The Roman Catholic bishop of San Jose, Calif., has apologized to parishioners for a diocesan decision allowing a convicted child molester to volunteer at a parish festival on school grounds last month, calling it a “mistake” and “an unfortunate circumstance.”

Bishop Patrick McGrath appeared at Sunday Mass in black clerical suit and collar and told the congregation before the service began that he takes full responsibility, though he didn't say who made the ultimate decision.

"I pledge to you I will do everything in my power to make sure this doesn't happen again," he said, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

In an open letter sent on Saturday to parishioners at Saint Frances Cabrini, McGrath said the chain of events that allowed Mark Gurries to volunteer at the parish festival on Oct. 6 “is still a matter of continuing investigation on the diocesan level.”

Bur he called the decision “a mistake” and a clear violation of diocese policy.

“Our policy is clear: No one who has been found guilty of sexual abuse of a minor or vulnerable adult can be hired as an employee or allowed to volunteer in any activity that involves children, young people, or vulnerable adults,” the bishop wrote.

“I am deeply troubled and I apologize to you that this policy was not followed. The actions of parents at the festival who enlisted the services of the sheriff’s deputy are to be commended.”

Gurries, 51, was convicted two years ago of lewd and lascivious conduct on a minor under 14 years old. He served nearly a year in county jail and remains on probation, according to the Mercury News.

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The newspaper said that under California law, registered sex offenders may be allowed on school grounds if they have written permission from the school's chief administrative official. The school principal has said that no one from the school administration had given permission. However, the parish priest, the Rev. Lieu Vu, told parents at the festival that Gurries had a letter giving him permission, according to the Mercury News.

Diocesan officials have not said who wrote the letter and whether it was authorized by the bishop.

A group of angry parents recognized Gurries at the festival and argued vehemently with the parish priest until Gurries was escorted off campus by a sheriff's deputy, according to the Mercury News. Gurries was not arrested and no one was harmed.

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The Catholic Church on Thursday installed Salvatore Cordileone, a leader in the fight against same-sex marriage, as archbishop of the Archdiocese of San Francisco.

Archdiocese Of Oakland / Reuters

Bishop Salvatore Cordileone, bishop of Oakland since 2009, is shown in this publicity photo released to Reuters August 27, 2012. Cordileone, renowned for his conservative stance on same-sex marriage, has been arrested in his native San Diego for drunk driving, police said on August 27, 2012.

Following his installation as the religious leader of more than 500,000 Catholics in the largely gay-friendly Bay Area, Cordileone, 56, delivered a sermon and spoke about his recent arrest after failing a sobriety test at a police checkpoint.

"God has always had a way of putting me in my place," he said. "With the last episode in my life, God has outdone himself."

Cordileone spent about 11 hours in a San Diego jail cell in August after he was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving. On Monday, he pleaded guilty to driving with alcohol in his system, said Gina Coburn, spokeswoman for the San Diego City Attorney.

Cordileone has been particularly outspoken in Church opposition to same-sex matrimony as chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage, a role that has put him at odds with many Bay Area Catholics.

He also led Church support for the 2008 voter-approved California state constitutional amendment, Proposition 8, that banned gay marriage.

Same-sex marriage, which the majority of Catholics support, according to a report from the Public Religion Research Institute,will likely be a key issue in the upcoming elections. President Barack Obama voiced his support of gay marriage earlier this year.

Other bishops, such as Archbishop John J. Myers of Newark, N.J., have also expressed strong opposition to gay marriage. Myers urged Catholics who support same-sex marriage to refrain from communion, NPR reported. In Maryland, the Archbishop of Baltimore co-hosted a fundraiser to fight gay marriage in that state, according to NPR.

For his part, Cordileone wants to deny communion to Catholics who are in an active gay relationship.

While taking his place as the archbishop of San Francisco and two other area counties, Cordileone called the drunken driving incident a "regrettable mistake."

Pope Benedict appointed Cordileone to preside over the Archdiocese of San Francisco in July.

"The archbishop is an advocate for immigrants and an opponent of the death penalty, but he comes here perceived as a one-issue bishop," Brian Cahill, former San Francisco Catholic Charities executive director, wrote in an editorial published in the San Francisco Chronicle on Wednesday.

"He can continue to be the aggressive, outspoken leader of the American Catholic bishops in their effort to prevent civil gay marriage, or he can be the shepherd of his flock. He can't be both, and if he tries, he will fail."

Cordileone said his grandfather settled in San Francisco 100 years ago.

"If someone had told him that his grandson would become the archbishop of this place, I'm sure he would think they were out of their mind," he said. "I'm sure there are people who think that today."

About 2,000 people, including 40 bishops, attended the installation and mass in the Cathedral of St. Mary. Outside the church, dozens of supporters carrying welcoming banners mixed with protesters, including the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence -- a group of gay male activists who dress as nuns.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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The Huntsville Times via AP, file

Biology professor Amy Bishop is escorted by sheriff's deputies at the Madison County Courthouse in Hunstville, Ala. on Sept. 11.

A Harvard-educated biology professor was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Monday after being convicted of shooting colleagues at a faculty meeting, killing three and wounding three others.

The jury deliberated for about 20 minutes before convicting Amy Bishop in the Feb. 2010 shooting rampage at the University of Alabama in Hunstville.

Bishop, who arrived in court with her feet shackled and wearing a red prison uniform showed no reaction as the verdict was read, The Associated Press reported.  

"She is shattered beyond belief," attorney Roy Miller said. Miller said that Bishop has often expressed great remorse to the victims and their families.

Colleagues believed Bishop, who allegedly pulled the gun from her purse to start shooting, was angry that the school had denied her tenure.

Bishop killed her boss, biology department chairman Gopi Padila, plus professors Maria Ragland Davis and Adriel Johnson. Professors Joseph Leahy, staff aide Stephanie Monticciolo and assistant professor Luis Cruz-Vera were shot and wounded.

On Sept. 11, Bishop pleaded guilty to killing three people and wounding three others. By doing so, she avoided a possible death sentence with the plea and instead faces life imprisonment.

A trial was still required under Alabama law.

After her arrest in Alabama, authorities in Braintree, Mass., charged Bishop with the 1986 shooting death of her teenage brother.

That death initially had been ruled accidental based on the testimony of the family.

Authorities in Massachusetts are awaiting the outcome of the Alabama trial before deciding how to proceed in their case against Bishop.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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The Anti-Defamation League wants an apology from Peoria's bishop following a recent homily comparing President Barack Obama's policies to those of despots Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin.

During the message at St. Mary's Cathedral in Peoria, Roman Catholic Bishop Daniel Jenky contended social services for Catholics could be eliminated if Obama's directive to include contraceptives in health insurance continues. Jenky went on to compare the actions to past cultural wars against the Catholic Church.

“Remember that in past history other governments have tried to force Christians to huddle and hide only within the confines of their churches like the first disciples locked up in the Upper Room,” Jenky said.

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In comparison, he pointed to Otto von Bismarck's "culture war against the Roman Catholic Church, closing down every Catholic school and hospital, convent and monastery in Imperial Germany."
 
“Clemenceau, nicknamed ‘the priest eater,’ tried the same thing in France in the first decade of the 20th Century," Jenky said. "Hitler and Stalin, at their better moments, would just barely tolerate some churches remaining open, but would not tolerate any competition with the state in education, social services and health care."

"In clear violation of our First Amendment rights, Barack Obama, with his radical, pro-abortion and extreme secularist agenda, now seems intent on following a similar path,” he said.

Chicago’s Anti-Defamation League calls the comments "outrageous." League Regional Director Lonnie Nasatir told the Chicago Tribune Jenky "needs a history lesson."

Nasatir said the bishop's homily trivialized the deaths of six million Jews and others during the Holocaust. He said there are few if any historic parallels to "the religious intolerance and anti-Semitism fostered in society by Stalin, and especially Hitler."

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