Louisiana church remembers abuse victims after reversal over prayers for convicted priest

St Anthony of Padua asks for prayers for survivors after removing Anthony Odiong’s name from list of intentions

A Louisiana Catholic church that solicited prayers for a former pastor recently sentenced to life imprisonment for criminal clerical sexual assault, then backed off having offended his victims, is asking its community to pray for survivors of clergy abuse.

The shift took place in an updated 7 June parochial bulletin published by St Anthony of Padua church in the New Orleans suburb of Luling, Louisiana , where priest Anthony Odiong was pastor from 2015 to late 2023.

A state criminal court jury in Waco, Texas, where Odiong previously ministered, convicted him on 29 May of first- and second-degree sexual assault. Those jurors sentenced him to life in prison on 2 June, having determined that he illegally exploited his spiritual authority as a clergyman to pursue a years-long sexual relationship with a congregant identified in court proceeding as Mary Doe – and that he separately compelled a victim given the pseudonym Jane Doe to yield to intercourse with another man to which she did not consent.

The charges brought against Odiong by lifelong Catholics received corroboration from numerous other devout women who reported similar experiences after meeting Odiong in his role as a priest, including at St Anthony of Padua, where he worked after his time in Waco but prior to his prosecution.

An initial version of a St Anthony bulletin for the week ending 7 June conspicuously included him by name in a list of intentions – which essentially dedicate prayers for certain people or causes – for upcoming masses. A spokesperson for the local archdiocese then provided a statement saying a parishioner requested Odiong’s inclusion because Catholics are called upon to pray for “those who have turned away from God to turn back towards His mercy”.

But, when asked about the intention for Odiong, Mary and Jane Doe observed there was no corresponding one for his victims’ healing. Jane Doe provided a statement saying the intention made clear to her that “a lot of people have yet to reckon with [the] fact” that Odiong had unduly “used the love and trust of communities”.

Mary Doe said praying for “Odiong’s soul” was a right and just purpose – but that so was doing the same for his victims.

St Anthony removed the first iteration of the bulletin from its website after the Guardian asked the local archdiocese about it. It subsequently published a bulletin without Odiong mentioned, with “Special Intention & Victims of Clergy Abuse” in the spot where his name previously was.

A statement from New Orleans’s archdiocese said in part that its archbishop since February, James Checchio, had “instructed” St Anthony’s incumbent pastor to include “all who were hurt by Odiong’s actions” in the church’s prayers. The statement also said: “What Odiong is convicted of is reprehensible, and we are disgusted by the behavior revealed in trial.”

Meanwhile, a statement from the Austin bishop Daniel Garcia – whose diocese includes Waco – said his prayers “focus on the victims, their families, law enforcement, investigators and the community” affected by Odiong’s legally adjudicated behavior.

“I pray that this process has brought them some peace,” Garcia’s statement said in part. “The longer process of healing continues.”

Mary Doe initiated the criminal case against Odiong after seeing an investigative report from the Guardian in February 2024 about a group of other women – including Jane Doe – who had accused Odiong of sexual coercion, unwanted touching and abusive financial control after meeting him in his role as a priest.

Texas considers such conduct by a religious cleric to be felony sexual assault, prompting Mary Doe to report Odiong to the authorities who convicted him.