Priest Removed from North Harris County Church after Sexual Misconduct Allegation

By Nicole Hensley
Houston Chronicle
August 25, 2019

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Priest-removed-from-north-Harris-County-church-14377427.php

Another priest accused of sexual misconduct has been removed from a north Harris County parish where a cleric was also suspended earlier this year.

Church leaders at Prince of Peace Catholic Community announced during services Sunday that parochial vicar Alfonso Delgado was under investigation following an allegation involving another adult.

Pastor Gerald Goodrum divulged the removal after reciting a homily and at least four hail mary’s, said Eduardo Lopez de Casas, a leader of Houston’s Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests who was working a Mass service as a cantor. The nature of the allegation and when it was said to have happened was not revealed.

Goodrum asked that parishioners with any information about the allegation to contact law enforcement.

“This allegation will need to be investigated, and Fr. Alfonso has agreed to withdraw from all ministry until this investigation is complete. We would ask for your continued prayers for everyone affected by this situation,” according to a statement released by Prince of Peace.

Delgado, originally from the Bogota area in Colombia, has been posted to Prince of Peace on Tomball Parkway for more than a decade. He joined the church in 2007, according to his LinkedIn profile. Up until January, his assignment was under former pastor John Keller, who was then removed from ministry because of multiple decades-old allegations of child sex abuse.

Keller’s removal coincided with the release of a lengthy list of priests whom the archdiocese considered to have garnered credible claims of child sex abuse. He became the subject of a Houston Police Department investigation that has not yet produced a criminal charge.

Amid the probe in May, Keller asked to retire from his post “for age and medical reasons, according to a parish memo.