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Alex Crow, a 30-year-old priest from Mobile, Alabama, who was serving at Corpus Christi Catholic Church, was defrocked after he allegedly went to Spain accompanied by an 18-year-old woman.
Through a statement on Wednesday, July 26, The Archdiocese of Mobile shared that Father Crow had abandoned his assignment. He has been a revered priest in Mobile who extensively preached demonology.
In the statement, the Archdiocese also announced that the church has prohibited Crow from further exercising his clerical ministry. Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi also ordered Alex Crow not to dress in priestly attire or identify as a pastor. Referring to Father Crow’s sudden absconding, the Archdiocese said in its statement:
“His behavior is totally unbecoming of a priest.”
All mentions and references to Father Crow were quickly removed from the Corpus Christi Catholic Church’s website. Crow, who converted from the Episcopal Church, was appointed the parish priest at the church after being ordained on June 5, 2021.
Defrocked Mobile priest Alex Crow used to be a professional musician
As per information shared by Church Militant, Crow’s bio from the parish website has been deleted. He attended the Pontifical University in San Anselmo, Rome, where he specialized in exorcism and demonology as part of his sacred theology degree.
The now-defrocked father has delivered several talks on demonology, exorcisms, the Marian apparitions, and spiritual warfare at Akita, Japan. Some of his lectures are also posted on YouTube. However, after Alex Crow’s defrocking, videos and articles of his talks and interviews were scraped from the internet.
While the restrictions imposed on the Mobile Archdiocese did not allow Father Crow to celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass, he was trained for it in July 2021, after his ordinance to the priesthood.
Father Crow is known for always wearing his cassock, even in public, as he regularly robed for the Eucharist. He used to dress in a laced alb, traditional Roman chasuble, along with a maniple and an amice.
He used to be a professional musician and was a popular performer across the Gulf Coast before going through a dramatic conversion to Catholicism. He went to confession when he was 21. The young musician got baptized at the Episcopal Church and later joined the Presbyterian Church in America.
Parishioners defended the defrocked priest
Though neither the parish nor the Archdiocese revealed the exact reason behind defrocking Alex Crow, local media outlets and several other parishioners reported that it might be because of the Father’s disappearance to Spain. The 18-year-old woman whom the priest ran off with has graduated from Mobile’s McGill-Toolen Catholic High School.
However, according to Church Militant’s report, parishioners conjectured that Father Crow might have taken the female student to one of Spain’s Marian sites to conduct an exorcism. Former students of McGill-Toolen also told local media that the priest would often talk to the classes about exorcisms and demonology.
Defending Father Crow in a social media post, one member of the congregation, Jess Westphal, insisted that the priest did not have a romantic relationship with the woman and nor did he run away to Spain with her.
"They went to Europe together just a few weeks ago, and that was fine with the parents. I am not saying that they should have gone without permission," he added.
Westphal further said that Crow is not a bad person and that he just fell into a trap. He argued that the priest even risked his reputation and his career.
"It's because we know Alex and we know he is a good person. If he met a woman and decided [the] priesthood isn't for him, then good for him. He shouldn't be labeled as a devil or criminal" another parishioner Julien Poole said.
The Mobile District Attorney is seeking information on Alex Crow
On July 26, the Archdiocese of Mobile also stated that Crow’s actions were reported to the District Attorney’s office in Mobile, given the circumstances of the defrocked priest’s departure. DA Keith Blackwood’s office said it was asking around for information on Alex Crow, and anyone with information was requested to contact the DA’s office.
Father Pat Arensberg also posted on the Corpus Christi Catholic Church’s Facebook page. He announced Crow’s departure and that he no longer held the position of the parochial vicar at the parish.
