Cleric’s Memory at Issue in Report of Alleged Abuse

Three years ago, a Catholic woman reported to her pastor that Father Michael Nocita had molested her when she was in high school.

Now that pastor, Msgr. Michael Lenihan, says he cannot recall how church officials handled her complaint. And the woman’s lawyers have asked the court to force him to answer their questions as part of litigation over claims that the Archdiocese of Los Angeles failed to protect children from sexual abuse.

Church lawyer Don Woods said Lenihan, 79, testified truthfully during a July deposition. “Ask him the same questions and he would give the same exact answer,” the attorney said.

But lawyers suing the archdiocese accused Lenihan of trying to protect the church.

“It’s a way for the church to continue to keep secrets about what has been told to them by numerous victims abused by Catholic priests,” said attorney Katherine K. Freberg, who represents the woman and 127 other plaintiffs suing the archdiocese.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Haley J. Fromholz tentatively ruled Wednesday that Lenihan, pastor emeritus at St. Lawrence Martyr Catholic Church in Redondo Beach, must answer questions about two other accused former priests -- Michael S. Baker, whom he once supervised, and John Lenihan, his nephew -- but not about Nocita. A final ruling is expected as early as today.

Los Angeles authorities are investigating allegations that Baker molested two brothers from 1984 to 1989. Baker told Cardinal Roger M. Mahony in 1986 that he had molested children, but the archbishop allowed him to remain in ministry for 14 years. He was removed in 2000.

John Lenihan, the former pastor of St. Edward Catholic Church in Dana Point, admitted to sexual misconduct starting in 1978 with two teenage girls, one of whom received a $1.2-million payment from the church after accusing the priest of impregnating her and paying for an abortion.

Lenihan was removed from the priesthood in 2003.

Freberg’s client sued the archdiocese in 2003. The Times does not name alleged sexual abuse victims.

Nocita was a high school principal in 1988, when police investigated him after a therapist filed a child abuse report. Mahony transferred Nocita to St. Timothy Catholic Church in Los Angeles a year later, then placed him on inactive leave in 1991, according to newly released church documents.

Months before she filed suit, Freberg said, the woman gave Michael Lenihan her high school diary as evidence that Nocita kissed, hugged and rubbed up against her, beginning in 1983, while she attended Bishop Montgomery High School in Torrance.

Lenihan told the woman that he had passed the information along to Msgr. Craig A. Cox, a top Mahony aide, the attorney said.

At the deposition, Lenihan said he could recall only good qualities about Baker, despite the fact that he gave him negative reviews while supervising him as a priest-in-training, lawyers for alleged victims said.

Lenihan refused to answer questions about his nephew, citing his privacy rights under California law. And he refused to answer questions about Nocita, saying the woman had made her accusation in confidence.

He also cited the church doctrine of “internal forum,” which lawyers said forbids priests from repeating scandalous information.