Priest

An elderly widow has filed suit in Los Angeles against a Catholic priest she said befriended her after her husband's death and used his influence to steal $284,000 from her. Michalena Jones, 79, said in the lawsuit that she met Father Peter Valdez at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Palmdale after her husband died in 2003. The priest persuaded Jones to give him a cashier's check for $150,000 to buy a home in Downey and added his name to her checking account, which he used to make mortgage payments, the lawsuit said.

FLORESTA, Brazil - The little priest leans in, as though to make a confession. The subject is forbidden, but tonight he will talk. " A violencia ," he says. The violence of his account seems impossible. This small town, called Floresta, blooms in Brazil's sertao , a wild and arid land. On its surface, Floresta is all pinks and yellows and purples, its facades covered with thick layers of paint. The houses stand in rows around a tree-lined square, and in the center sits a church.

A Roman Catholic priest who worked at a Long Beach church pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges he sexually groped a 14-year-old girl and two women in incidents that started two years ago. Father Luis Jose Cuevas, 67, a pastor of St. Athanasius Church on Linden Avenue, faces eight misdemeanor charges of sexual assault and one felony count involving lewd acts with a child, according to a complaint filed by the L.A. County district attorney's office....

A Roman Catholic monsignor, William J. Lynn, was sentenced to three to six years in prison on Tuesday for covering up sexual abuses by a priest he supervised in Philadelphia. “You knew full well what was right, Monsignor Lynn, but you chose wrong,” Common Pleas Judge M. Teresa Sarmina said, according to media reports from the courtroom. “I did not intend any harm,” Lynn said in court Tuesday. “My best was not good enough to stop that harm.” A former secretary for clergy to the late Philadelphia Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua, Lynn managed priests and investigated claims of misconduct from 1992 to 2004.

The fight over the future of medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles drew patients, union organizers and even a priest to City Hall on Monday on the eve of a major City Council vote on whether to outlaw pot shops. The merits of the proposed ban, which would prohibit storefront sales of marijuana while still allowing small groups of patients and caregivers to grow it collectively, were hashed out at dueling rallies. At one, a few residents and local leaders who favor the ban complained about the crime and nuisance wrought by dispensaries.

When you think reggae, the first name that springs to mind is Bob -- Marley, that is, but probably not Bob Andy. A contemporary of Marley's, the Jamaican-born Andy is making a rare appearance at Sunday's "Legends of Reggae" concert, part of KCRW's World Festival at the Hollywood Bowl. " I'm here to put a face to the name," the singer says, laughing. Considered one of reggae's most influential songwriters, Andy has songs that have been recorded by a variety of artists including Gregory Isaacs, the Specials, Taj Mahal, Maxi Priest and UB40.

SAN FRANCISCO - The Santa Clara County district attorney said Wednesday that he would not refile a misdemeanor assault charge against William Lynch, the San Francisco man acquitted of three other charges stemming from a 2010 attack on the priest he said had molested him. "We have heard the jury," Dist. Atty. Jeff Rosen said in a statement. "We believe it is unlikely that a new jury would render a substantially different decision. " Lynch was acquitted of felony assault and felony elder abuse on July 5, despite admitting that he had attacked Father Jerold Lindner.

Resplendent in black cassock and matching skullcap, the bearded Jesuit appears in a YouTube video breaking bread with opposition activists and donating blood at a makeshift rebel clinic, highlighting his solidarity with the Syrian rebellion. But Father Paolo Dall'Oglio, a brawny bear of a man who enunciates each word with a theatrical sense of certitude, scoffs at the "jihad priest" label. He says he remains committed to a peaceful resolution of the conflict in his adopted homeland -- a "jihad of the spirit, not a jihad of arms," as he declared during a recent stay in the rebel-occupied Syrian town of Qusair.

SAN JOSE - A jury has found a San Francisco man not guilty of felony assault and felony elder abuse, despite his admission that he attacked the priest accused of molesting him nearly four decades ago. The 10-man, two-woman panel also said Thursday that William Lynch was not guilty of misdemeanor elder abuse in the 2010 attack on Father Jerold Lindner. The 67-year-old Catholic priest has been linked to more than a dozen alleged victims - including his own nieces, nephew and sister - but never has been brought to trial because the statute of limitations in every case had run out. The jury was split on a final charge against Lynch: misdemeanor assault.

A Pennsylvania jury Friday convicted Msgr. William J. Lynn of child endangerment for covering up sexual abuse of children by priests, but found the former Philadelphia archdiocese official not guilty of conspiracy and another endangerment charge. Lynn, 61, is the first Roman Catholic official in the U.S. to be tried and convicted on charges related to the church scandal in which priests across the country sexually abused children for years. In the landmark case, prosecutors said Lynn reassigned pedophile priests in Philadelphia while covering up allegations of sexual abuse.