Anthony Odiong is serving life in prison after a Texas jury convicted him of sexually assaulting two women he encountered through his priestly roles. But his path to a cell was paved not by swift church action, but by years of institutional silence even as senior Catholic leaders received complaint after complaint about his predatory behavior.
In early June, Odiong was sentenced following his May conviction in Waco. Yet the machinery that might have stopped him much sooner was already in place long before: church officials in Austin knew of the first complaint against him in 2011, filed with them a full dozen years before he fathered a child with one of the women under his spiritual authority, a violation of his celibacy vow. That initial complaint did not reach the New Orleans archdiocese, where Odiong later transferred, until 2018. Three more complaints followed that notification.
By then Odiong was already serving as pastor at St. Anthony of Padua in Luling, Louisiana, a position that was supposed to expire after three years. Church leadership instead extended his tenure through 2021, then again granted him permission to remain until at least 2027. The archbishop who authorized that second extension, Gregory Aymond, even commended Odiong in writing for his "fidelity and dedication," oblivious to or unconcerned with the fifth complaint lodged that same year.
The pressure that finally exposed Odiong came not from church discipline but from his own mouth. In November 2023, he compared LGBTQ+ people to "monkeys and chimpanzees" during a sermon at his Louisiana parish. Days later, the New Orleans archdiocese suspended him, citing both the inflammatory remarks and the misconduct allegations it had harbored for years. One of his accusers then spoke publicly, triggering a cascade of revelations.
A woman identifying herself to investigators as Jane Doe came forward to describe how Odiong, positioning himself as her spiritual guide in Waco, pressured her into sexual contact she did not consent to. Another accuser, Mary Doe, reported that her son witnessed her having relations with Odiong back in 2011. The boy had initially recanted his account out of fear his mother would lose her job at Baylor University, where Odiong worked in campus ministry. At trial, the truth emerged. Texas law treats such encounters as assault when a cleric exploits spiritual authority, which Odiong's actions clearly did.
High-ranking church figures were aware of the danger Odiong posed long before his conviction. Joe Vasquez, then bishop of Austin and now archbishop of Houston, formally told Aymond in 2018 that he felt "compelled" to request Odiong refrain from ministry in his diocese. That letter was copied to multiple officials, including Daniel Garcia, Vasquez's successor; Michael Sis, a bishop now in San Angelo; and James Misko, now bishop of Tucson. Misko himself sent Odiong a written warning in 2019 after the priest showed up in Waco to celebrate mass and lead a rosary, defying the restriction. That warning threatened to make Odiong's restrictions public if he refused to comply. He apologized, and the matter stayed buried.
Church response to Odiong's conviction has amounted to damage control dressed as accountability. The New Orleans archdiocese released a statement expressing disgust at his behavior and saying the diocese would have taken "different actions" had it known the full extent of his crimes. Aymond, now retired, did not personally address the scandal. Austin's Garcia insisted his diocese had no information suggesting "the level of criminality and egregious nature" revealed at trial, a claim that stretches credibility given the paper trail.
The archdiocese and its insurers agreed to pay $305 million to resolve bankruptcy proceedings stemming from the global clergy abuse crisis, but the survivors of Odiong's abuse expressed little confidence in institutional reform. His victims waited years for the church to act on information it held from the start.
Author James Rodriguez: "The church didn't stop Odiong because an LGBTQ slur finally embarrassed the institution, not because five documented complaints about sexual abuse ever mattered to the hierarchy that saw fit to extend his contract twice."
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