He Wants to Spend More Time With His Family ...

Dallas' cathedral's pastor has gone and no one's talking. In the diocese of Dallas that usually means only one thing. The law's on the way and the bishop's employing duck and cover tactics.

The pastor of Dallas' Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe suddenly left his high-profile post this week, stunning staff members and leaving fellow clergymen in the dark.

Catholic Bishop Charles Grahmann has tightly guarded news about the Rev. Ramon Alvarez's departure, which the priest disclosed to some co-workers Monday. By late this week, many other local clerics didn't know that it had happened, much less why.

Father Alvarez – who is a potential witness in two upcoming child-sex cases and has previously admitted misconduct with an adult – drove away from his mother's home without commenting Friday when reporters asked to speak with him.

Bronson Havard, the bishop's spokesman, wouldn't answer when a reporter asked whether the priest was in trouble. He later released a statement saying that the departure was "not related in any way to inappropriate conduct with a minor."

Full story at Dallas Morning News
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Of course, it is my cynical and suspicious mind that recalls Fr. Alvarez admitting to inappropriate sexual contact with a fully grown man who was not a minor.

I hope this all turns out to be a tempest in a teapot. If so the diocese is choosing an awfully strange way of putting rumors to rest ...