Alabama priest marries teen after abandoning post, leaving for Europe

By Tyler Arnold, Joe Bukuras

CNA Staff, Nov 22, 2023 / 18:50 pm

An Alabama priest who was removed from ministry has reportedly entered into a civil marriage with an 18-year-old woman he met through his work at a Catholic high school.

Father Alex Crow, 31, was suspended from ministry in July after he abandoned his assignment and left the country with the woman one month after she turned 18.

The Archdiocese of Mobile, Alabama, suspended his priestly faculties, which prohibits him from presenting himself as a priest, saying Mass, leading church ministries, or entering school grounds. 

Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi said in a statement reported by NBC News 15 that he expects the Vatican to laicize Crow. He had previously said that he sees no possible way for Crow to return to the priesthood.

“The recent news of Crow’s civil marriage only confirms the archbishop’s judgment,” the statement read. “Archbishop Rodi anticipates that the Vatican will eventually laicize Alex Crow.”

The archdiocese reported to the Mobile district attorney’s office that Crow had traveled in July to Europe with the woman, whom he met through his ministry at McGill-Toolen Catholic High School. The office, however, did not find evidence of criminal wrongdoing. 

Crow and the woman signed a notarized marriage certificate on Nov. 17, and the probate court received it on Monday, according to WKRG News 5 in Mobile.

The soon-to-be-laicized priest was ordained in the archdiocese on June 5, 2021, according to a now-removed bio of him on the Corpus Christi Parish website.

He studied at St. Joseph Abbey and Seminary College in St. Benedict, Louisiana, earning a baccalaureate of liberal arts and philosophy. He holds a master’s of divinity degree from St. Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology, and a baccalaureate of sacred theology from the Pontifical Atheneum of San Anselmo, Rome, with a concentration in demonology and exorcism, according to his biography.

Crow, his biography says, was an Episcopalian before joining the Presbyterian church. It wasn’t until he was 21 years old that he felt the call to become a priest, the biography says. 

He has given several lectures on Marian apparitions and spiritual warfare for his parish, according to posts from the parish’s Facebook page.

Tyler Arnold is a staff reporter for Catholic News Agency, based in EWTN News’ Washington Bureau. He previously worked at The Center Square and has been published in a variety of outlets, including The Associated Press, National Review, The American Conservative, and The Federalist.

Joseph Bukuras is a journalist at the Catholic News Agency.  Joe has prior experience working in state and federal government, in non-profits, and Catholic education. He has contributed to an array of publications and his reporting has been cited by leading news sources, including the New York Times and the Washington Post. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the Catholic University of America. He is based out of the Boston area.