DALLAS (TX)
Dallas News
August 19, 2018
By Rudolph Bush and Dana Branham
Updated at 4:50 p.m. with additional details throughout.
The Rev. Edmundo Paredes, longtime pastor at St. Cecilia Catholic Church in Oak Cliff, is under investigation for allegedly molesting three teenage boys in the parish more than a decade ago and stealing from the parish, churchgoers learned over the weekend.
Paredes has fled and his whereabouts are unknown, though church officials think he may be in his native country of the Philippines, Bishop Edward Burns said at the conclusion of the 7:30 a.m. Mass Sunday at St. Cecilia.
The news regarding Paredes, who was pastor of St. Cecilia for 27 years, is only the latest revelation in the Catholic Church’s ongoing priest pedophilia scandal. Independent investigations have revealed that members of the church hierarchy both turned a blind eye and actively engaged in covering up the actions of pedophiles in the priesthood.
Burns detailed the allegations against Paredes from the altar Sunday morning and planned to remain at St. Cecilia throughout the day to speak at Masses and talk to parishioners, he said.
“I need to come face to face with the frustration. I need to come face to face with this issue, with the anger, with the rage. I recognize this diocese cannot cover its ears, its eyes, its mouth. We need to look at this head on,” Burns said in an interview after Mass.
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