{"id":336831,"date":"2026-06-15T10:35:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T10:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/336831\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T10:35:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T10:35:10","slug":"catholic-church-had-been-alerted-to-texas-priests-sexual-predation-for-years-but-dawdled-before-acting-new-orleans-clergy-abuse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/336831\/","title":{"rendered":"Catholic church had been alerted to Texas priest\u2019s sexual predation for years \u2013 but dawdled before acting | New Orleans clergy abuse"},"content":{"rendered":"

Internal Catholic church files obtained by the Guardian reveal that clergy leaders wanted to quadruple what was supposed to be a temporary, three-year role as pastor at a suburban New Orleans<\/a> church for a priest who had nearly a half-dozen women accusing him of sexual misconduct or unwanted advances while ministering to them.<\/p>\n

Anthony Odiong<\/a> was supposed to be at the St Anthony of Padua church in Luling, Louisiana, from 2015 to 2018 when \u2013 toward the end of that time frame \u2013 his supervisors extended his stint by three years despite a series of misconduct complaints, including one that ultimately sent him to prison for life in June.<\/p>\n

By 2021, his superiors moved to prolong his stint another six years, until 2027 \u2013 despite having spoken to a woman who had come forward to accuse Odiong of an abusive, years-long sexual relationship. She was at least the fifth female congregant who had claimed enduring misconduct by Odiong after meeting him in his capacity as a priest.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have served \u2026 with fidelity and dedication,\u201d New Orleans\u2019 archbishop at the time, Gregory Aymond<\/a>, wrote to Odiong while affording him that six-year extension. \u201cThank you for \u2026 the faithful way in which you continue to carry out the ministry of Jesus Christ today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite Catholic priests\u2019 promise of sexual celibacy, Odiong subsequently fathered a child<\/a> with a sixth woman whom he met through his clerical work. Only after all that did civil law enforcement \u2013 not church \u2013 authorities in Waco, Texas, where Odiong also previously ministered, finally hold him to account by convicting him of criminal clergy sexual abuse.<\/p>\n

That shocking chain of events is laid out in more than 200 pages of in-house church documents reviewed by the Guardian after a Waco jury found him guilty<\/a> of first- and second-degree sexual assault on 29 May. That same jury sentenced him to life imprisonment four days later.<\/p>\n

Anthony Odiong in a photograph entered into evidence in his trial. The photograph has been blurred to protect the identities of the woman and the child. Photograph: District attorney of McClellan County<\/p>\n

As a whole, the documents divulge that Catholic church leaders for a region including Waco had received a significant number of misconduct complaints against Odiong while he was still in the middle of working there from 2006 to 2012.<\/p>\n

Those Austin, Texas, diocese officials then confidentially notified their counterparts in New Orleans<\/a> about the complaints in September 2018, three years after he began working under church leaders in that area.<\/p>\n

Church officials in New Orleans not only went on to leave Odiong in place among their ranks for more than five years. They also represented to their colleagues in locales where Odiong traveled domestically and internationally during his ministry that he was \u201ca person of good moral character and reputation\u201d.<\/p>\n

Odiong was only removed by the New Orleans officials in connection with the various complaints against him when he also made comments from his pulpit dehumanizing LGBTQ+ people \u2013 mere months before his arrest by the Texas<\/a> authorities who would later convict him.<\/p>\n

The documents afford the public its most complete look yet at exactly what church officials knew about Odiong \u2013 and when.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, the records raise serious questions about whether officials whose church has spent years navigating clergy abuse scandals worldwide did all they could to safeguard those whom Odiong encountered through his work.<\/p>\n

It is clear from the paper trail that Odiong\u2019s supervisors waited years to prohibit him from continuing his ministry \u2013 and alert community members that they did so \u2013 under anti-clergy abuse policies long in effect because his accusers were not minors.<\/p>\n

And it is plain to see that church officials did not believe the women met their criteria for vulnerable adults, which strictly speaking would involve their having severe intellectual, developmental or psychological disabilities.<\/p>\n

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Austin diocese said it denies having \u201cconcealed information\u201d, as victims contend the organization did. The spokesperson alluded to how the Austin diocese provided a letter to the New Orleans archdiocese about Odiong \u2013 and then publicly addressed the matter after the second of the organizations proclaimed it had suspended the priest from ministry.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe diocese sincerely regrets that an ordained priest working in the diocese caused harm to the victims,\u201d the Austin spokesperson also said.<\/p>\n

A separate statement from the New Orleans archdiocese noted Aymond retired in February. The organization said had the previous \u201carchdiocesan leadership \u2026 known of the extent and predatory pattern of Odiong\u2019s behaviors, certainly different actions would have been taken\u201d.<\/p>\n

It added: \u201cWe are disgusted by Odiong\u2019s behavior revealed during his trial, and what he was convicted of is reprehensible. We are sorry for the suffering these women and their families experienced, and our prayers are with those who have been hurt by his actions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Guardian has reached out to Catholic church leaders in Odiong\u2019s native Nigeria for comment.<\/p>\n

\u2018You look hot\u2019<\/p>\n

Odiong spent the first 13 years of his career as a priest in Nigeria, where he was ordained within the Catholic diocese of Uyo in 1993.<\/p>\n

In 2006, while Aymond was in a previous role as bishop of Austin, Odiong gained an assignment to serve as the associate pastor of St Mary\u2019s Church of the Assumption in West, Texas, outside Waco.<\/p>\n

The naturalized US citizen added a part-time role at the St Peter Catholic student center, which ministers to Waco\u2019s Baylor University, in 2007, according to a curriculum vitae included in the records obtained by the Guardian. By 2008, that role at St Peter had become a full-time one alongside his post in West.<\/p>\n

By all accounts, Odiong won over his Texas congregants with a charismatic persona and stated affection for the Virgin Mary.<\/p>\n

But no more than two years into his full-time presence at Baylor, clear signs of concern began to emerge.<\/p>\n

A woman told Austin\u2019s diocese in 2010 that Odiong \u201cbit her ear while he was giving her a hug on a sofa\u201d at St Peter, where she worked, church officials there would later report. She also accused Odiong of having \u201chugged her by lifting her up by her bottom\u201d and holding her there for a protracted amount of time.<\/p>\n

\u201cOdiong admitted hugging her in such a way\u201d when confronted about it, but insisted that he did not mean for the embrace \u201cto be offensive\u201d, according to Austin officials.<\/p>\n

He claimed to not remember biting her ear \u2013 or that the woman voiced \u201cany complaint to him\u201d, those officials also wrote.<\/p>\n

The St Peter Catholic student center in Waco, Texas. Photograph: Google Maps<\/p>\n

In 2011, a student at St Peter came forward and accused Odiong of having spoken to her in \u201csuggestive ways (eg, \u2018you\u2019re hot, you look pretty\u2019)\u201d and having \u201chugged her with long and inappropriate embraces that made her feel uncomfortable\u201d, Austin diocesan officials would later report.<\/p>\n

They reported that she also described how Odiong \u201cplaced his hand on her knee and thigh when in a private conversation with her\u201d. But they were also sure to note that Odiong denied the allegations and \u201cdid not remember saying such things to her\u201d.<\/p>\n

The complaint that preceded the end of Odiong\u2019s stints at St Mary\u2019s and St Peter came that same year. A teenage boy had told officials that he had caught his mother, who was a Baylor employee, and Odiong \u2013 their priest \u2013 having sex in her bedroom after a family party.<\/p>\n

It ultimately emerged at Odiong\u2019s criminal trial that the boy later retracted his complaint because he feared his mother could be fired from her job over a Baylor policy requiring employees to conduct themselves in a manner that was consistent with Christian values. And the boy was keenly aware that his mother had primary custody of him and his six siblings after a tumultuous divorce from his father.<\/p>\n

The documents reviewed by the Guardian showed the Austin diocese concluded that the boy\u2019s complaint was \u201cfalse\u201d after his retraction. Nonetheless, the diocese\u2019s vicar general, essentially its second-in-command, determined Odiong\u2019s actions in the matter had been \u201chighly imprudent\u201d, the documents said.<\/p>\n

The documents explained that then vicar general Michael Sis \u2013 who has been the bishop of San Angelo, Texas, since 2013 \u2013 arrived at that determination because Odiong had been \u201calone with the young man\u2019s mother in her home, late at night, in a room with a small sofa and a bed, after a party had concluded\u201d.<\/p>\n

At least that is how then Austin bishop Joe V\u00e1squez, now the archbishop of Houston, would eventually characterize Sis\u2019s thought process in a missive to Aymond years later, after the latter had become the Catholic church\u2019s prelate in New Orleans.<\/p>\n

Austin church officials say Odiong left their diocese in 2012. His CV establishes that he was then outside the US for three years.<\/p>\n

The CV lists Odiong spending that period pursuing a doctorate degree in dogmatic theology at the Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas, or the Angelicum, in the center of Rome, less than three miles from the Catholic church\u2019s global headquarters at the Vatican.<\/p>\n

\u2018Look forward to reconnecting\u2019<\/p>\n

Aymond was in his fifth year as New Orleans\u2019 archbishop when he received an email from Odiong in October 2014.<\/p>\n

Odiong requested that Aymond appoint him as the \u201cpastor of a small [church]\u201d and allow him to teach a class in theology at Notre Dame Seminary, the New Orleans college which trains Catholic priests. In the meantime, Odiong would complete \u201cresearch work\u201d for his dogmatic theology doctorate degree, he wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am pleased to respond affirmatively to your request to serve in the archdiocese of New Orleans for a term of three years\u201d beginning in the second half of 2018, Aymond replied in a message that mentioned he and Odiong had recently visited.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember, with great fondness, our work together in Austin and I look forward to reconnecting with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before he could formally welcome Odiong to a second US diocese, though, Aymond told the priest to get a letter from his \u201clocal bishop\u201d confirming he was in \u201cgood standing\u201d and had permission to minister in New Orleans.<\/p>\n

Records demonstrate that Odiong then obtained a letter from the bishop in Uyo, Nigeria, John Ebebe Ayah, declaring him to be \u201cin good standing with the church\u201d. Odiong, Ayah wrote, had \u201cpermission to take up pastoral assignment\u201d from Aymond.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to personally thank you for accepting him in your archdiocese,\u201d Ayah wrote to Aymond, who assigned Odiong to Luling\u2019s St Anthony of Padua to succeed a pastor grappling with health problems. \u201cI pray the good Lord Jesus Christ continues to strengthen you in serving his people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gregory Michael Aymond, then archbishop of New Orleans, speaks during Ash Wednesday services on 17 February 2021. Photograph: Jonathan Bachman\/Reuters<\/p>\n

At St Anthony, Odiong again proved himself to be popular, amassing a following through holding prayer services after which some in attendance reported healing from major ailments.<\/p>\n

A visible token of the esteem that Odiong\u2019s congregants had for him was a healing chapel commemorating the Virgin Mary for which he raised about $600,000 to build next to St Anthony.<\/p>\n

Aymond in late 2016 wrote of visiting St Anthony while Odiong was elsewhere that day \u2013 and the archbishop said parishioners lavished praise on their pastor.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo many said, \u2018He cannot leave us,\u2019\u201d Aymond wrote.<\/p>\n

Lauding Odiong\u2019s time in Austin and his \u201cexcellent ministry there\u201d, Aymond added: \u201cI thank you for being in our archdiocese and the opportunity to work with you and to call you friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

St Anthony congregants by early 2017 had also written to New Orleans\u2019 archdiocese to \u201cexpress our increased happiness and enthusiasm with \u2026 Fr Anthony\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has provided a heart, a soul and certainly an unending amount of love to our small yet robust community,\u201d that letter said. \u201cHe has become the blood that quite honestly keeps us going and yearning for more.\u201d<\/p>\n

But despite that effusiveness, his past was about to start catching up with him.<\/p>\n

In January 2018, Catholic church officials in Austin received a written complaint about Odiong from a woman who had not previously come forward.<\/p>\n

She wrote about how she met the priest when she was a Baylor student and he was ministering there \u2013 and how he \u201cinappropriately held [and] kissed her hand, and embraced her\u201d after telling him she was thinking about becoming a nun.<\/p>\n

Eventually referred to in legal proceedings as Miriam Doe, she testified in court that she could feel Odiong had an erection while holding her. It all dissuaded her from exploring a vocation as a nun.<\/p>\n

The Austin diocese forwarded that woman\u2019s letter to the New Orleans archdiocese. The New Orleans archdiocese\u2019s executive director of clergy, Patrick Williams, wrote to Odiong to advise him about the complaint \u2013 but emphasized \u201cthere are no plans for follow-up on our part\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know there is another perspective on these incidents from your point of view,\u201d Williams continued. He also said it was not necessary for Odiong to contact the complainant \u201cfor that may cause further confusion\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u2018Refrain from engaging in ministry\u2019<\/p>\n

Austin church officials said Odiong needed \u201cproper permission\u201d to \u201cengage in priestly ministry in the diocese\u201d when he left in 2012.<\/p>\n

That requirement did not stop Odiong from routinely traveling back to his old stomping grounds in and around Waco after his departure, including as a celebrant for several funerals.<\/p>\n

Notably, seven months after the January 2018 complaint, the New Orleans archdiocese issued to V\u00e1squez a letter of good standing on behalf of Odiong giving him permission to attend a festival in West, Texas, and the dedication of a sports complex there in his role as a priest.<\/p>\n

Then, on 21 September 2018, V\u00e1squez sent a letter to Aymond. It contained a summary of Odiong\u2019s history of complaints from female congregants within the diocese of Austin up to that point.<\/p>\n

One of the letter\u2019s two carbon-copy recipients was V\u00e1squez\u2019s eventual successor as Austin bishop, Daniel Garcia. The other was the Austin diocese\u2019s chancellor, a deacon named Ron Walker, who had served there under the leaderships of both Aymond and V\u00e1squez.<\/p>\n

V\u00e1squez\u2019s missive seemingly referred to those complaints as \u201cthe current situation and past notices of concern brought to our attention regarding [him] when he was present in the Diocese of Austin\u201d.<\/p>\n

And, citing those complaints, V\u00e1squez told Aymond that he was \u201ccompelled\u201d to request that Odiong \u201crefrain from engaging in ministry in this diocese\u201d, even if invited by Texas parishioners.<\/p>\n

Then bishop Joe V\u00e1squez speaks during a Rally for Life demonstration outside the Texas state capitol on 27 January 2024 in Austin. Photograph: Suzanne Cordeiro\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Williams, Aymond\u2019s executive director of clergy, wrote to the Austin diocese in October 2018 that he had shared the \u201cgeneral contents\u201d of V\u00e1squez\u2019s letter with Odiong. Odiong, Williams wrote, \u201cwould abide by the request of Bishop \u2026 V\u00e1squez and not accept any invitations to engage in ministry in the Diocese of Austin\u201d.<\/p>\n

None of Odiong\u2019s congregants, past or present, were notified about any of this. And, nearly two months after that September 2018 letter, Uyo bishop Ayah wrote to Aymond granting Odiong permission to remain at St Anthony another three years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am deeply grateful to you,\u201d Aymond wrote back to Ayah.<\/p>\n

Saying he had a \u201cgreat deal of respect for Odiong\u201d, Aymond continued: \u201cFr Anthony is an outstanding priest. He has provided extraordinary ministry to the people of Luling \u2026 and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018No problems going forward\u2019<\/p>\n

On top of his work in Luling, Odiong in the coming years traveled to Israel; throughout Europe, including Rome; and across Louisiana<\/a>, Texas and other parts of the US in the course of his ministry.<\/p>\n

Typical letters of good standing from the New Orleans archdiocese authorized Odiong for weddings, religious pilgrimages and funerals, and in at least one instance for a baptism read: \u201cHe is a person of good moral character and reputation. I know nothing which would in any way limit or disqualify him from this ministry.\u201d<\/p>\n

The letters usually assured the recipients there was nothing in Odiong\u2019s background \u201cwhich would render him unsuitable to work with minor children\u201d \u2013 and that he was up to date on so-called safe environment protocols meant to shield minors and vulnerable adults.<\/p>\n

Yet complaints from Odiong\u2019s past kept surging forth. In April 2019, a woman who would later be identified in court proceedings as Hadassah Doe called the New Orleans archdiocese to report having had a years-long sexual relationship after meeting him at Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, in 2007.<\/p>\n

Odiong had studied at Franciscan while he also ministered in Texas. An email sent under Odiong\u2019s name at one point thanked Aymond for \u201cpaying for the greater part\u201d of those studies at Franciscan, though the message didn\u2019t elaborate any further.<\/p>\n

The woman said Odiong initiated that relationship after first positioning himself as her spiritual counselor at Franciscan. The relationship then spanned Ohio; Pennsylvania, her home state at the time; Waco; and Luling, she said. She also said Odiong stole money from her. And she reported him, without ramification, to various law enforcement agencies.<\/p>\n

The St Louis cathedral in New Orleans on 16 September 2017. Photograph: Bill Clifton\/Alamy<\/p>\n

An archdiocesan official who fielded that complaint jotted down a note in internal church records which said the woman seemed more focused on Odiong\u2019s alleged \u201cembezzlement\u201d than on the purported sexual abuse. That, the official opined, was \u201ctelling\u201d.<\/p>\n

A sexual misconduct complaint from who by then was a fifth accuser yielded no substantial consequence for Odiong.<\/p>\n

He finally drew harsher consternation on 6 September 2019. It was in the form of a letter from the Austin diocese after Odiong celebrated a mass at a festival in West and led the recitation of a rosary prayer at a funeral. Odiong did that despite V\u00e1squez having said he wanted the priest to refrain from ministering within the Austin diocese a year earlier.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am confused that you would have so quickly disregarded \u2026 Bishop V\u00e1squez\u2019s wishes,\u201d James Misko, who had also been an Austin vicar general, wrote.<\/p>\n

Misko \u2013 now the bishop of Tucson, Arizona \u2013 moreover wrote that Odiong had even been reminded of what the bishop wanted when he called the diocese in advance of the trip and said he had been invited to West.<\/p>\n

And Misko warned Odiong that \u201crefusing to respect the letter or intention of Bishop V\u00e1squez\u2019s request may compel us to advise others of your restrictions, making this situation more public than you may wish\u201d.<\/p>\n

Carbon-copied on that rebuke were Aymond, V\u00e1squez and Walker.<\/p>\n

Odiong wrote back later that same month with profuse apologies. He said he did \u201cnot fully grasp the depth\u201d of the clerical \u201crestrictions \u2026 imposed on me by Bishop V\u00e1squez\u201d in and around West and Waco, claiming that the details of those limitations had only been communicated to him secondhand.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did not intentionally disregard Bishop V\u00e1squez\u2019s intention,\u201d Odiong wrote. \u201cTruth is, I did not understand the full implications \u2026 until reading your letter. And since I have a better understanding of the situation, we will have no problems going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Odiong would travel from Luling to the Waco-West area at least once more after that, though the purpose of that trip was described as a \u201cweekend visiting friends,\u201d according to correspondence reviewed by the Guardian.<\/p>\n

At any rate, Aymond wrote to Odiong at the beginning of May 2021 to notify him that he was welcome to remain at St Anthony until at least 2027.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you for your willingness to continue as pastor,\u201d Aymond wrote to Odiong.<\/p>\n

A September 2021 letter attributed to Ayah and addressed to Aymond then said the Uyo bishop approved of keeping Odiong in the New Orleans archdiocese.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you for your fatherly care of him and for all the help you have extended to him so far,\u201d that letter to Aymond said.<\/p>\n

\u2018Concealment over disclosure\u2019<\/p>\n

Odiong\u2019s path to prison started in earnest when he likened<\/a> members of the LGBTQ+ community to \u201cmonkeys and chimpanzees\u201d while delivering a homily to St Anthony congregants at a Sunday mass in November 2023.<\/p>\n

The New Orleans archdiocese soon announced<\/a> that it was suspending Odiong from ministering in the region encompassing St Anthony primarily over complaints of misconduct with multiple women, adding that the inflammatory, anti-LGBTQ+ comments did not help his cause.<\/p>\n

The archdiocese said it had asked the bishop of Uyo to recall Odiong back to Nigeria. It omitted mentioning that more than five years had passed since the New Orleans archdiocese first received written notice about those misconduct complaints.<\/p>\n

Hadassah Doe at that point publicly spoke<\/a> to the Guardian and its reporting partner WWL Louisiana about her experience with Odiong.<\/p>\n

Miriam Doe and a previously unknown accuser eventually referred to in court as Jane Doe then spoke<\/a> to the Guardian for a February 2024 article to vouch for the credibility of Hadassah Doe\u2019s account. In her case in particular, Jane Doe said Odiong convinced her to submit to a form of intercourse with another man to which she did not legally consent.<\/p>\n

Odiong did that after positioning himself as Jane Doe\u2019s spiritual counselor at St Peter in Waco, she recounted. And Texas considers that behavior from a religious cleric to be felony sexual assault.<\/p>\n

Notably, Jane Doe at the time also revealed that Austin diocesan officials had just informed her that they had banned Odiong no later than 2019 from ministering in the Waco area over similar misconduct allegations. Those officials told Jane Doe that they alerted their New Orleans counterparts to that prohibition, too, albeit privately.<\/p>\n

The woman whose son had seen her having sex with Odiong in 2011 then saw Jane Doe\u2019s and Miriam Doe\u2019s stories in the Guardian. Later given the pseudonym Mary Doe, she filed a sexual assault complaint against Odiong with Waco authorities in March 2024.<\/p>\n

Investigators who went on to pore over years\u2019 of Odiong\u2019s digital communications secured cooperation from several additional accusers of his. Those included some from Odiong\u2019s Texas days who had come forward to the church \u2013 and some from his time in Luling who until then had remained silent.<\/p>\n

DNA evidence gathered by Waco authorities also established that Odiong had fathered a child in the spring of 2023 with a congregant to whom he provided religious counseling after meeting her in Luling.<\/p>\n

Those authorities arrested and charged Odiong with first- and second-degree sexual assault within months of his suspension of ministry.<\/p>\n

At one point they accused him of possessing digital images of disrobed children, but authorities never pursued formal charges for that allegation.<\/p>\n

Black tape covers Anthony Odiong\u2019s name on a prayer inscription outside a chapel he helped build in Luling, Louisiana, in his role as a Roman Catholic priest. Photograph: Ramon Antonio Vargas<\/p>\n

Prosecutors tried Odiong over four days at a state courthouse in downtown Waco beginning on 26 May.<\/p>\n

After brief deliberations, jurors found him guilty of having sexually assaulted Mary Doe and Jane Doe \u2013 and then sentenced him to life imprisonment, though with a chance at parole after 30 years.<\/p>\n

Odiong became the fifth New Orleans archdiocese clergyman to be convicted of or plead guilty to sexually violent crimes after the organization\u2019s bankruptcy filing. His attorneys quickly indicated that he planned to pursue an appeal.<\/p>\n

The 76-year-old Aymond\u2019s age-mandated retirement as New Orleans\u2019 archbishop took effect on 11 February, two months after his former archdiocese and its insurers in December agreed to pay $305m to hundreds of abuse survivors.<\/p>\n

That agreement aimed to settle a bankruptcy protection case that the archdiocese filed amid the financial fallout of the worldwide Catholic church\u2019s clergy abuse scandal, though individual survivor payouts might not start for months more.<\/p>\n

The New Orleans archdiocese, now led by Aymond\u2019s successor, James Checchio, said in a post-verdict statement: \u201cWhat Odiong is convicted of is reprehensible, and we are disgusted by the behavior revealed in trial.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Austin, Bishop Garcia published a pastoral letter after Odiong\u2019s sentencing seeking to assure parishioners that \u2013 among other things \u2013 prior information known to his diocese \u201cdid not indicate the level of criminality and egregious nature of the details revealed in court\u201d.<\/p>\n

Garcia acknowledged Odiong had not yet been ousted from the Catholic priesthood \u2013 but promised to \u201cmake the proper inquiries\u201d about that process with the criminal case concluded.<\/p>\n

He also said parishioners could rest easy knowing any sacraments they received from Odiong were valid regardless of his criminal conviction.<\/p>\n

An Austin diocese spokesperson later said diocesan officials had invited victims to speak with church leaders \u201cin a private setting through appropriate channels, including counsel\u201d. The spokesperson also said the diocese has \u201cdeep sorrow that harm was caused to [victims] by Fr Odiong\u201d.<\/p>\n

Neither Jane Doe nor Mary Doe were impressed with the statements from the Austin diocese and Garcia.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not asking [Garcia] to feel what I feel,\u201d Jane Doe said in part in a lengthy statement. \u201cI am asking him to say plainly what is true: that the diocese received credible reports, that it chose concealment over disclosure, that this choice left women unprotected and uninformed for years, and that no appeal to canonical process or jurisdictional complexity changes what that decision cost us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jane Doe\u2019s statement also bluntly asked: \u201cWho in the diocese\u2019s leadership is going to be held accountable for that, and when?\u201d<\/p>\n

As for Mary Doe, she said Odiong\u2019s survivors deserved more than \u201cblase vanilla statements\u201d like the one from Garcia that stopped short of an actual apology to them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis \u2018form letter\u2019 minimizes the diocese of Austin\u2019s role and continues the harm by placing a \u2026 vast distance between the church and those it failed \u2013 repeatedly and continually \u2013 to protect,\u201d Mary Doe said in a statement. \u201cCan the church choose courage, caution and compassion over image?\u201d<\/p>\n

Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organizations. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org\/rcip\/internl.html<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Internal Catholic church files obtained by the Guardian reveal that clergy leaders wanted to quadruple what was supposed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":336832,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-336831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/336832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}