EL PASO (TX)
El Paso Times
By Marty Schladen \ El Paso Times
Posted: 01/14/2012
The unusual step by Catholic Bishop Armando X. Ochoa of suing one of his priests exposed a small part of the inner workings of the church in El Paso and it offered a glimpse into the politics inside the diocese, experts said Friday.
By recovering $200,000 and shuttling the Rev. Michael E. Rodriguez off to Presidio, Ochoa might have tried to conceal that one of his priests allegedly misused parish money.
Or Ochoa might be publicly trying to rein in a renegade priest by suing Rodriguez over $27,000 Ochoa says hasn’t been accounted for, an expert said.
Ochoa and Monsignor Arturo Banuelas this week asked that a court lock down Rodriguez’s bank accounts and force him to make a full accounting of the funds he raised from parishioners at San Juan Bautista
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