Catholic Priest, 45, "Had Sex with Boy, 12, and Gave Him Alcohol"

Daily Mail
August 14, 2012

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2188164/Catholic-priest-45-sex-boy-12-gave-alcohol.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

A Catholic priest has been arrested on child sex abuse charges.

The Rev Angel Armando Perez, 46, the parish priest at St Luke Catholic Church in Woodburn, Oregon, was arrested on Monday after police responded to a complaint about inappropriate contact with a 12-year-old boy.

Perez faces accusations of sexual abuse, use of a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct and furnishing alcohol to a minor.

Accused: The Rev Angel Armando Perez, 46, of St Luke Catholic Church was arrested for the sexual abuse of a 12-year-old boy

Worship: Rev Perez, 46, had been a parish priest at St Luke Catholic Church in Woodburn, since 2008 and was said to be popular with the congregation

Mexico-born Perez has been pastor of St Luke Parish since 2008.

The details of the allegations and investigation were not immediately disclosed.

Perez was said to be a popular priest that everyone flocked to.

Bud Bunce, a spokesman for the archdiocese, told The Oregonian: 'Any time allegations like this are made, it's a tragedy for everyone involved, potential victims, priests, for everyone.'

Monsignor Gregory Moys, a pastor at St Paul Roman Catholic Church in St Paul who Perez was an assistant for said of the allegations: 'What he's being accused of is unsettling, that's for sure. But we all have weak links in our human nature.'

In a 2002 profile of Perez in The Oregonian, Perez recounted a sermon in Corvallis in which he told his parishioners: 'I said to to them, my faith is very strong, that even though we have these problems in the church right now, these sex scandals, I really believe the Holy Spirit sustains us.'