Four Priests With County Ties Named In Abuse Report

The Roman Catholic bishops of Texas released the names of nearly 300 priests accused of child sexual abuse last week. Those names includes four priests who served at parishes in Fayette County.

Last year, in response to the controversy over clergy abuse in the Catholic Church, the bishops of Texas promised to publish names of priests accused of child sexual abuse in their dioceses. Those names came out in reports issued by the bishops on Thursday, Jan. 31. The reports included all allegations of abuse since 1940 that the church considers credible. 

The Record reviewed the reports from the Diocese of Austin (which includes Sacred Heart Parish in La Grange and St. John the Baptist in Fayetteville), the Diocese of Victoria (which includes St. Rose in Schulenburg, Sacred Heart in Flatonia, Sts. Peter and Paul in Plum and Queen of the Holy Rosary in Plum), and the Archdiocese of San Antonio (which administered the churches of the Victoria Diocese prior to 1982). 

The information about the four priests listed below comes from the reports issued by the bishops last Thursday and documents included in a national database of accused priests maintained by the BishopAccountability.org website. We also consulted local newspaper archives, wedding announcements and obituaries to establish dates when the priests served the parishes here.

Marion T. Swize, priest for the Archdiocese of San Antonio from 1959 to 1969

Marion Swize was ordained a priest in 1959 for the Archdiocese of San Antonio. His assignments included St. Benedict in San Antonio, St. Michael in San Antonio, St. John the Evangelist in San Antonio, St. Margaret Mary in San Antonio, St. Rose of Lima in Schulenburg ...

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