Has a Tico Pedophile Priest in the US Returned To Costa Rica?

By Carol Vaughn
Costa Rico Star
May 10, 2019

https://news.co.cr/has-a-tico-pedophile-priest-in-the-us-father-alejandro-alex-castillo-returned-to-costa-rica/79615/

Alejandro “Alex” Castillo is on the lamb from the US after being accused of sexual misconduct with minors – something for which he already served one year in prison in 2012 – yet the church welcomed him back, even promoting him to Diocese’s Director of Department of Faith Formation and Evangelization for Oakland, California. He has now been placed on administrative leave while he skips around, one step ahead of the police. Lawyers in the US are preparing a strong case against Castillo on behalf of three of the boys Castillo allegedly abused. First they have to find him.

The Catholic Church has a relentless problem with child abuse, according to Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP). Pope Francis, leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics attended a conference on sexual abuse in February, and called for “an all-out battle against a crime that should be erased from the face of the earth.”

Father Castillo personifies the problem of sexual misconduct, and how it is dealt with by the Catholic Church. He had a 20-year history of known and unreported predatory behavior. In the US he was intentionally placed in poor, Spanish speaking communities where children are less likely to report abuse. The recent lawsuit against him states, “Castilllo used his position as a priest to have unlimited access to the children. San Bernadino Church officials have known for years about Castillo’s predatory behavior, yet let him work in a parish with a school.”

Castillo, 65 years old, began his career in San Jose, working at a software development company, before hearing “the call”, and joining the seminary. He came to the US in 2008, and completed his theological studies at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park. He was ordained in 2010. He is completely bilingual, and that skill enabled him to organize missionaries in both Costa Rica and USA. Bishop Barber called Castillo “inspiring”. He said “Father Castillo’s deep commitment to our faith and to the people of God in our diocese is inspiring. I know he will lead our work in faith formation and evangelization with integrity and fidelity.” Unfortunately, that seems to not be the case at all.

After placing Castillo on administrative leave, church officials apparently lost track of him, but know he left the country in late February. They surmise he came back to Costa Rica, where he still has family and friends. He has not been charged yet, but is not allowed to function publicly as a priest during the investigation.
News of Castillo’s disappearance comes on the heels of a brand new release of four dozen names of clergy accused of sex abuse, spanning decades in the Oakland Catholic Diocese. Diocese officials did not provide any other details, claiming “it is not normative for such a process”. This attitude is what allows abusive priests to be moved around from one community to another, continuing their sexual misconduct and scarring the youth of the diocese.

If Castillo has returned to Costa Rica, he joins a small group of ex priests living here, several continuing to say Mass and function as priests, preaching under the radar in rural areas, thereby escaping notice from higher ups in the Catholic Church.
There has even been a scandal with a Father Alfredo Prado, who reportedly has built a violent doomsday cult, right under the noses of church officials. Father Prado has a compound for his followers in San Isidro de Grecia, where he ministers to his flock, including many young boys. Those who dare to speak out against him or what he calls his “Virgin Cult”, receive visits from church members who threaten their lives, and have even resorted to beating nonbelievers into submission. In a recent email to followers, Prado asked them to recruit more young boys, because the cult needed “more young blood”.
Said Bruce Harris, director of Casa Alianza, an international child welfare organization, about the Virgin Cult, “We think the group is dangerous. We’ve had several reports that children are being sexually abused there, but we’ve never been able to get them off the grounds to talk to them.”

If Father Alex Castillo has returned to Costa Rica, it seems he will have several options of groups to join and will be able to continue his perversions with minors freely.