Priest to Immigrants Stands Accused, Diana Marszalek, The New York Times, January 2, 2009

Priest to Immigrants Stands Accused

By Diana Marszalek
The New York Times
January 2, 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/nyregion/westchester/04priestwe.html?_r=1

SACROSANCT Father Ordonez’s church in Mamaroneck.
Photo by Alan Zale

WHEN the Rev. Richard Ordonez, a visiting Catholic priest from Ecuador, arrived at St. Vito’s Church here in 2003, there was hope he would attract more parishioners from the growing Hispanic population, primarily new immigrants who came to America looking for jobs and opportunity.

Advocates for Latinos said Mr. Ordonez’s arrival was an opportunity to improve their working relationship with St. Vito’s. For the immigrants, many of them in the country illegally, Father Ordonez not only spoke Spanish but also came from a country and community more like their own.

“It was a big hope,” said Harold Lasso, who was executive director of the Hispanic Resource Center of Larchmont and Mamaroneck at the time.

That hope was crushed last month with Father Ordonez’s arrest on felony sexual abuse charges as, the authorities said, he tried to leave the country. Father Ordonez, 37, was being held at the Westchester County jail awaiting a court appearance on Wednesday on charges that he touched a woman sexually against her will, said Lucian Chalfen, a spokesman for the Westchester district attorney. Father Ordonez pleaded not guilty; his bail was set at $50,000.

The Archdiocese of New York has revoked Father Ordonez’s permission to function as a priest here, said Joseph Zwilling, a spokesman for the archdiocese. He said the archdiocese had learned of the accusations only after Father Ordonez, who was still working at St. Vito’s, was arrested on Dec. 8 at Kennedy International Airport as he waited to leave for Ecuador.

The arrest came nearly five years after the abuse alleged by the woman took place. The complaint was filed in late September, when Father Ordonez was out of the country, and a police investigation began after his return in early December.

Mary Bejarano, the lawyer for Father Ordonez, said the lengthy time that passed before the woman accused the priest called into question the validity of the charges. “It speaks volumes to the veracity of her story,” Ms. Bejarano said. “I question her motives.”

Representatives of the Latino community, however, said the lapse speaks more to what they called the victimization of a vulnerable population, one that is taught to respect members of the clergy and that fears ramifications — primarily deportation — of going to the police.

Mr. Lasso, who now works with Hispanics in Colorado, said he first heard women express concerns about interactions with Father Ordonez several months after his arrival. Several women who attended church meditation groups said that Father Ordonez had touched them in ways that, while not overtly sexual, made them uncomfortable, Mr. Lasso said.

A couple who sought marriage counseling from the priest also complained to Mr. Lasso after Father Ordonez required that he see the man and the woman separately, Mr. Lasso said. Mr. Lasso ultimately referred those women with concerns about the priest to a female caseworker, who declined to be interviewed for this article. No charges have been filed involving any of those women.

Mr. Lasso said the long time between the abuse alleged by the woman and the arrest of Father Ordonez was not surprising. Although crime victims who are undocumented immigrants are protected from deportation, that is not widely known in immigrant circles, he said, making contact with the police feel threatening.

In addition, it is not unusual for deeply religious immigrants to question themselves in criticizing a priest’s behavior, Mr. Lasso said. “It’s not only the question of documentation but also the power that the church has,” he said.

Mariana Boneo, the Hispanic Resource Center’s current executive director, said victims of church-related crimes fear “being ostracized by the community within the church who are in disbelief.”

The Hispanic Resource Center, a nonprofit social services agency, plans to organize a workshop to help women understand sex-related crimes, particularly church-related, and the issues surrounding them, Ms. Boneo said.

“I just hope that they are helped to heal,” she said. “These women need to get some assistance for their suffering.”