A Catholic priest with a past got removed from his church in Selma this weekend over a story of sex, drugs, and weapons.
“You don’t expect a priest to be packed, to have those type of weapons,” said legal analyst Ralph Torres.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno got a restraining order to protect church employees — all the way up to Bishop Joseph Brennan — from one of their own priests.
Father Guadalupe Rios still has his name on the church marquee at St. Joseph’s Church in Selma, but the man himself is not allowed within 100 yards of the property.
Several parishioners told us they knew Rios was either in a gang or affiliated with one, as the diocese mentioned in their application for a restraining order against him.
Parishioners have also seen social media photos of Rios with an AK-47 or an AR-556 or a .357 Magnum.
So they were afraid to be interviewed….
Action News also found court records showing Rios was convicted of a 2016 DUI with a blood alcohol content of .19 — more than twice the legal limit for drivers.
In her declaration in support of the restraining order, the church secretary said he was habitually under the influence of marijuana and alcohol, which would make him suicidal.
In February, he even pointed his gun at her and threatened them both.
“Mr. Rios and I were in his Rectory when he put a gun to his head in front of me,” she wrote in her declaration. “As I started to cry in shock, I asked him what he was doing and he said to me. ‘Either I’m going to die or you are or we both are.’ Due to his past as a gang member and the gangster friends he hangs out with, I’m afraid for my safety and for my family. His guns are accessible and since he threatened me before with killing me, I’m afraid when he finds out about the Diocese knowing the truth about him, he would come after me in retaliation against me….”
The above comes from a Nov. 2 story on ABC30 Action News TV.
This is what happens when dioceses are so desperate for vocations to the priesthood that anybody who can use a knife and a fork gets into seminary. Really… how does someone like this pass the psychological evaluations prior to ordination? And a .357 magnum isn’t a gun: it’s caliber. News reporters don’t know squat about guns. Now… was he validly baptized? Because if he wasn’t then he’s not really a priest. Whew. The Church is so messed up right now. Where’s God? Waiting on the election results tonight to see whether all those prayers, consecrations and novenas worked. Maybe this priest will seem like small potatoes compared to what’s in store after the election.
@ Kevin T – I completely agree with you. What is going on with the priestly formation in these seminaries? I want to know which seminary this guy attended, and who were his religious mentors. We Catholics have the right to know. If this excuse for a priest got through so easily, how many other reprobates are there on our holy altars?
A DUI of point one nine — why did the Bishop put this priest on a very short leash at that time? Sure there is a shortage of priests. But they are supposed to be an example, not saints. I suspect most everyone older than ten knew of the DUI. I certainly would not invite him to a dinner party at my house.
I hope he gets professional help and joins AA.
So who thought he was a good fit in seminary? Time for this one to be laicized.
Diversity is a strength. Remember that.
Now you see why open borders are so handy. One even has to be careful of “legal” crossings. It depends who is vetting them. What a mess.
Bishop Brennan probably inherited this problem when he was sent to the diocese about 18 months ago. I know him personally as he was one year ahead of me in the Seminary. He and the Vicar General will do everything legally possible to solve this problem. They have done so in other situations as well.
As to open borders, it would be very interesting to see what would happen if the borders were truly open and the U.S. Military and Law Enforcement could enter Mexico and take care of some legal problems there too.
What’s good for the goose… (grin)
This would not have happened before Vatican II
I am a different “Anon.” Since Vatican II, the Church has brought about some good, but also, sone terribly tragic, destructive things! In all the Church’s history prior to Vatican II, however, there have been cases of terribly irresponsible things that have happened, worldwide, at times– sometimes, we have had very bad men in Ronan collars, bishop’s mitres, and a few bad Popes, doing terrible things! When I was growing up, a boy who aspired to become a priest was typically a boy of good character, who was also a good student in Catholic school– and an altar boy, too. The priests knew the boys, and would only recommend those who were truly good candidates, with good vharacter– and also, intelligent and capable academically, fit to enter minor or major seminary. And the Bishop, likewise. Boys would be watched and evaluated– and although most made it all the way to ordination, some dropped out of seminary– or were counseled out. In those days, the Church was far more serious about religion– and her responsibility to God was much more serious!
A priest, with many years of seminary training, has an M.Div. (Master of Divinity) degree, upon graduation and ordination. A priest must be a man of excellent character, and intelligence.
That’s a ridiculous statement. Learn some history.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Schmidt_(priest)
Anon at 9:19, that’s not true. Here are the names of a half dozen pre-Vatican II priests convicted of murder: Miroslav Filipović, John Bernard Feit, András Kun, Konstantinas Olšauskas, Hans Schmidt and Christian von Wernich. Not every sin (including crimes) since the 1960’s is a result of the Second Vatican Council.
Correlation does not prove causation. This fallacy is also known by the Latin phrase “cum hoc ergo propter hoc” (‘with this, therefore because of this’). This is not to deny many terrible things that followed the Council, only to state that the Council is not responsible for everything terrible that followed. And, terrible things by clergy (and lay faithful) did indeed precede Vatican II.
Anonymous Clergyman– Here is the way I have always thought of the Vatican II problems– with discipline, especially. Since Vatican II, Church discipline has been lax, Canon Law is often ignored– and it really hurts the Church a lot! For example– you are going “bananas,” as a parent, because your child in Catholic school, has a “Pro-Choice” lesbian, feminist teacher. Or else, Fr. James Martin, S.J., comes to your son or daughter’s Catholic youth group or college group, to give his usual talks on homosexuality– supported by the Pope, who agrees with civil unions for gays! Poor Catholic parents just “go crazy” with that “garbage!!” Since Vatican II– no Church discipline!! Before the Council, that wasn’t a typical problem for Catholics to have to deal with! It’s horrible!
Anon. at 1:11, I agree. Clear teaching of doctrine, Church discipline and more were more widely taught and practiced before the Second Vatican Council. My point: the Church has always had sinners, even among the clergy, and the pre-Vatican II Church was not perfect (nor as strong as some seem to think it was or clergy, religious and lay faithful wouldn’t have abandoned the practice of faith and vocation as quickly as they did in the late 60’s and 70’s).
And, I sympathize with Catholic parents and grandparents who made great sacrifices to send their children to schools they thought were Catholic, but were Catholic in name only. Bad Catholic schools are like a vaccination against the Faith. Give a child weak, distorted version of the Faith and they build up a resistance to the Faith which comes to us from the Apostles.
It’s past time to stop supporting “Catholic” institutions that don’t stand with Christ and His Church.
Why was this sick, dangerous, horrible criminal even allowed to apply for the seminary?? Who wrote him letters of ecommendation?? Who supported and approved of his vocation– all those years, leading up to Ordination?? This is horribly, shockingly irresponsible!!– and extremely dangerous!! The Diocese deserves a HUGE punishment for this!! Good laypeople and their families, and dedicated Church employees and volunteers, all deserve good, decent, reliable, holy priests!! This horrific man is a GREAT DANGER to our society!! He needs to be excommunicated and laicized, ASAP!!– and put behind bars, to stay!! (mandatory placement in a mental institution, if not sentenced to prison!!)
For those of us within the diocese of Fresno California this comes as no shock. The malformed priests are everywhere in this diocese. They lack discipline and they lack orthodoxy.
I bet with a little bit of research you would find this man was ordained by the infamous John T Steinbock. This priest and almost all of the other priests currently suspended in the diocese of Fresno where the product of the infamous John T Steinbock and his 19-year reign of terror on the faithful of the diocese of Fresno.
There’s no way for the diocese of Fresno to say this guy had no red flags. Recently, Bishop Brennan gave faculties to the infamous Fr. Listiri of YouTube. The internal memo released by the bishop making the announcement was leaked to Media and the faithful became outraged. Brennan was bombarded with telephone calls letters and emails. What is the status of this priest now? Did Bishop Brennan change his mind and still has this priest under suspension? So much for transparency in the diocese of Fresno.
The diocese of Fresno has a horrible record with this so-called restorative justice nonsense. There was a priest in Tulare who embezzled $300,000 from a local parish and saw no jail time because the diocese wanted the district attorney’s office and the court to go easy on the priest. That priest was rehabilitated but he can’t be a pastor and he can’t handle any money. so you can point guns at people and you can steal money and I won’t even get into all of them molestation investigations going on currently in the diocese but God forbid if you are traditional priest and prefer the traditional Latin Mass you are considered an outlaw in the diocese of Fresno.
In closing, when will the diocese of Fresno publish a list of credibly accused priests? with Bishop Brennan and his predecessors the faithful have been waiting for four bishops to issue such a list and not one of them has. What are the bishops of the diocese of Fresno hiding?
The Diocese of Fresno has not published such a list? The Diocese of San Jose released names of priests who have credible child sexual abuse allegations against them and Don Flickinger of Fresno is on that list. Flickinger was shipped up here and worked in at least a couple of parishes (and a school or two) when he was finally removed due to allegations here in the Bay Area. He was a big promoter of “Catholic education” over any other form of schooling and an outspoken critic of Mother Angelica.
I recently read several other news stories about this case, one of them by EWTN’S CNA– Catholic News Agency. These news stories reported that the church secretary had previously had a five-year love affair (romantic and sexual) with the evil priest, and that he had abused her, and threatened her and her children, and she then went to get the restraining order. Also, the news stories said that Rios was involved with another priest, Robert Gamen, who showed Rios photos of child pornography, of a boy in the parish, whom he gave money to, to buy certain types of clothes (“sexy” clothes??). Gamen was later convicted of child pornography. All of these evil men in Roman collars ought to be put behind bars, with permanent sex offender records! The public, as well as Catholics and their families– needs to be totally safe!