Diocese of San Bernardino Reported to police in 2002 Roberto Barco, assigned to St. Louis in Cathedral City from 2011-2014 Years of abuse: 2009-2010 Diocese became aware: 04/25/2016 Removed from the ministry in Archdiocese of Los Angeles: 05/2016, banned from ministry in the Diocese of San Bernardino. Has since returned to home diocese in Argentina Reported to police on 4/25/2016 Jesus Dominguez, assigned to Our Lady of Soledad, Coachella from 1984-1987 Years of abuse: 1983 & 1988 Diocese became aware in 1988, removed from ministry in 1993, no longer a priest Arrested in 2001
J. Ernest Hayes, assigned to Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Indio from 1965-1967 Years of abuse: 1978-1983, 1981, 1987 Diocese made aware: 06/1987 Died in 1990 Reported to police in 2001 Malachy McGinn, assigned to St. Theresa in Palm Springs from 1985-1997 Years of abuse: 1969 & 1981 Died in 1997 Diocese made aware in 2002. Anthony Rodriguez, assigned to Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Indio from 1971-1972 Years of abuse: 1978 Arrested in 1979 Removed from Ministry in 1983 Saul Ayala, assigned to Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mecca from 1991-1997 Years of abuse: 1988-1989 Diocese made aware in 2002, removed from ministry in 2002, banned from ministry in the Diocese Since retired without faculties
*denotes information not previously in the public domain
The list released Monday names 34 former priests, all of whom have been either reported to police, suspended and/or permanently removed from the ministry, or are deceased.
“This is an action of transparency intended to promote healing for victims & for the Catholic faithful,” a diocese statement says.
The diocese announced last month that the names would be publicly released, largely in response to a Pennsylvania grand jury report released this summer that named more than 300 priests accused of sexual abusing around 1,000 children across six of the state’s dioceses.
More than half of the priests listed in the San Bernardino diocese report previously served at Riverside County institutions that included churches and Catholic schools.
Among the cases not previously in the public domain, according to the diocese, include:
— Daniel de Dominicis, deceased, who served at Notre Dame High School in Riverside from 1958 to 1968 and Our Lady of the Valley in Hemet from 1976 to 1978. The alleged abuse occurred between 1975 and 1985. Dominicis left the diocese in 1978, but the accusations were not reported to the diocese until 1994 and not to police until 2002.
— Robert Kurilec, who served at Notre Dame High School in Riverside from 1980 to 1983. The diocese says the alleged abuses did not occur at Notre Dame, but rather in Indiana, Illinois and Maryland in 1970 and 1972. The diocese became aware of the accusations in 1987. Kurilec became a Navy chaplain in 1984 and the Navy was informed of the allegations in 1988, with police involved in 2002. Kurilec was permanently banned from the ministry and sentenced by the Vatican to Prayer & Penance.
Click here for a full list of priests.
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