Priest accused of misconduct in retreat, set to face Palma

The priest accused of engaging in sexual trysts with several women in a Minglanilla parish is on spiritual retreat for more than a month, a church official said yesterday.

“He has crossed boundaries. He shouldn’t have been there with their company. The people who saw them would really wonder what they were doing,” Fr. Scipio Deligero, moderator of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish, said.

When asked if the priest admitted to the allegations, Deligero said he couldn’t speak for the priest and the church.

He said the priest, who is in his late 50s, should be allowed to “reflect and process himself.”

The priest, who’s staying in a retreat house, served as parish priest of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Minglanilla for four years.

Deligero said he knew about the reports from lay ministers and acolytes.

Deligero said he reported the incident to Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma and they have been in constant conversation since the incident.

“I talked to the archbishop on several occasions about it. It was contained in that process,” Deligero said.

He said Palma instructed him to investigate the report.

Deligero said the controversial priest asked for a spiritual retreat after he submitted the report to the prelate.

Deligero said Palma reminded them to pray more, keep their faith and strengthen  the church.

“We are trying to heal. It’s a painful experience and the people are hurting,” he said.

The duration of the priest’s retreat is still unknown.

After his retreat, Deligero said the priest would submit himself to the archbishop, who will decide and consider the sanctions to be imposed on him. /Candeze R. Mongaya, Reporter