DETROIT (MI)
Detroit Free Press
January 6, 2005, 6:28 AM
DETROIT (AP) -- The trial of a visiting Mexican priest charged with sexually abusing a 7-year-old boy has begun.
Just before opening arguments in his trial Wednesday, the Rev. Luis Javier de Alba Campos led a prayer service in front of jurors who were mingling in the hallway outside the courtroom.
Dozens of his former parishioners from St. Gabriel Catholic Church in Detroit joined hands as the priest led them in prayers in Spanish, the Detroit Free Press reported in a Thursday story.
The priest called down a blessing from Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Catholic Church's patron saint of Mexico. Then the circle broke up and, as jurors filed past him into the courtroom, the priest smiled broadly and said to one of his supporters, "Muy bien," which means, "Very good."
Posted by kshaw at January 6, 2005 07:03 AM