Catholic priest said ‘we are but men’ when challenged over sex with spiritual directee, court hears | Texas

A Roman Catholic priest responded “we’re just men” when confronted by the son of a woman to whom he was providing spiritual guidance who caught the cleric having sex with his mother, according to court testimony Wednesday in Texas.

This version of events emerged on the second day of the trial of Anthony Odiong, who is accused of illegally abusing his clergy status to have sex with spiritually vulnerable female parishioners.

The son of one of those women, now 29, told jurors at the state courthouse in Waco, Texas, that he was around 14 in 2011 when his devout Catholic mother — fresh from a tumultuous divorce — hosted a party at the home she shared with her seven children. Among the guests was Odiong, a priest at a Catholic church attended by students and staff of Baylor University in Waco, where his son’s mother works.

Following his divorce, Odiong frequently met with the mother in sessions at her office and even at her home, ostensibly to give her spiritual direction, according to her son and a separate testimony given Wednesday by one of his younger sisters.

But on the night of the party, he said, the woman was locked in the bedroom with him, and even Odiong’s son, who was an altar maid, suddenly heard voices from behind the door. He burst in, saw a bottomless Odiong lying on the floor above her mother, and concluded that they were having sex.

His son said he ran to the home of his neighbor, Todd Still, dean of Baylor’s seminary, and in a panic described what he saw. Burt Burleson, Baylor’s longtime university chaplain and dean of spiritual life, later learned of the situation from Still and testified Wednesday that he referred the “highly inappropriate” matter to a superior of Odiong at the Catholic diocese of Austin.

Burleson said he, too, confronted Odiong and was surprised by the priest’s indifferent response.

“We’re just men,” Burleson recalled Odiong saying.

The son later talked to a diocesan official about the whole thing; with Odiong as the priest supposedly took his confession. But the son said he didn’t want to get anyone in trouble, especially his mother, who could be expelled from Baylor if she was found to have behaved in a manner inconsistent with Christian values.

He said he told the diocesan official that what he saw with his mother and Odiong might be unclear. He also acknowledged in court that an ongoing struggle with substance abuse had already begun that night, when he drank well under the legal age.

Odiong’s career continued largely unimpeded; He then spent time studying in Rome, eventually transferring to a church in the New Orleans suburb of Luling, Louisiana, until late 2023. Her mother eventually saw a Guardian story, published after Odiong’s time in Luling ended, about other women, including in Texas, accusing her of sexual coercion, unwanted touching and abusive financial control as a priest.

The story described how a Texas state law considered it assault when clergy exploited parishioners’ emotional dependence on them to have sexual intercourse with them. The woman went to Waco police to report what she said Odiong did to her. This triggered an investigation that resulted in the identification of two more women who Odiong allegedly used to use his religious status to attack, leading to criminal charges against him and a lawsuit being filed in Waco.

One of the two women interviewed by the Guardian in its Odiong story gave evidence on Wednesday afternoon. She described how she was in the throes of an abusive, failed marriage with the Baylor trainer when Odiong began to spiritually guide her through her marital problems.

At one point in this direction, she testified that Odiong persuaded her to subject herself – for the sake of her marriage – to a form of intercourse with her husband that was painfully uncomfortable for her; prosecutors described it as an attack by the cleric. Odiong had him recount the encounter and said the pain it caused was “good for his modesty.”

She said Odiong also kissed her once against her will. She also said that he told her that her marriage was not “right” and suggested that she have a “spiritual” marriage with him instead.

He said he eventually left that marriage after another priest, who had provided him with spiritual guidance, asked him to consider doing so for his physical safety. She said Odiong scolded her when she told him she wanted a divorce.

He said he did not talk about Odiong whenever he wanted because he thought she had genuine but inappropriate feelings for him.

“I am deeply ashamed of the many ways I allowed myself to be treated,” that woman testified. “I…completely missed it,” he added, assessing his character.

Odiong, 57, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to five counts of first-degree and two counts of second-degree sexual assault. He could face life in prison if convicted of any of the first-degree charges.

Waco prosecutors Ryan Calvert and Liz Buice were able to file charges against Odiong regardless of how long ago the alleged crimes may have occurred because investigators identified as many as 10 women the priest was suspected of sexually abusing.

In his opening statement, Buice stated that he and Calvert plan to call at least some of these women as witnesses even if not all of their cases result in formal charges against Odiong.

Waco police detective Zach Koenig testified Wednesday about an interview with a woman whose case did not warrant charges. The woman from Pennsylvania also spoke to the Guardian, Koenig said, and aspects of her account echoed some of the testimony heard earlier in the day.

Prosecutors say all the women’s stories established Odiong’s pattern of stalking female parishioners. And they had previously stated that despite promises from Catholic priests to abstain from sexual intercourse, there was evidence that Odiong fathered a child with one of the women, which did not lead to formal charges against him.

The Guardian does not generally identify people who claim to be victims of sexual assault, so it does not name the women or those close to them.

As Odiong’s lawyers, Gerald Villarrial and Carolina Truesdale, cross-examined witnesses on Wednesday, their mother sought to question the reliability of the memories of witnesses who reported their client to police. They found that Odiong was not the only priest known to have gone to that woman’s home and questioned whether the cleric could, in a sense, engage in certain acts while off duty because of his religious duty.

They issued statements showing that according to the laws of the Catholic church, sexuality for priests may be considered a sin, but not a crime. And Villarial suggested he found it unfair for a woman to accuse Odiong of sexual assault, which she said was actually carried out by her husband at the time.

Calvert, meanwhile, obtained witness testimony from University of Notre Dame canon law attorney John Paul Kimes that Roman Catholic priests like him and Odiong were never off the clock. Kimes also stated that priests have spiritual authority over congregations and should be careful not to abuse it.

“We never stop being on duty,” said Kimes, whose credentials include prosecuting more than 1,100 Catholic clergy sexual abusers under canon law on behalf of the Vatican agency that handles such cases.

Odiong’s trial could last at least until Monday.