New Orleans kept accused priest in pulpit despite complaints: misconduct ‘involved adults’, archdiocese admits

Church leaders in New Orleans knew of complaints against a priest now facing criminal trial on charges of serial sexual assault against multiple victims, but allowed the priest to continue in ministry for years, the archdiocese has admitted to Crux Now.

Father Anthony Odiong, a 57-year-old native of Nigeria, served in Austin, TX, from 2006 to 2012 and in New Orleans, Louisiana, from 2015 to 2023, when the latter suspended him in the wake of an investigative exposé that revealed the cleric’s pattern of abusive behavior.

In 2019, a full four years before the suspension, the Diocese of Austin told the New Orleans archdiocese of misconduct complaints against Odiong, but just like Austin, New Orleans decided against informing their parishioners, choosing instead to address the matter directly with the priest because the allegations “involved adults,” according to a statement.

Under Texas state law, it is a felony for clergy or others with roles of pastoral or spiritual authority to exploit their position in obtaining another person’s participation in a sex act.

In 2019, the Bishop of Austin was Joe S. Vasquez, who succeeded Cardinal Daniel DiNardo as Archbishop of Galveston-Houston in March of last year. Crux Now asked Vasquez