Convicted Priest Resurfaces in Oklahoma

So we can assume that OK City Archbishop Paul S. Coakley doesn’t bother with that whole “background check” thing.

Why?

A former San Diego priest who vanished after he pled guilty to misdemeanor sexual battery and “engaging in unlawful sexual touching” in 2012 has resurfaced in parishes in Oklahoma.

Fr. Jose Alexis Davila was sentenced to three years’ probation in 2012 and ordered to stay away from the 19-year-old victim. The Diocese of San Diego was harshly criticized for allowing the priest back in a parish.

By October of that year, Davila was gone.

Thanks to a tip from a reader, I learned that Davila was assigned to Blessed Sacrament Parish in Lawton, OK in December 2015—in the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City.

In the introduction to the parish, Davila is described as a priest from Venezuela, who emigrated here because he his family was persecuted.

Father will be with our parish to assist Father Chapman. Reverend José A. Dávila was ordained in the Diocese of Cabimas, Venezuela on December 15, 1984. He most recently served as Pastor of Cristo Redentor, in Ojeda, Venezuela. However, he has pastoral experience in the United States. Several years ago Father Dávila’s family immigrated to the USA due to political persecution in Venezuela. To avoid any further persecution and to be closer to his family, Father Dávila, with permission of his Bishop in Cabimas, sought to serve in this Archdiocese.

That’s funny … no mention of the whole, “and he’s a sex offender” issue. Or exactly what his “pastoral experience” in the United States was.

In March of this year, he was moved to another parish and its missions:

Archbishop Coakley has some explaining to do.