What a mess of a diocese – those poor people, from Bishop Ziemann to the present mess – the question of whether Bishop Walsh purposefully allowed an accused priest time to flee the country – news has been percolating on this all summer and now the Bishop Accountability site brings it all together (including Bishop Walsh’s letters in his own defense), with the news that there is enough evidence for the Sonoma County DA to bring charges against Bishop Walsh.

Santa Rosa diocesan managers learned on 4/27/06 that Rev. Xavier Ochoa had admitted molesting a 12-year-old boy earlier that month. Ochoa met with the managers and Bishop Daniel Walsh on Friday 4/28/06, and the priest admitted that he had abused other boys. Walsh removed Ochoa, but a diocesan lawyer faxed notification of the allegation to authorities three days later, on 5/1/06. The authorities opened an investigation and found that in the meantime Ochoa had fled to Mexico, where he is still at large. On 6/22/06, 10 felony charges and 1 misdemeanor charge were filed against the priest for sexually abusing three male minors. The acts included forcible sodomy and forcible oral copulation. State and federal arrest warrants have been issued.

The Santa Rosa diocese runs up the coast of Northern California from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Oregon border. See our map of the California dioceses. Santa Rosa’s troubled history under Bishop Patrich Ziemann is described in Bishop Bad Boy, by Ron Russell, SF Weekly (3/19/03). Ochoa was Director of Hispanic Seminarians (1990-93) for Ziemann and his predecessor Bishop John T. Steinbock, and in that position brought in Rev. Hume Salas, who was to be Ziemann’s downfall. See Hume’s Road to Ordination, by Bleys W. Rose, Press Democrat (9/19/99).

Ochoa then worked as Ziemann’s Director of Hispanic Ministry (1992-99), during which time he is accused of abusing a boy. Two of Ochoa’s chancery colleagues from the Ziemann years—Rev. Daniel Whelton and Msgr. James Pulskamp—met with Ochoa and Bishop Walsh on 4/28/06 and also failed to make a timely report to the authorities.