An archbishop said the Vatican will likely pursue the man’s official dismissal from the priesthood.
State records show that a suspended Alabama priest recently married the 18-year-old woman he fled to Italy with this summer, and an archbishop said Wednesday that he expects the Vatican to pursue the man’s official dismissal from the priesthood.
A marriage certificate filed Monday in Mobile County shows that Alex Crow, a 30-year-old Catholic priest in south Alabama, married the 18-year-old. Crow left the country in late July with the teen who is a recent graduate of McGill-Toolen High School. Crow was not an employee at the school but sometimes visited theology classes there, news outlets reported. The marriage certificate indicates the woman turned 18 in June.
Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi announced in July that he had suspended Crow and forbidden him from acting, dressing, or presenting himself as a priest. Rodi later said he saw no way for Crow to return to the priesthood.
And yet I think it's more the 'marriage' part the Church cares more about. They DGAF about priests raping altar boys but as soon as one gets married that's when the real punishments kick in.
The article doesn't say anything about that. It says there was an investigation that was later closed with no findings of wrong doing.
And yes it's borderline that he waited til she was 18, but he DID wait til she was 18. Isn't that the entire point?
And she is 18 and has the right to make her own choices/mistakes now. Are you going to tell someone who is an adult in the eyes of the law that they can't choose whom to marry, or that the decision to marry is somehow morally wrong? Because that's exactly the implication that the church is trying to push here.