Six Catholic priests who served in Yuba-Sutter-Colusa churches are accused of sexually abusing victims. The accusations are made in a document released Tuesday by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento.
Bishop Jaime Soto last year ordered the public release of church records indicating sexual abuse. On Tuesday, those records were made public and show that more than 40 priests serving the Sacramento Diocese abused around 130 victims over the past 70 years. The diocese listed another 22 priests from other dioceses.
In a video posted to the Sacramento Diocese website, Soto said he is committed to confronting the church’s “ugly past.”
“The people of God were betrayed by men who committed shameful, sinful crimes against innocent children and young people,” Soto said. “We failed to protect those children and we failed to tell you the truth as it was. I’m deeply sorry for these failures, and I’m determined that these failures not be repeated.”
Father Avram Brown of St. Isidore in Yuba City said seeing the names of two priests who served in Yuba City on the list is saddening and deeply troubling. And while the list is painful, he said it’s also hopeful in that it represents a step in the right direction.
“Greater transparency provides for greater accountability and responsiveness,” Brown wrote in an email Wednesday. “Also striking was the fact that the preponderance of cases were in the 1970s and ’80s, with a substantial diminishment since then. These plummeting numbers are very encouraging, and give us the opportunity to consider what positive steps have helped confront these crimes.”
Brown also said he hopes that by the Church addressing sexual abuse, it will help society confront the harm children face.
“Approximately one out of five homes has a family member who has been abused,” he wrote. “While priests represent less than .01 percent of this massive problem, the Catholic Church’s initiative could help schools, children’s institutions, and families, all of whom have much higher rates of abuse, begin to address this crisis.”
Representatives from St. Joseph and Our Lady of Lourdes could not be reached for comment.
Following is a list of priests named in the report, who at one time served the Yuba-Sutter-Colusa area. (To see the list in full, visit: scd.org/clergyabuse/list. For the purposes of this list, “credible” represents a reasonable person’s conclusion that, based on the information at hand, the accusation is more likely to be true than not, according to the diocese.)
Jose Urbina
Urbina, 66, was convicted of molestation in Yuba County Superior Court in 1989, but he has been a fugitive since disappearing once freed on $2,500 bail, according to Appeal-Democrat archives. In 2005, it was reported that Urbina was in Navajoa, Mexico, working as a priest in a Roman Catholic Church. The Mexican government refused to extradite him.
His reported abuse of two boys under the age of 14 is alleged to have occurred from 1980 to 1987 – the entire length of his priesthood. He served at St. Isidore in Yuba City and St. Joseph in Marysville from 1980 to 1983. The first allegation of sexual touching, fondling and attempted penetration was reported to the diocese in 1989; the second allegation was reported to the diocese in 2007; specifics of the case are not clear in records, the diocese reported.
Yuba County District Attorney Clint Curry said if there was a way to bring Urbina back to California, his case would be put on the criminal calendar for sentencing; a deal reached between Urbina and the DA in 1989 indicated he would be sentenced to the middle term of six years imprisonment.
“We want justice,” Curry said Wednesday. “He molested a little boy, he admitted it, and he ought to face sentencing for what he did … I’m glad to see some steps being taken to make that information public.”
Urbina was dismissed from priesthood by the Pope in 2008 based on a petition submitted to Rome by the diocese.
John Hannan
Hannan retired in 2004 after serving as a priest for 49 years in 17 churches, including St. Joseph in Marysville. He died at age 88 in 2017, and his authorization to serve as a priest was removed in 2011.
Hannan served in Marysville from 1962 to 1963. One girl reported abuse to the diocese in 2011 for sexual touching and rape that allegedly occurred in 1977, while Hannan was serving at St. Paul in Sacramento. In 1987, he transferred to churches in Tahoe City, Novato, Placerville, Dixon, Sutter Creek, Weed, Rio Vista and back to Sacramento.
Francisco Hernandez Tovar
Tovar, 71, was removed from ministry in 2008 after the diocese received a report alleging that he sexually touched and fondled a boy under the age of 14 from 1986 to 1987.
During that time, he was serving Our Lady of Lourdes in Colusa – he served as a priest there from 1986 to 1990. He then transferred to churches in Truckee, Sacramento, Rio Vista and Rancho Cordova before being assigned to St. Isidore in Yuba City from 2007 to 2008.
Michael Walsh
Walsh, 73, started his 47-year career at St. Joseph in Marysville from 1971 to 1973.
He retired and his authorization was withdrawn in 2006, but he was permitted to engage in limited, non-sacramental ministry until 2018.
He is accused of sexual abuse from 1973 to 1985, including sexual touching, fondling and sodomy reported to the diocese in 1985, and sexual touching, fondling and oral copulation reported to the diocese in 1992.
During that time, he served at churches in Marysville, Oroville, Sacramento and Rancho Cordova. He took a leave of absence from 2002 to 2006.
Jose Antonio Pinal
Pinal, 67, fled to Mexico in 1989 after reports of sexual abuse were reported to the diocese.
He served at Our Lady of Lourdes in Colusa and Sacred Heart in Gridley from 1980 to 1986, before transferring to a church in Winters for the remaining three years.
He is accused of abusing at least four boys and one girl between 1981 and 1986 including touching, fondling, rape and oral copulation. The female victim reported the abuse to the diocese in 2016, and the boys reported the abuse in 1989.
Murrough Wallace
Wallace retired in 2003, though he temporarily served for a year in 2009. His authorization was withdrawn in 2018.
He is accused of abuse of at least one boy and two young men from 1971 to 1995, including touching, masturbation and attempted oral copulation. Two victims, between the ages of 18 and 25 when the abuse occurred, reported to the diocese in 1995. The victim who was a boy when allegedly abused reported it to the diocese in 2018 and the investigation is pending.
Wallace served at Our Lady of Lourdes from 1966 to 1970 before transferring to churches in Corning, Sacramento, Rancho Cordova, South Lake Tahoe and Carmichael.
He also oversaw Camp Pendola in Camptonville for two decades – from 1970 to 1990, and served at a high school in Nevada.
