OKLAHOMA
News OK
by Carla Hinton Published: April 25, 2016
A victims’ group is dissatisfied with a Roman Catholic leader’s rationale for employing a priest who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor to serve at Oklahoma parishes.
The Most Rev. Paul S. Coakley, archbishop of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, said his staff conducted a full investigation of the Rev. Jose Alexis Davila before he was appointed to serve as an associate pastor of Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Lawton in 2015.
Davila was then moved to Elgin in March as administrator when one of the archdiocese’s international priests returned home, Diane Clay, archdiocesan spokeswoman, said Monday. She said he continued helping at Blessed Sacrament and Coakley recently appointed him to serve as the church’s pastor, effective in June.
Clay said before coming to Oklahoma, Davila pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge in 2011 in San Diego and was sentenced to three years probation and community service, which he completed.
In a recent statement released to the media, Coakley said his staff’s investigation included a background check and lengthy interviews of leaders from Davila’s former employers in the dioceses where he served.
“While Father Davila’s actions with an adult parishioner five years ago occurred in the presence of others at his office in California, he understands that those actions were perceived as inappropriate. He accepted the consequences of his lapse in judgment,” Coakley said in his statement.
However, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), a support group for clergy abuse victims, said Coakley’s remarks about Davila are “misleading.”
David Clohessy, St. Louis director of SNAP, said Monday Coakley’s statement included several “deceptive” points. Clohessy said his group takes exception to Coakley describing the San Diego incident regarding Davila and a 19-year-old female parishioner as a “lapse in judgment” and “perceived as inappropriate.” The group claims the incident was “criminal and hurtful.”
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