Mahony Honors 50 Youths for Service to Community : Morality: The cardinal contrasts accomplishments of the high school seniors to scandals such as sexual abuse associated with the Spur Posse in Lakewood.

In what he called a “stark contrast and counterpoint” to teen-agers caught up in the Spur Posse sex scandal, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony has honored 50 high school seniors for service to the community.

Mahony said their efforts to help AIDS victims, the poor, homeless and elderly people, and to aid their parishes demonstrated courage, self-giving and generosity.

“They are a stark contrast and counterpoint to what is going on in our world and our society,” the cardinal said in remarks Wednesday at St. Vibiana’s Cathedral during an annual Mass and Christian service awards.

Without mentioning the Spur Posse by name, Mahony said media attention had focused on a “source of great scandal” almost to the point of nausea.

“It raises the question, what is really going on in high schools? What is wrong with young people?” said Mahony, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Los Angeles.

Two members of the Spur Posse in Lakewood were charged by the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office in response to numerous allegations that posse members assaulted girls and used a point system to keep score of their sexual conquests. One 16-year-old boy admitted earlier this week to sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl and was sentenced to the California Youth Authority.

“Left unspoken and unsung,” Mahony said, “are the vast majority of students who understand very well and very deeply what God has called them to be.”

The students, who received Christian service medals, represent “the most powerful peer pressure in its most positive sense,” Mahony said.

One of the students, Anyika K. Fisher, 17, of St. Mary’s Academy in Inglewood, explained at a reception that followed: “I live in the Los Angeles area and it needs as much help as it can use. After the riots and everything, I thought I’d help out.” She said she worked as a volunteer with the elderly. “They need love too.”

Not all the students receiving medals are Catholics. One winner, Adrienne Dohrmann, an 18-year-old senior at Mary Star of the Sea High School in San Pedro, is a member of the Mormon church.

Sister Regine Donner of St. Joseph High School in Santa Maria received the teachers service award. She has taught since the early 1960s, including 20 years in Africa. For several years, she taught French and German at the University of Nigeria. She has been in the Los Angeles Archdiocese for eight years.