After the Catholic Diocese of Dallas released the names of 31 clergy members deemed “credibly accused” of sexually abusing kids since 1950, Danny Blonien went to church.

Blonien, 57, has been a parishioner of St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in East Dallas for 27 years. He’s a member of the church’s choir.

In the 1990’s, he and his wife had counseling sessions with Jeremy Myers, one of the accused priests on the list released Thursday.

Blonien said late Thursday that the news stunned him. The Myers he knew on a first-name basis was warm and engaging and could connect biblical Scripture to contemporary times with ease. He never suspected that Myers, who the diocese said was “suspended” from service in 2018, could be accused of sexual abuse.

“It’s kind of a shock. It’s visceral,” Blonien said. “That’s not consistent with the man that I knew, but you know, people shock you all the time. You think you know them.”

Myers, who couldn’t be reached for comment Friday, was one of four accused clergy members who, at some point since 1950, had been assigned to St. Thomas Aquinas.

The church was among many in the Dallas Diocese that had multiple brushes with priests on the list. At Masses the night of and the day after the diocese’s  announcement, parishioners — who have stuck with the Catholic Church through its sex-abuse scandals — grappled with reopened wounds and fresh pain.

Some who spoke to The Dallas Morning News hoped the release of the list would bring closure. Some were shaken. Some turned to the tenets of their faith for comfort.

And some, such as Mikel Salinas, 72, a Dallas resident who attends St. Jude Chapel downtown, believe the “devil jumped into the Catholic Church.”

“I believe in zero tolerance — if you cross a line you have to go,” Salinas said. “This is a test for the Catholic Church to catch the bad apples.”

Fellow parishioner Robert Wood, 52, was more forgiving, saying he keeps “coming back because the church is a place of peace and forgiveness and love and mercy, and we all need those things. We're in a world of conflict and anger and tension.”

But Blonien said hearing the names associated with his own parish hit home for him. He hopes the priests who are still living will seek God’s forgiveness.

“It’s a little bewildering, what they’ve been accused of,” he said. “I’m glad they’re no longer in service and around people they can victimize.”

Coming to terms

All 15 Texas dioceses have released lists of “credibly accused” clergy members after months of combing through files. Nearly 300 people made the list. Dallas Bishop Edward J. Burns said the dioceses released the names to help the church deal with the past and move forward. He acknowledged that parishioners have been hurt and would be hurt by the names.

But victims advocates questioned Thursday whether the lists were complete and credible, pointing to the church’s history of covering up for priests. The list, they noted, didn't give the times, places and nature of the allegations.

Southern Methodist University, where two clergy members were once chaplains in the campus's Catholic ministry, said in a statement that it hadn't been aware of the allegations until the list became public. One of the accused priests, Michael Barone, worked in the campus ministry in 1995. The university was "saddened and distressed" by the allegations, according to the statement, and requested more information from the diocese. 

SMU stressed that the ministry is separate from the university and that the priests didn't work directly for the school.

Two other priests — Jose Saldana and Alejandro “Alex” Buitrago — disputed their inclusion on the lists. Saldana made his denial to The News, and Buitrago, who was removed from the priesthood in 2018, made his denial to WFAA-TV (Channel 8).

Law enforcement could become more involved in the cases. In Dallas, the Police Department has a detective assigned to Catholic sex abuse cases. And on Friday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton offered “whatever assistance local investigators and prosecutors may need in accordance with state law.”

“I am committed to helping provide safe communities for Texas children and communities of faith alike,” Paxton said in a letter to district and county attorneys. “Protecting the most vulnerable among us, especially our children, is our top priority. No one should live in fear of abuse, especially when they believe they are in the hands of their church family.”

Oak Cliff

Dallas police have already issued an arrest warrant for one priest: Edmundo Paredes.

In August, Burns told parishioners at St. Cecilia Catholic Church in Oak Cliff that three men had accused Paredes of molesting them when they were teenagers. Paredes is also accused of stealing from the parish.

St. Cecilia's school had held a retirement ceremony in June 2017 honoring "Father Ed" for his 27 years of service. Now, Catholic officials and law enforcement can’t find him and believe he fled to his native Philippines.

In addition to Paredes, three other priests previously assigned to the church appeared on the list.

Friday’s morning Mass at St. Cecilia Catholic Church in Oak Cliff was mostly made up of children — some from the St. Cecilia school and some visiting from Bishop Dunne Catholic School, also in Oak Cliff.

The Rev. Daniel Rendon, vicar for the parish, didn't directly address the list. But before the congregants took communion, he prayed for the diocese "during this time of purification."

"Lord, make us clean so that we may serve you and our neighbor better," Rendon prayed.

Larry Carnes, 71, who attended Friday's Mass and has gone to St. Cecilia for about three years, said the list released Thursday was a "real eye-opener" for churchgoers.

“But if your faith is strong and really focused on your relationship with God, you get through these things,” he said.

Carnes said that people need to be able to trust their spiritual leaders but that he believed the diocese had already taken positive steps.

"Sometimes we don't understand why things happen the way they do, but we need to keep our faith and be accountable and vigilant and help make sure it's a safe and better place," he said.

Carnes said the new priests can help St. Cecilia get back “on the right track.”

Carnes' wife, Carla Carnes, 66, was surprised when she saw the list, but glad it was shorter than she expected.

"It helps me to feel like the hierarchy of the church is trying to be a little more transparent and accountable," she said.

At Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Duncanville, the news was also fresh. One of the accused priests, Buitrago, had performed confessions at the church as recently as the fall, according to a bulletin.

Friday morning, Father Eugene Okoli briefly discussed the list with the congregation, but he said he was still processing the information.

He vowed the church would be stronger going forward.

“All I’m asking for is healing,” he told the worshippers. “We as human beings ... must make sure that something like that never happens again in our church, in our midst.”

Leo Wrobel, who has attended Holy Spirit for 30 years, was confident that releasing the list was a step in the right direction.

“They are doing the right thing,” Wrobel said. “They’re being transparent and moving on from this so they can get on with doing God’s work.”

Ennis

In Ennis, David and Karen Hales walked out of St. John Nepomucene Catholic Church after the 6:30 a.m. Mass in a thick fog.

David Hales called it “a sad day for the church” and said he would pray for healing.

Karen Hales said the list didn't come as a complete surprise because some of the names had been made public before. She said “there is an evil in our society,” but not just in the church.

Tony Roybal, who attended the same Mass, said he was glad the names were out. But the scandal doesn’t affect how he sees the church, he said.

“It’s not the church’s fault,” Roybal said. “There’s a devil out there, and the devil will tempt anybody. That just goes to show you, if he can tempt a priest like that, just think how he can get the rest of us.”

Later Friday, following the noon Mass, Annette Woodard walked past reporters and declined to speak. Then she hesitated and returned.

Woodard, her voice shaking, said she had had to bury a 17-year old son and had also lost a brother and father. She’d had marital problems.

“And I would not have been able to get through that without the faith that the priests and nuns I knew helped to give me,” she said. “I don’t want the world to think the Catholic Church is a terrible place; that every priest who’s there is a pedophile, because they are not. And I think a lot of them do a lot to help the rest of us.”

Marian Zhanel, 85, was one of the last parishioners to emerge from the noon Mass. She clutched music sheets to her chest.

Zhanel has sung in the church’s choir since she was a little girl and attended its now-closed school. She has two sisters who are nuns. She said she knew all four priests who were accused, but none of them well. Parishioners would do anything to help out priests if they came to them, she said, and “it was such a shock” to see the names.

“It’s hard to understand that something would happen like that,” Zhanel said. “Because in our day and time, when I was in school, you would never think of anything like that.”

Zhanel recalled that the notorious Rudy Kos — who was on the list and is already serving a life sentence — once attended one of her choir parties. She called him “kind of distant.”

“He always gave a great sermon,” she said.

All she remembers about another priest on the list, Raymond "John" Scott, she said, was that he was “great with the Boy Scouts.”

Asked if she supported the release of the names, Zhanel paused, then said it was difficult to answer.

“The only thing I can say is you have to pray and let God guide those who are doing the work," she said, "to do what they are supposed to do, and do the right thing.” 

Irving

Kos also worked at St. Luke Catholic Church in Irving, which was home at some point to four other priests on the list.

Christopher Wolfe, a professor of politics at the University of Dallas, said after Mass on Friday that the church is “a divine institution, but it’s also a human one.”

"Our job is simply to be good Christians, to pray for our priests and bishops and try to move the church forward,” he said.

Trudy Smith has attended St. Luke since 1962. She remembered Kos and said she was "very surprised and very saddened" when reports against him surfaced, because she had thought she knew him.

"I have no good words for evil deeds,” she said. “Only thing I can say is, pray. Pray that this doesn't happen any more. I'm glad it's come out because it has to be faced."