Raised again, in one convenient place, by the SF Weekly

James Jenkins tells SF Weekly he began to lose confidence in Levada in the summer of 2003 — and the reason involved Ingels. As chairman of the so-called Independent Review Board that Levada appointed in late 2001, ostensibly to investigate claims of priestly sex abuse in the San Francisco Archdiocese, Jenkins learned that Ingels was among at least nine priests whose clerical privileges had been restricted in keeping with the new sex-abuse policy adopted by American bishops.

The review board’s mandate was to investigate any and all priests accused of child sex abuse — some 40 names had wound up on its agenda — and Jenkins saw Ingels as no exception. But the board didn’t get far with Ingels. Jenkins recalls Ingels as being "derisive, condescending, and uncooperative" after being invited to appear before the panel to explain his version of events, something Jenkins says the priest/ lawyer never did.

At about the time Ingels was arraigned on criminal charges, Jenkins and other members of the review panel learned that he was living with former San Francisco Archbishop John R. Quinn at Quinn’s residence on the campus of St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park. Quinn moved to the century-old mansion on the seminary grounds after his unexpected retirement as archbishop in 1995. Ingels has been living with him in the elegant mission-style home, built as a summer residence for the late Archbishop Patrick William Riordan, since then, say persons who know the men. Neither Ingels nor Quinn responded to requests for comment for this article.

Jenkins says that he and others of the six-member panel were especially disturbed by reports that a "support group" for priests accused of sex abuse had held meetings at the residence. (The founder of one such group, Detroit-based Opus Bono Sacerdotii, confirmed recently that Ingels is an "adviser" to it. "Father Ingels may be the best canon lawyer in the United States, and we’re grateful to have him," said Joe Maher. "He’s an excellent priest, a very holy man, and he’s a great help to us.")

Jenkins says he and other panel members "didn’t believe that a former archbishop had any business keeping house with someone who had acknowledged on a wiretap that he had sodomized a 15-year-old boy," and he and his colleagues saw the living arrangement as a source of scandal should it become publicly known. He says panel members conveyed those sentiments to Levada face to face, recommending that the archbishop order Ingels be moved elsewhere. "We looked at the archbishop and told him in no uncertain terms that there needed to be daylight between Ingels and Quinn," Jenkins says.