WACO (TX)
WWLTV [New Orleans, LA]
May 27, 2026
By Ramon Antonio Vargas / The Guardian (The Guardian)
Teen altar server testifies he walked in on Anthony Odiong having sex with his mother as prosecutors argue the former priest exploited vulnerable women.
A former Catholic priest once stationed in Luling, La., was once caught having sex with a congregant in Texas and replied “we are but men,” according to court testimony on Wednesday.
That version of events emerged at the second day of the trial of Anthony Odiong, who has been criminally charged with illicitly abusing his status as a clergyman to pursue sex with spiritually vulnerable female congregants.
Odiong, 57, pleaded not guilty to five charges of first-degree and two counts of second-degree sexual assault that he faces. He could face life imprisonment if convicted on any of the first-degree charges.
One woman’s son, now 29, told jurors at the state courthouse in Waco, Texas, that he was about 14 in 2011 when his devoutly Catholic mother – fresh off a tumultuous divorce – hosted a party at the home she shared with her seven children. Among the guests was Odiong, who was a priest at a Catholic church attended by students and employees of Waco’s Baylor University, where the woman worked.
Odiong had been meeting the mother frequently in the aftermath of her divorce, ostensibly to provide her with spiritual direction, in sessions at his office or even her home, according to the son and separate testimony on Wednesday from one of his younger sisters.
But the night of the party, he said he was locked in the woman’s bedroom with her, and the son – who had even been Odiong’s altar server – suddenly heard noises coming from behind the door. He burst in, saw a pantsless Odiong was lying on the floor on top of his mother, and deduced they had been having sex.
The son said he ran to the home of a neighbor – Baylor’s theological seminary dean, Todd Still – and, in a panic, described what he saw. Baylor’s longtime university chaplain and spiritual life dean, Burt Burleson, then learned about the situation from Still, and he testified on Wednesday that he relayed the “profoundly inappropriate” matter to one of Odiong’s supervisors at the Catholic diocese of Austin.
Burleson testified that he also confronted Odiong – and was surprised at the priest’s nonchalant reaction.
“We are but men,” Burleson recalled Odiong saying.
The son later spoke to a diocesan official about everything – along with Odiong, while the priest supposedly took his confession. But the son said he did not want to get anyone in trouble, especially his mother, who could have been fired from Baylor if she were ever found to be conducting herself in a manner that was inconsistent with Christian values.
He said he told the diocesan official what he saw with his mother, and Odiong may have been ambiguous. He also acknowledged in court that a continuing battle with substance abuse had already started that night, when he had been drinking with other party guests.
Odiong’s career largely continued unimpeded, with him moving on to study in Rome and then transferring in 2015 to St. Anthony of Padua Church in Luling, serving there as pastor until December 2023.
Later, the woman whose son alleged he caught them having sex saw a Guardian news story published after the end of Odiong’s time in Luling. The story reported that other women had accused Odiong of sexual coercion, unwanted touching, and abusive financial control in his capacity as a priest, including in Texas.
The story described how a Texas state law considers it assault for clergymen to exploit congregants’ emotional dependency on them to engage in sexual conduct with them. The woman went to Waco police to report what she alleged Odiong had done to her. That prompted an investigation, which found two more women Odiong allegedly assaulted by exploiting his clerical status, resulting in criminal charges against him.
One of those two additional women – who was previously interviewed by the Guardian – testified late on Wednesday afternoon. She recounted how she was in the throes of an abusive, failing marriage with a Baylor instructor when Odiong began spiritually directing her on her marital troubles.
She testified Odiong convinced her to subject herself – for the sake of her marriage – to a form of intercourse with her husband that was painfully uncomfortable for her, which prosecutors contend qualifies as assault by the clergyman. Odiong had her discuss that encounter with him – and said the hurt it inflicted was “good for her humility,” she testified.
She also alleged Odiong kissed her against her will once. She said he claimed her marriage was not “true” and proposed she should enter into a “spiritual” one with him instead.
She said she eventually ended her marriage after another priest who provided her spiritual guidance asked her to consider doing so for her physical safety. Odiong berated her when she told him she would be seeking a divorce, she said.
She said she did not speak out about Odiong earlier because she thought he had genuine feelings for her, even if they were inappropriate.
“I feel very ashamed at so many ways that I allowed myself to be treated,” that woman testified. She added, “I … so completely missed” on judging his character.
Waco prosecutors Ryan Calvert and Liz Buice were able to secure criminal charges against Odiong even though his alleged crimes took place at least 15 years ago because investigators established there were as many as 10 women the priest was suspected of sexually preying on.
In her opening statement, Buice indicated that she and Calvert planned to call as witnesses at least some of those women, even if not all of their cases resulted in formal charges against Odiong.
A Waco police detective, Zach Koenig, on Wednesday testified about an interview with one woman whose case did not produce charges. The woman, who had recently lived in Pennsylvania, also previously spoke to the Guardian and reporting partner WWL Louisiana – and aspects of her account echoed some of the testimony heard earlier in the day, Koenig testified.
Judge Thomas West allowed Koenig to offer that hearsay testimony – which is generally barred from trial proceedings – under an exception that came into effect because Odiong maintained that prosecutors’ deadline to charge him lapsed regardless of the number of accusers identified by authorities.
Prosecutors say all of the women’s stories establish Odiong’s pattern of pursuing female congregants. And they have previously noted how – despite Catholic priests’ promise to practice celibacy – there is evidence Odiong even had a child with one of the women whose case did not lead to formal charges against him.
The Guardian reviewed DNA evidence establishing the child was born while Odiong was serving as pastor at St. Anthony of Padua. WWL and the Guardian are not naming any of the women or those close to them, following the news outlets’ shared policy of not naming people who allege they are sexual assault victims unless they specifically request to share their identity.
While cross-examining witnesses on Wednesday, Odiong’s attorneys, Gerald Villarrial and Carolina Truesdale, sought to challenge the reliability of the recollections of the witnesses whose mother reported his client to police. They established that Odiong was not the only priest known to go to the house of the woman whose son barged in on them – and questioned whether the clergyman could be held accountable for certain behaviors while he was essentially off-duty from his clerical role.
They elicited testimony that there is such as a thing as sinful but not criminal sex for priests under Catholic church law. And Villarial said he found it unfair for a woman to accuse Odiong for a sexual assault she alleges was actually carried out by her husband at the time.
Calvert, meanwhile, called a University of Notre Dame law professor, church law expert John Paul Kimes, to the stand. Kimes testified that Roman Catholic priests like him and Odiong are never off the clock. He also testified that priests do hold a spiritual authority over congregants that they must take care to not exploit.
“We never stop being on duty,” said Kimes, whose credentials include having prosecuted more than 1,100 Catholic clergy sex abusers under canon law for the Vatican entity handling such cases.
Odiong’s trial could last through at least Monday.