State records show that a suspended Alabama priest recently married the 18-year-old woman he fled to Italy with this summer, and an archbishop said Wednesday that he expects the Vatican to pursue the man’s official dismissal from the priesthood.

A marriage certificate filed Monday in Mobile County shows that Alex Crow, a 30-year-old Catholic priest in south Alabama, married the 18-year-old. Crow left the country in late July with the teen who is a recent graduate of McGill-Toolen High School. Crow was not an employee at the school but sometimes visited theology classes there, news outlets reported. The marriage certificate indicates the woman turned 18 in June.

Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi announced in July that he had suspended Crow and forbidden him from acting, dressing, or presenting himself as a priest. Rodi later said he saw no way for Crow to return to the priesthood.

  • mosiacmango@lemm.ee
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    7 months ago

    She turned 18 in June, and they left to Italy together in July.

    You think he met her the same month she turned 18 and then they fell madly in love and fled the country a month later?

    Or is it more likely he had been manipulating and grooming a child at the school he used to visit as a priest?

    • Cruxifux@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Yes but I don’t think that’s why the church is removing his priesthood. I don’t think they’re allowed to get married.