Another Filipino priest has been added to the mounting cases of alleged sexual abuses in the Catholic Church.
Rev. Armand Garcia, 49 years old, has been charged with rape following allegations that he had abused a teenage girl. He was arrested on Monday morning (Pennsylvania time), reports from today state.
He was residing in Saint Martin of Tours in the Oxford Circle neighborhood in Philadelphia from 2017 – 2018 but the alleged crime happened in 2014 when he was a pastor in the Immaculate Heart of Mary in the Roxborough neighborhood, ABC News in Philadelphia reported.
The victim was a teenager but was older than 16 years old when the abuses allegedly occurred, the same ABC report states.
In a statement yesterday, The Archdiocese Of Philadelphia said that it immediately placed Garcia on administrative leave after being notified by police about the investigation in March last year.
“The Archdiocese had no previous knowledge of the allegation and it was the first of its kind lodged against Father Garcia,” the statement reads.
While on administrative leave, Garcia was removed from his residence at Saint Martin of Tours Parish and was banned from administering sacraments and presenting himself as a priest.
While the archdiocese knew about the allegations since last year, parents from the Immaculate Heart of Mary School only found out about them yesterday, CBS Philly reported.
READ: Filipino priest wanted in US for alleged sex abuse
Based on the charges placed against him, it looks like Garcia also recorded one of the alleged sexual acts. According to NBC Philadelphia, the priest was charged with rape, photograph/film/depict on computer sex act, and corruption of minors.
He has posted 10 percent of the US$250,000 bail and was released, NBC reported. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 14.
Garcia was reportedly a regional representative for the National Association of Filipino Priests, according to ABS-CBN News.
A grand jury report released in August revealed hundreds of cases of Catholic clergy members in Pennsylvania sexually abusing thousands of young victims over many decades.
In February, Pope Francis called for concrete measures to finally stop sexual abuse in the Church. He said this during a summit in Rome that addressed the crisis. Just days after the summit, Cardinal George Pell, a former Vatican treasurer was convicted of child sexual abuse in Melbourne, Australia.
