Disgraced priest who fled church to run away with teenager after love letter
The disgraced priest Alex Crow "abandoned" his duties to the Catholic Church after he confessed his love for a high-school student in a gushing letter on Valentine's Day.
Crow, 30, married an 18-year-old former McGill-Toolen Catholic High School student on Friday after he fled to Italy with her in July. The priest ran off to Rome with the teen after he allegedly met the girl when she was a 17-year-old student and he was still in the priesthood. Her parents had flown to Italy to desperately try to get her to return but the pair refused to come back.
The priest, an expert in the theological study of demons and exorcism, had his clerical duties removed by the Catholic Archdiocese of Mobile, after confessing his love for her during a gushing letter on Valentine's Day. The pair met through his ministry while she was still at school. He was told he had "abandoned his assignment" and was accused of behaviour "totally unbecoming of a priest" by the Catholic Church.
The former rock musician, who took a vow of celibacy, later returned to the US in November after the Vatican moved to exclude Crow from the priesthood. The lawyer, Christine Hernandez, also said that he has "limited" the girl's communications to the outside world.
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The priest was a musician before he joined the Church (facebook)She told NBC15: "There were prior reports from parents that said, there's some inappropriate behavior going on. When you don't stay with the group and you lag behind with one particular student, everyone knows that you're staying behind at the cabin with this one particular student. Why? And when it's reported, why was nothing done?"
The district attorney closed the case against Crow, saying he was unable to find any criminal wrongdoing after the 18-year-old refused to speak with investigators.
When did he join the church?
Crow had served in the Catholic Archdiocese of Mobile since being ordained in July 2021 and was most recently the Parochial Vicar at Corpus Christi Parish. Before he joined the church, he was a musician.
However, it was when he started to work at McGill-Toolen Catholic High School that he started to get to know the schoolgirl, who had not been named. McGill-Toolen Catholic High School says Crow visited Theology classes and heard confessions from September through December 2021. However, according to police, the Archdiocese had previously ordered Crow not to have contact with another female student.
He joined the Church in 2021 (St. Mary Parish)Why did he have a fascination with demonology and exorcisms?
Sheriff Paul Burch said during their investigation they found Crow to have a fascination with exorcisms and demonology. “Former McGill-Toolen students told Lagniappe Crow would talk to classes about demons and exorcisms. He preached that a lot, and talked about it a lot. And it's bizarre at best. Don't know what his motivation is to talk to kids about things like that," said Burch.
Crow "abandoned" his duties to the Church
When the Church learned of Crow's decision to flee to Rome with a student, they released a damming statement that slammed his actions. "Fr. Alex Crow abandoned his assignment in the Archdiocese," a spokesperson said. "His behavior is totally unbecoming of a priest. He has been informed by the archbishop that he may no longer exercise ministry as a priest, nor to tell people he is a priest, nor to dress as a priest.'"
The priest was accused of "abanonding" his duties to the Church (Extraordinary Faith/facebook)A secret love letter discovered by cops
Police discovered a love letter over the summer between the priest and the teenage girl from Valentine's Day - when she was still in school. In the letter, he confesses his love for her and suggests the pair are already "married."
It reads: "Now, we are in love and we are married! I've never been in love before (and I've never been married, obviously!), and I've never felt any of the feelings I have for you for anyone ever in my entire life. I promise that I will love you the absolute best I can, every single day.'
The love letter was discovered by cops (Mobile County Sheriff's Office)Mobile County Sheriff Paul Burch released the letter after claiming Crow 'groomed another couple of young girls' in addition to the 18-year-old. Crow creepily referred to himself as a "father" to the girl as his tasked to protect her.
The letter adds: "I'm sorry I cannot give you a 'normal' Valentine's Day this year. I wanted to do nothing more than buy you flowers but for fear of scandal, I couldn't. I almost stole some from the Mary statue but there were too many people around."
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He continued: "First things first: I love you, and I thank Jesus for you every day,' he wrote. "You have made my life both astronomically more complicated and incredibly better at the same time. You are his gift to me."
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