ARTICLES
June 2004 ARTICLES
Contents © 2004
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.
Not Quite Zero Tolerance
Accused Priest Reinstated by Bishop Barnes
BY BETTY MILLER
Despite an on-going civil suit against him for sexual abuse involving 14- and 15-year-old boys, Father Peter Covas of the San Bernardino diocese was reinstated as a priest in good standing by Bishop Gerald Barnes on April 16. Covas died May 9. Covas was one of 20 priests whose names were given to the district attorney for review of allegations of sexual abuse against children. The San Bernardino County district attorney said that Covas would not be prosecuted because there was insufficient evidence. The alleged molestations occurred in the 1970s and 1980s.
In 1981, then-bishop of San Bernardino, Phillip Straling, gave Father Covas full and complete power of attorney over all financial affairs for the diocese as a corporation, but Covas resigned the power in 1983 after it was disclosed that he co-signed a promissory note loaning $225,000 of church money to an underworld convict, Franco Nicoletti. Nicoletti was convicted of defrauding Empire Savings (on whose board Covas sat) and was sent to jail. All total, Nicoletti had eight convictions in California for charges that included mail fraud and arson. Bishop Straling apparently wrote off the $225,000 from Covas to Nicoletti as unrecoverable.
In June 1987, Covas was arrested for masturbating after being caught by an undercover police officer in a Fontana adult video shop. In December 1988, Covas was again arrested in a separate incident. A case filed in the Los Angeles County superior court shows a conviction for disorderly conduct and a lewd act. According to a report in the San Bernardino Sun newspaper, Covas spent two days in jail, was sentenced to two years probation, and fined $211.50. Covas was represented by Wilfred "Bill" Lemann, the attorney representing the diocese. Father Covas continued as pastor at Our Lady of the Rosary, the cathedral for the diocese.
In 2002 Father Covas retired and was placed on administrative leave after the sexual molestation information was given to the San Bernardino county district attorney.
On April 16, Bishop Barnes sent a memo to priests and faithful of the diocese advising them "that all civil and ecclesiastical inquiries have been concluded in the case involving Reverend Peter Covas, a retired priest of the Diocese." After his reinstatement, Father Covas was given permission to perform certain ministries, including baptisms and weddings, and was recognized as a priest in good standing, despite the civil proceedings for sexual molestation against boys.