The Diocese of El Camino Real responded to accusations of mishandling safeguarding protocols at a San Jose, California, church August 26. The diocese’s public statement emphasized a series of new procedures it implemented in 2022 and 2023 to provide additional protection and comply with state law.
“I want to assure you of my ongoing commitment to having all our communities be places of safety and security where God’s people can promote God’s mission and ministry in the world,” said El Camino Real’s bishop, the Rt. Rev. Lucinda Ashby.
The public statement, she added, intended to address “some odd accusations and the spread of misinformation about safety,” rooted in “suspicion [that] may arise when a person becomes afraid or feels disconnected from what we are about.”
The “odd accusations” were raised in an August 22 report by The Christian Post about a Title IV complaint against Ashby, the Rev. Ruth Casipit-Paguio of Holy Family Episcopal Church in San Jose, and two diocesan officials. The complaint alleges that Casipit-Paguio failed to run background checks on church staff and volunteers for eight years, in violation of diocesan policy.
The Christian Post’s source, the advocacy website Anglican Watch, claims that “a known pedophile listed on a state sex offender registry attempted to become involved with the parish” and obtained keys to the church.
This person’s status as a sex offender was allegedly discovered by another parishioner, who found his name listed on California’s sex offender registry, popularly known as “Megan’s List” after a 1994 Federal Law that required publication of convicted offenders.
When Casipit-Paguio became aware of the situation in December 2022, “the parish removed the offender from leadership. Still, Casipit-Paguio allegedly declined to report the matter to the police, as required by law. Moreover, neither parishioners nor other parishes were alerted to the issue, thereby placing children and others at risk,” Anglican Watch claimed.
Carole Bartolini, El Camino Real’s communications director, told TLC: “It is inaccurate to say that there was an individual on the registered sex offenders list in church leadership at Holy Family. What is accurate is that there was an individual on the sex offenders list who attended Holy Family for a brief time, but that person had no involvement in either church leadership or youth work.”
An anonymously filed Title IV complaint against Casipit-Paguio was allegedly dismissed by a diocesan reference panel. Bartolini said of the Title IV complaint against Bishop Ashby, “The intake officer for bishops dismissed the matter, and the complainant has the right to appeal that dismissal.”
El Camino Real’s statement noted that the diocese’s Board of Trustees contracted with Church HR, an outside firm, in the fall of 2022, “to ensure that we are up to date and following California State Law, Mandated Reporting guidelines, Safe-Church practices, and other issues around employment law and safe working environments.”
During 2023, church leaders were required to undergo background checks and to be fingerprinted, in compliance with California Law AB 506, which was enacted on January 1, 2022, but did not go into effect until 2024, the diocesan statement said. The diocese also paid for retired clergy to be fingerprinted, and maintains the safeguarding compliance records for all non-parochial clergy.
All church leaders, the statement said, are also required to have Safe Church training, which is more extensive than the training required by state law. “We are proud to hold ourselves to that higher standard of training and protection for all of God’s children,” the statement said.
“The diocese continues to monitor each parish’s compliance and record keeping, including Holy Family,” Bartolini said.
El Camino Real, Ashby’s statement added, also implemented a workplace violence prevention policy and mandated a 12-session anti-racism training for clergy, lay leaders, and those involved in diocesan governance, “recognizing that safety has many meanings.”
