Week in Review : MAJOR EVENTS, IMAGES AND PEOPLE IN ORANGE COUNTY NEWS : MISCELLANY / NEWSMAKERS AND MILESTONES

Father Andrew Christian Andersen, 34, asked forgiveness last week after an Orange County Superior Court judge sentenced him for molesting altar boys.

The Roman Catholic priest, who was convicted of 26 counts of molesting four altar boys at St. Bonaventure Catholic Church in Huntington Beach, was given a suspended sentence of six years in state prison and five years’ formal probation, on the condition that he complete treatment at a live-in therapy center in New Mexico. Cardenas warned Andersen that failing to complete the program or violating the terms of his probation would mean having to serve the prison sentence. “We have all suffered; I ask for healing and forgiveness not only for myself, but for my church,” Andersen said after the sentencing.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael C. Koski said he disagreed with Cardenas’ decision. He had asked that Andersen be sent to state prison or, if he were to be given probation, that he serve a year in county jail.

This case was not the first time Andersen has faced accusations of molesting children. In 1983, he was involved in two incidents with a boy and church officials ordered him to seek psychological counseling. Despite the counseling, he later admitted that he had molested three more boys between February, 1985, and March, 1986. He was arrested last April and has been suspended by the church since then.

The 26 counts he was convicted of involved fondling but not nudity.

During his court appearance Monday, Andersen was flanked by the church’s pastor, Msgr. Michael Duffy, and dozens of other parishioners, who hugged him following the sentencing.