Juan Pablo Delgado : Self-Proclaimed Visionary Faces Prison Time

From: WOAI NEWS

Last Update: May 22, 2007 5:35 PM

A man who made a name for himself as a leader of a so-called cult in Costa Rica is in trouble. Many of his Catholic followers are from right here in San Antonio, and they were told by the Archdiocese to stay away from the man who claims to see visions of the Virgin Mary.

Now, a fight with one of his former followers could send him to jail.

Read More...........

Priest or Pedophile?
By: Holly Whisenhunt

The Catholic Church says he's a renegade priest. The Archdiocese recently warned followers to stay away from Father Alfredo Prado.

He is accused of molesting young boys. Prado now belongs to a violent dooms day cult in Costa Rica.

Trouble Shooter Brian Collister and his photographer risked their lives, traveling to Central America to track down and confront Prado about the allegations.

More than 30 years ago when Ricardo was just 14 he and his family went to St. Timothy's Church on the Westside. He turned to Father Prado after an argument with his father. “When I was growing up, I thought the world of Father Prado.” Ricardo recalls.

But Ricardo says instead of helping him, Prado gave him a glass of brandy then seduced and raped him. “He had his hands all over me down the front of my pants, he was unbuttoning my shirt.”

Ricardo says he told his parents but they didn't believe him, because priests don't do that. He says after Prado raped him, his life spiraled out of control, including several suicide attempts, and years of therapy. Ricardo says his emotional scars have not heeled, “The extent of the damage this did to me, I still feel to this day”.

Ricardo is not alone. Other alleged victims came forward in the early 90's. The oblate order of the Catholic Church sent Prado to a pedophile treatment center and stripped him of his right to preach. Then just last year, faced with retirement, Prado disobeyed the church and fled the country.

He took refuge at this religious sanctuary in Costa Rica. The group is described as a violent cult. It's led by a 24-year old, Juan Pablo Delgado, who claims to see visions of the Virgin Mary. Prado now serves as his spiritual advisor.

Even though he's now hundreds of miles from San Antonio, the controversy continues. Costa Rican reporters found out Prado was staying in the compound along with several young boys.

Reporters quizzed the 73-year old last year when immigration officials hauled him in for questioning about the molestation allegations.

Costa Rican officials let Prado stay. But what exactly goes on inside this mysterious cult compound? Is Prado a priest or a pedophile?

To find out the Trouble Shooters traveled to Costa Rica. Using a hidden camera we went inside the sanctuary where we found several followers, including a teenage boy. It was clear from our reception they didn’t want us talking to Father Prado.

“We are not going to speak with anybody from United States or reporters.” yelled Prado supporters. The edgy followers tell us they do not have permission from the Virgin Mary to let us speak with Prado. That's when our photographer tries to take his camera out of the truck and is attacked by a woman. We ask if someone else speaks English so we can plead our case to meet with Prado. A few seconds later the woman tries again to wrestle our camera away. Things heat up as more cult members appear, including a man brandishing a hammer.

We figure it's time to leave but they won't let us turn around. So we back out but not before another teenage boy appears trying to block our camera and giving us a sign that he thinks we're crazy.

But the Trouble Shooters haven’t traveled this far not to talk to Prado. So we staked out the compound and a few days later, we spot him in a car slipping out of the compound. We caught up with him in a nearby town.

Collister asks: “Father Prado can we ask you a few questions?”
Prado: ”Nope.”
Collister: “Can we please talk to you sir? Are you a child molester?”
Prado: “Please!”
Collister: “You're not a child molester?”
Collister: “Why are you here? Why are you here in Costa Rica? What about the charges in Texas?”
Prado: “They're all false, they're nonsense.”
Collister: “They're all false and nonsense?”
Prado: “Yes.”
Collister: “Why are they false and nonsense?”
Prado: “Because they are.”
Collister: “Have you ever molested a child?”
Prado: “Never!” Collister: “Never molested a child?!”
Prado: “Never, never!”
Collister: “Why won't you talk to us?”
Prado: “You're the one that's molesting us! “
Collister: “The Catholic Church says you shouldn't be here sir. Will you talk to us?”

Prado’s car speeds off as we try to ask more questions. Church Officials here in Costa Rica say they wish Prado would pack his bags and go home. Prado doesn't have the church's permission to act as a priest but that hasn’t stopped him from performing religious duties.

Deacon Pat Rogers, archdiocese spokesperson says “He shouldn't be, uh, performing mass. He shouldn't be celebrating mass. He shouldn't be celebrating the sacraments.”

But the Trouble Shooters have pictures from inside the cult compound showing Prado preaching sermons, serving sacrament, and even performing weddings. The head of the local archdiocese in Costa Rica says this shouldn’t be happening.

“I'm against it, I'm totally against it. Whenever you have someone performing in an irregular fashion disobeying the religious order and his superiors.” says Father Barquero.

But the church can do nothing because Prado is on private property and no criminal charges have been filed against him in the United States or in Costa Rica.

The Costa Rican authorities have said there is nothing they can do until basically the abuse happens. What we would prefer to do is to prevent it from happening.

Bruce Harris with the Costa Rican Child Welfare Group "Casa Alianza" is one of Prado's biggest critics. He thinks it's only a matter of time before more victims come forward.

“I would be concerned that under the shadow of these allegations against him, that he be in such closed close contact with young people and children. Everyone is innocent until proven guilty, but where there is smoke there is fire.” says Harris.

Ricardo, one of Prado’s victims has not seen Father Prado for more than 35-years. We showed him our video from Costa Rica and asked him what he thought.

Ricardo says “I think he's (Prado) frightened and knows that he's been caught.”

Ricardo hopes his coming forward will prevent it from happening to others, and he has this message for these young boys now living with Prado. “Get away from him. He's not who you think.”

The Oblate Order of the Catholic Church is in the process of excommunicating Prado and refuses to talk publicly about the molestation allegations.

Inside Costa Rica

Alicia Trevino who recently returned to Costa Rica in order to repair the damage to her house, done by Pablo Delgado the self-proclaimed visionary of the cult, was faced with a locked gate and a blocked driveway to her property by a tractor placed there by members of the sanctuary. Only after 4 hrs of confrontation and under police protection was she able to enter her property. A camera crew of SD Productions, who is currently producing a documentary about the history of the cult, accompanied her and was faced with aggressive behavior of cult members. Immigration officials in Costa Rica also contacted SD Productions to ask for help with the investigation against Alfred Prado the priest who lives at the compound of the cult and was accused of child molestation 30 years ago. Prado was given 72 hrs to leave Costa Rica for violating his tourist visa by performing mass and other religious ceremonies.

SD Productions 


Video with Alicia´s story:
WOAI News

Video Part 2:
VIDEO WOAI

The "visionary" Juan Pablo Delgado performs mass and hears confessions in the Sanctuary. Only few believers (including Alfredo Prado) know that Delgado is acting as priest.

TV news report exposes cult leader who claims to have Marian apparitions


San Antonio, TX, Mar 30, 2005 / 12:00 am (CNA).- A Costa Rican cult, which continues to have Catholic followers in San Antonio, has been exposed as fraudulent and the cult leader as an imposter in a recent investigative report by News 4 WOAI. Costa Rican Juan Pablo Delgado claims he has visions and receives messages from the Virgin Mary.

CNA reported in November 2003 that Archbishop-emeritus Patrick Flores of San Antonio and three Costa Rican bishops had denounced the Reina y Señora de Todo lo Creado (The Queen and Lady of All Creation). The cult has a reputation for violence in Costa Rica, and its members were preparing for the end of the world in December 2003.

News 4 WOAI obtained pictures taken inside Delgado's Costa Rican compound, which show him acting and dressing like a priest, with bloody wounds on his hands and feet, similar to those of the crucifixion of Jesus.

Journalist Brian Collister also interviewed a former cult member, who, over the past two years, traveled between San Antonio and Costa Rica to be near Delgado. She gave him thousands of dollars and even stayed at the Cost Rican compound where Delgado claims he has his visions.

Trevino claims Delgado is manipulating followers to get their money, and when he doesn't he can become violent.

She is suing Delgado for allegedly attacking her after she refused to give him money that he said the Virgin Mary told him she had to pay to atone for a sin.

Trevino then claims Delgado starting smashing her windows with rocks while other followers stood by and did nothing. She told the journalist that she now fears for her life after Delgado passed on a message to his followers that he claims came from the Virgin Mary.

"There was a message given where they have permission to kill me," she said.

The television crew also attested to the cult members' violent streaks. When the television news team showed up last year at the Costa Rican compound, cult members grabbed their camera and chased them off their property. One follower even threatened them with a hammer.

The cult also made headlines when former San Antonio priest Fr. Alfred Prado moved to Costa Rica in 2003 and joined the group as its spiritual adviser. Prado is accused of molesting boys more than 30 years ago at St. Timothy's Church.
Follow the headline: CNA

Ex-Oblate priest accused

Web Posted: 03/08/2004 12:00 AM CST

Dane Schiller
Express-News Staff Writer

After a church report that 20 area priests have been accused of sexually abusing minors in the past five decades, a man who grew up in San Antonio is pushing ahead with a $20 million lawsuit claiming that in 1967 he was raped by the then-pastor at St. Timothy Church.

The lawsuit names the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate order and Father Alfredo Prado, 73, who has drawn attention for being dismissed from the Oblates and for celebrating Mass with the San Antonio followers of a purported visionary in Costa Rica.

Neither the church nor Prado, who served at St. Timothy's from 1965 to 1968 and again in 1971, will say why he was removed from the Oblates.

The lawsuit's plaintiff, Ricardo Salinas, 50, who lives in California, where the lawsuit was filed in state court, said he was regularly counseled by Prado when he was a 14-year-old student at Jeremiah Rhodes Middle School in San Antonio.

After an argument with his father, Salinas said he again sought Prado's help.

In an interview with the San Antonio Express-News, Salinas reiterated the allegations he makes in the lawsuit.

"He (Prado) offered me a large tumbler of brandy, and the next thing I know he's got his hands all over me and is kissing me," said Salinas, who also said he was sodomized.

"He kept telling me it was our little secret and not to tell anyone because they won't believe me anyway," Salinas said.

"God was dead. As far as I was concerned, God was dead."

The lawsuit contends the Oblates knew Prado was a "serial rapist" and did not keep him away from minors.

Prado, who lives in Costa Rica, couldn't be reached to respond to the lawsuit. However, he told the Express-News in December that he never molested anyone and that accusations against him were an attempt to get church money.

"A lot of people are hunting for money, so they come up and they sound good," Prado said. "I have nothing to say to them. I pray for them."

Prado has never been charged with a crime. The priest's supporters have said that years ago he was sent to church-run counseling and given a clean bill of health.

The Oblates declined to comment on the lawsuit, as did their lawyer.

Salinas, meanwhile, stands by his version of events. He said his parents didn't believe him, and that at the time it was unheard of to call the police about a priest.

"To think that I could have the temerity to accuse such a holy man branded me as an evil person who could never be trusted," Salinas said.

He said he has undergone years of counseling, has suffered from depression and doesn't trust authority because of Prado.

Salinas was able to sue because of a move by the California Legislature that suspended until December 2003 the statute of limitations on lawsuits involving the sexual assault of minors. The lawsuit was filed the day before the deadline.

Salinas' lawyer, Justin Schwartz of Oakland, Calif., said the lawsuit wasn't so much about money, but righting a wrong.

"If he (Salinas) could jump in a time machine and go back and avoid having this happen to him, he would gladly do that in lieu of any monetary award," he said.

Schwartz declined to discuss any evidence in the case.

The San Antonio Archdiocese said recently that more than $5.2 million was paid from 1950 to 2002 in settlements and counseling linked to sexual abuse of minors and clergy members.

The admission came as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a report on the extent of the sexual abuse crisis throughout the nation and a second report on its causes and effects.

San Antonio's reported cases involved allegations against 20 priests made by 58 victims from 1950 to 2002.

Prado was not on that list because he was a member of the Oblates and not officially connected with the archdiocese.

---

dschiller@express-news.net

Staff writer J. Michael Parker contributed to this report.

Link:
Priest Accused

Doomsday Cult Investigation
WOAL.com/February 13, 2004
By Holly Whisenhunt

An accused pedophile from San Antonio now serves as a spiritual advisor for a doomsday cult. News 4 WOAI Trouble Shooter Brian Collister traveled to Costa Rica to investigate and find if cult leader Juan Pablo Delgado is a visionary or a con artist.

His name is Juan Pablo Delgado and he says the Virgin Mary speaks to him. He claims he can see her while no one else can. Juan Pablo explains his visions, "She comes in human form. It's important to remember in heaven she is in body and soul. She's not transparent, she's not a ghost. She can be seen. I've been able to touch her just like I can touch anyone else."

Delgado leads what is described as a doomsday cult in Costa Rica. He has predicted the end of the world and that he will become Pope. His spiritual advisor is former San Antonio priest Father Alfredo Prado. Prado is accused of molesting young boys more than 30 years ago at St. Timothy's on the Westside. Now similar concerns are arising about the cult leader.

"Parents are leaving their kids there, depositing their kids there, because supposedly the virgin has supposed told the supposed visionary that they should leave their young boys there. There are a lot of questions about him. Again allegations that this is just a big rip off." That's according to Bruce Harris of "Casa Alianza," a Costa Rican child welfare group.

The Trouble Shooters obtained pictures taken inside the sanctuary showing Delgado dressed like a priest. The pictures also show what Delgado supporters say is a true miracle. The cult leader's hands and feet are stained with blood. Wounds he claims resemble those inflicted on Christ. Catholic Church officials in Costa Rica are outraged saying Delgado cuts himself to fool followers.

During an interview Father Baquero says, "Someone confessed to me, that he had done this to himself. That he had staged the incident. According to the source, everything is false, it's a lie."

Critics like Baquero and Harris say people are investing in a sham. But Delgado has believers here in San Antonio. "Specifically Texas and San Antonio, uh, there is apparently a group of people who believe in the virgin and are pumping significant amounts of money into this," says Harris.

San Antonio residents Guadalupe Nypaver and her husband have been mentioned in articles about the cult and have visited the compound. She tells the Trouble Shooters she was misquoted and her comments were taken out of context.

Collister asks: "We want to ask you about Juan Pablo Delgado and why you...."Nypaver responds: 'I don't know him.'" Collister: "You don't know him?" Nypaver: "No I don't."

But Nypaver does say she's been to the compound only once, and has seen Delgado. But told us she will never go back to the compound.

Nypaver: "And I'm not giving an interview." Collister: "I'm sorry we just want to ask why you're a supporter." Nypaver: "I'm not a supporter."

Neither is Costa Rican priest Father Glen Gomez. Gomez says he was attacked and beaten up by Delgado's followers after warning people to stay away from the dooms day group. When the Trouble Shooters showed up at the Costa Rican compound cult members became violent and grabbed our camera. Moments later, from across the street, we spotted a shaggy haired young man. It was the cult leader himself Juan Pablo Delgado, looking dazed and being led by the hand by one of his supporters.

Collister yells: "Juan Pablo can we talk to you?" He would not talk to us. But another man, Alvaro Matamore, who is not a believer, has plenty to say about the cult and its leader. "No. No, I have never believed this. According to Juan Pablo, only he can see the virgin may and no one else. He'll ask people to confide their problems in the Virgin Mary and according to him, only he will receive the solutions."

Matamore thinks Delgado is a powder keg waiting to explode and he predicts more violence in the future. "He's a very temperamental person. Sometimes he's calm, normal than he's aggressive, violent. For example, one time he broke an image of the Virgin Mary just because he didn't like it. He demanded a new one. In my opinion, he's crazy just like a lot people who are following him," Matamore declares.

Alvaro's opinions may be blunt but he has a personal loss to the cult. His own wife and daughter left him to join Delgado. While we were videotaping the compound from the surrounding lush green coffee bean fields, Alvaro noticed something in the distance. After looking closer he realized he was seeing his family, it was the first time in several months. Collister asks, "What do you think when you see them? Does it hurt?" Alvaro sadly answers "Yeah... Hurt for me." An emotional moment for a man who lost everything he loved to Delgado and the dooms day cult.

Since our story aired we have heard from Bruce Harris with "Casa Alianza." He now plans to show our story to Costa Rican officials and ask them to revoke Alfredo Prado's tourist visa and have him thrown out of the country. We'll keep you posted.

Link:
Rick Ross Institute

Alfredo Prado must go out Costa Rica

Controversial priest
told to leave country

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

Immigration officials have told a U.S. priest that he must leave the country.

The priest is the controversial Alfred Prado, 74, who is associated with the Santuario de la Virgen Reina y Señora de Todo lo Creado in San Isidro de Grecia.

A release from the Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería said that the priest had violated the terms of his tourist visa by working as a priest. Witnesses include those who work at the sanctuary, officials said.

The priest has never sought a work permit or residency and has not received any migratory status, said Marco Badilla, director of Migración.

The priest has renewed his tourist visa a number of times since coming here from Texas Jan. 20, 2003, immigration officials said. He has left the country and returned 10 times, they added.

The priest, who is blind, has to leave the country within 72 hours or he has five days to appeal the order.

The sanctuary also is controversial. Supporters say that the Virgin Mary has appeared to a man who is a religious visionary there. The Catholic Church does not support these claims.

After Prado came here, reports surfaced that his religious order in San Antonio, Texas, was trying to dismiss him.

Prado said then that he was a victim of revenge in the United States for his complaints about witchcraft and rampant homosexuality in the Seminary of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate in San Antonio.

The sanctuary was recently in the news because a former supporter, a North American woman, came with police and legal papers to reclaim a home she owns within the compound.

Check this another publication in Spanish: Prado lost Benefits

Former Follower Speaks Out

WAOL.com/March 29, 2005
By Holly Whisenhunt

His name is Juan Pablo Delgado, and he claims to see visions of the Virgin Mary. He has several Catholic followers from San Antonio, who disobeyed an order by the Archbishop to stay away from this cult leader. Now a former follower is speaking out hoping others will listen to her warnings. Trouble Shooter Brian Collister has the follow up to his investigation.

Over the past 2 years Trevino traveled between San Antonio and Costa Rica to be near Delgado. She even stayed at the Cost Rican sanctuary where Delgado claims he sees visions of the Virgin Mary.

"I was very...touched by the apparition," recalls Trevino.

Trevino now says she feels betrayed, "For a while he had made himself king, well, now he thinks he's god."

News 4 WOAI obtained pictures taken inside the compound showing Delgado acting and dresses like a priest. The photos show bloody wounds on his hands and feet, similar to those of the crucifixion of Jesus. His critics claim it's all an act. And Trevino, who has donated thousands of dollars of her own money to the cult leader, agrees.

"I accept that you can laugh and ridicule me and you can feel that I am the biggest idiot there is, because yes, unfortunately for the last 2 years I have been the biggest idiot," Trevino says.

Trevino also claims Delgado is manipulating followers just to get their money, and when he doesn't she warns that he can become violent.

When the Trouble Shooters showed up last year at the Costa Rican compound, cult members became violent with us, grabbing our camera and chasing us off their property. One follower even threatened us with a hammer.

Not only is Trevino speaking out she's suing Delgado for allegedly attacking her. Trevino told The Trouble Shooters that Delgado wanted money because the Virgin Mary told him that she had to pay for a sin. And she says when he showed up at her home, near the compound, to collect the cash things got out of hand.

"And he's yelling, open the door. And he said I'm not leaving until you give me that money and he's saying you thief you witch you this and that."

Trevino then claims Delgado starting smashing her windows with rocks while other followers stood by and did nothing. But her worries don't end there. Trevino tells the Trouble Shooters she now fears for her life after Delgado passed on another message to his followers that he claims came from the Virgin Mary.

Trevino says, "There was a message given where they have permission to kill me."

Looking back Trevino wishes she would have listened to others, and now she's offering this advice, "Don't waste your time over there, because it is a big hoax. It's a big scam. And if you've got dollars, you're the most beautiful person that he would like to see over there."

Delgado was scheduled to hold a press conference last Friday to respond to Trevino's claims.

But reporters in Costa Rica tell the Trouble Shooters he cancelled that meeting.

This isn't the first time the cult has been in the media spotlight. The doomsday cult made headlines when a former San Antonio priest, Father Alfred Prado, joined the group. Prado is accused of molesting young boys more than 30-years ago at St.Timothy's on the Westside.

The Trouble Shooters tracked him down in Costa Rica last year to ask him about the allegations.

"What about the charges in Texas" asked Brian Collister.

"They're all false, they're nonsense," said Father Prado.

Prado, who claims he was spiritually called to Costa Rica to be Delgado's advisor, still remains at the compound.

Link to Notice

Alfredo Prado (Source: Periodico Al Dia, Costa Rica)

Posted by Hello

Alfred Prado celebrating Good Friday 2005

Here, enclosed the last headline in spanish about the Good Friday
2005 celebration in San Isidro de Grecia, Costa Rica.
Alfredo Prado is preaching sermons, serving sacrament,
and even performing weddings in public despite he is
not authorized by Catholic Church.

Visionary denounced

People from Texas cheated

Doomsday Cult Investigation

Delgado leads what is described as a doomsday cult in Costa Rica. He has predicted the end of the world and that he will become Pope. His spiritual advisor is former San Antonio priest Father Alfredo Prado. Prado is accused of molesting young boys more than 30 years ago at St. Timothy's on the Westside. Now similar concerns are arising about the cult leader.

"Parents are leaving their kids there, depositing their kids there, because supposedly the virgin has supposed told the supposed visionary that they should leave their young boys there. There are a lot of questions about him. Again allegations that this is just a big rip off." .........

Pablo Delgado the self proclaimed "visionary" 

Exiled Texas cleric faces new allegation, removal

Exiled Texas cleric faces new allegation, removal
Houston Chronicle/November 14, 2003
By Evan Moore

An additional accuser has come forward to say that he was molested by expatriate Texas priest Father Alfredo Prado, now a member of a Costa Rican religious cult.

That accusation comes as the Oblate Fathers, Prado's religious order, have served final notice on the 73-year-old priest that he is about to be removed from the priesthood.

Prado, former pastor of St. Timothy's Catholic Church in San Antonio, became a fugitive from the Oblate Fathers earlier this year when he defied orders to enter a retirement home. Instead, he left the United States and joined a reputedly violent Central American doomsday group.

The priest, who is legally blind and has had a series of heart surgeries, has become the chief celebrant and a ward of the Reina y Señora de Todo la Creado, which translates as "The Queen and Lady of All Creation."

The group, thought to include about 50 members, has been accused of threatening several persons, and attacking and severely beating one Costa Rican priest who criticized them. It is led by Juan Pablo Delgado, a 24-year-old "visionary" who claims to receive messages from the Virgin Mary. Sometimes called "the Virgin Cult" in San Isidro de Grecia, about 20 miles northwest of San Jose, it maintains its "sanctuary" there on several acres.

Among the communications Delgado reportedly claims to have received are messages that the world will end around the end of December, that Pope John Paul II will be assassinated and that Delgado will assume leadership of the Catholic Church.

The group, which has ties to Texas, remained obscure until September, when it came to the attention of Bruce Harris, director of the Central American child welfare agency Casa Alianza, a branch of New York's Covenant House. Harris, who received reports that youths were being sexually molested in the group, contacted Costa Rican authorities.

Those authorities, however, have said there is little they can do without direct evidence that boys are being molested and as long as the youths are placed in the sanctuary by their parents.

One of Harris' primary concerns was Prado.

Prado had been stripped of all clerical authority in 1991, after he differed with the Oblates over theological matters and after he was accused of molesting boys. The Oblates will neither confirm nor deny that Prado was disciplined for molesting boys, though Prado has confirmed that he was accused of such behavior and vehemently denied the accusations.

In June 2002, Ricardo Salinas, 50, wrote the Oblates, accusing Prado of molesting him in San Antonio in 1967, when Salinas was 14, a charge Prado has denied as well.

Now, however, another 50-year-old man, Mike Huerta of San Antonio, has accused Prado of a similar act. Huerta, who read of Prado in the Chronicle, said he contacted the newspaper when he recognized his former priest's name and photograph.

"It was around September 1965, " said Huerta. "I was 12 and my brother was 10, and our father had passed away earlier that year."

Huerta said his mother sent her sons to Prado for instruction for their First Communion.

"Our father had passed away without ever making his First Communion, and my mom didn't want the same thing happening to us," Huerta said.

On two occasions, after the instruction sessions had ended, said Huerta, Prado sent Huerta's younger brother out of the building, then told Huerta he wanted him to try on clothes that Prado was collecting for "the poor people of Mexico."

Huerta said the priest had him strip naked and then try on used underwear while Prado fondled him under the guise of checking the fit. Subsequently, he said, the priest asked him probing sexual questions in the confessional.

Years later, said Huerta, in 1970 or 1971, Prado asked him into the rectory, where he showed Huerta slides of a fair through a View Master. Huerta said the priest had him lie on the priest's bed, looking through the viewer toward the light, then attempted to molest him.

Huerta said he managed to slip away from Prado and left.

"I told my mother, and she wouldn't or couldn't believe me," said Huerta. "I never tried to report it to any authority, but what I said is true."

"I thought about suing once, back around 1990. I called a couple of lawyers, but they weren't very interested, and I just blew it off."

Prado could not be reached for comment on Huerta's accusation, though the priest declared in a recent interview at the sanctuary that "I've never molested any boy."

In the meantime, Father Patrick Guidon, director of the Oblates in San Antonio, said an emissary had been sent to Costa Rica to serve Prado with official and final notice that he was being expelled from the order.

"He (the emissary) spoke to Father Prado and to Delgado," said Guidon. "He said Delgado insisted on giving him a message from the Virgin."

"He said it was `scary.' "

That message was to leave the group and Prado alone.

According to reports, between 20 and 30 teenage boys, most of whom are said to be from Texas, recently arrived in San Isidro de Grecia. Those youths are reportedly dressed as monks, in black cassocks and scapulae, and are said to be busily digging a series of bunkers at the rear of the sanctuary.

The bunkers are said to be for food, in preparation for the Armageddon that Delgado has prophesied for the end of December.

Another U.S. priest, Monsignor Richard Louis Carroll of Mississippi, recently visited the sanctuary while writing a book about religious apparitions. Carroll said he believes Delgado receives messages from the Virgin Mary. The monsignor also said he was not aware of bunkers being dug, and he took issue with descriptions of the group as a "cult" or as "dangerous."

"This is an oasis of peace," he said. "These are kind, loving, decent people. None of these youths are here under duress."

Carroll conceded, however, that he speaks no Spanish, had no conversations with any of the boys or with many of the cult members, and did not venture into the area where the youths are reportedly digging.

Man's $20 million lawsuit accuses priest of abuse
Houston Chronicle/February 23, 2004
By Evan Moore

Man's $20 million lawsuit accuses priest of abuse
Houston Chronicle/February 23, 2004
By Evan Moore

A $20 million lawsuit has been brought against the Oblate Fathers and Father Alfredo Prado, the fugitive Oblate who fled his order and joined a doomsday cult in Costa Rica.

Ricardo Salinas, a former San Antonio resident who said Prado sexually molested him in 1967, filed the suit in state court in California.

Salinas, 50, a former parishioner of Prado's at St. Timothy's Catholic Church in San Antonio, said the attack occurred when he was 14 and had approached Prado for counseling about problems with his father.

"He got me drunk and raped me," Salinas said. "When I tried to tell my mother, she wouldn't believe me."

Salinas' complaint was never reported. Prado, 73, was later stripped of his priestly authority by the Oblates over undisclosed actions and ordered into a church psychiatric treatment facility.

He fled the order last year and appeared in Costa Rica, where he has become the chief priest for the Reina y Senora de Todo lo Creado, a cult whose name translates loosely to "The Queen and Lady of All Creation."

The group, often referred to as "the virgin cult," is led by Juan Pablo Delgado, a self-styled visionary who claims to receive messages from the Virgin Mary. The cult reportedly is violent and has been accused of brainwashing adolescent boys who join it.

Justin Schwartz, an Oakland, Calif., attorney who represents Salinas, said he filed the suit in late December under a California law that lifted the statute of limitations on civil suits over child molestation.

Schwartz said the Oblates were served notice of the suit Friday. Prado, who remains in Costa Rica, has not been served.

"It was a matter of squeezing in the door," said Schwartz, who explained that the law lifting the statute of limitations had a sunset clause and expired at the end of December.

The suit alleges that the Oblates either knew or should have known Prado was a pedophile and failed to protect Salinas and others from him.

Calls to Prado and to attorneys for the Oblates were not returned.

Disgraced priest finds home in secretive sect: An interesting story wrote by Evan More a reporter from Texas

Disgraced Texas priest finds home in secretive Central American sect

By EVAN MOORE - Houston Chronicle
October 25, 2003

Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle

SAN ISIDRO de GRECIA, Costa Rica -- It's a twisted trail that leads from Texas to this Central American village, and along it stretches the strange and disturbing odyssey of Father Alfredo Prado.

Prado's path is an errant one. Stripped of his priestly authority by the Oblate Fathers in Texas under accusations of sexually molesting children -- which the 73-year-old cleric vehemently denies -- Prado has now become a fugitive from his order and the chief celebrant for a reputedly violent doomsday cult in Costa Rica.

Prado is now an embarrassment to the Oblate Fathers in the United States and an annoyance to church and government officials in Costa Rica. Since his arrival in Costa Rica in January, his presence has managed to pit an international child welfare organization against the Catholic Church, the Catholic Church against the cult and the cult against just about everyone.

At first glance, Alfredo Prado is anything but imposing. Short, stocky, aging, he regards his visitors with what appears to be a startled glare, until it becomes clear that the gaze is the result of a form of partial blindness known as macular degeneration.

Seated in his quarters at the back of the "sanctuary" in San Isidro de Grecia, clothed in black vestments, Prado gives every appearance of being what he claims he is -- a priest.

Only one element seems askew: Prado's new home is a cult compound, an elongated strip of several acres on which a large house and several outbuildings house a handful of adults and eight or 10 teenage boys.

"I'm here because my Blessed Mother asked me to come," Prado said, referring to the Virgin Mary.

"She chose me to come here, and I'm honored."

More than 30 years ago, he considered himself honored to serve as pastor of St. Timothy's Catholic Church in San Antonio, where he was known as a talented, charismatic cleric, a man with a doctorate in psychology, a priest who sang, danced and did magic tricks for children.


Finding his `calling' in Costa Rica
That was long before the Oblate Fatherhood stripped him of his clerical authority in 1991, ostensibly for theological differences, but, according to Prado, accompanied by accusations of child molestation. It was long before he was sent to a church pedophile treatment center in New Mexico in 1991, long before he defied the church's orders to enter a retirement home in Missouri last year and long before he found his "calling" more than 1,600 miles from St. Timothy's, in Costa Rica.

Now, Prado has found a home in this land of contradictions, a land in which Costa Ricans legitimately boast of magnificent vistas, then obscure those views with massive security walls. Here, the legally blind septuagenarian with a history of heart problems drinks and dances at weddings he performs with no priestly authority.

Here, in the country's Central Valley, deep in the shadow of the Poas Volcano, Prado has found a new home as a "priest" and guest of the Reina y Senora de Todo la Creado.

That sect, whose name translates to "Queen and Lady of All Creation," was formed as an obscure group in 2000 by a self-styled visionary, Juan Pablo Delgado.


`Messages' from area's most exalted saint
Delgado, a 25-year-old who claims to receive and relay messages from the Virgin Mary, had previously been aligned with a group with a similar name in Heredia, a colonial town just north of of San Jose.

Both groups exalt "the Virgin," a saint who occupies a special position throughout heavily Catholic Central America. That position is even more exalted in Costa Rica, where Mary is the country's patron saint.

Nowhere is that position more evident than in Cartago, Costa Rica's first city, about 15 miles southeast of San Jose. There, in the Basilica de Nuestra Senora de Los Angeles, is a tiny, black stone figure of the Virgin, called "La Negrita."

The figure, almost lost on a vast, ornate altar, is credited with miracles. On Sundays, lines of supplicants extend far beyond the church out onto an adjacent square. Each year on Aug. 2, tens of thousands make a pilgrimage -- many of them walking 50 miles or more -- to pay respect and pray to the figure.

It was in that social climate that Delgado and the Heredia group's founder, Eugenio Rodriguez, first conducted their weekly sessions with "the Virgin" in the late 1990s. The pair argued in April 2000, however, and Delgado left, borrowing the name to begin his own cult.

Sometimes called "the Virgin cult," Delgado's group developed ties to Texas, specifically to San Antonio and surrounding areas, where several of its members reside. It also has its own Web site, where Delgado's "messages" from "the Virgin" are routinely posted. Sometimes cryptic and vague, they are periodically more secular, referring to current Costa Rican politics and sporting events.

Some deal with economics. With no means of support outside the group, Delgado relies on the generosity of his followers. At the direction of "the Virgin," one donated the grounds and main house for the sanctuary. At her direction, others give money, though exact amounts are unknown.

Still other messages are more dramatic. Among them are predictions that Pope John Paul II will soon be assassinated and that the world will end in the final days of December.

"We think this group is dangerous," said Bruce Harris, director of Casa Alianza, an international child welfare organization. "We've had several reports that children are being sexually abused there. Initially, there were several boys who told others that they were being molested, but we've never been able to get them off the grounds to talk to them."

Secretive and defensive, Delgado refuses interviews. Several teenage boys working on the grounds either refused to speak or nervously declined, saying they did not have "permission."

The exact size of the group's membership is unknown, although it is elite. Members are known to include lawyers, physicians, engineers, teachers and now, Prado.

But, with Prado's arrival, it is no longer obscure. The priest's residency has brought scrutiny on the group.

A San Antonio woman, a former parishioner of Prado's who has since joined the cult, enlisted Prado in January to perform weddings, hear confessions and preside over funerals. Prado, who already was at odds with his order, said he readily accepted.

"I never had a moment of doubt, no skepticism," Prado said. "The Blessed Mother decreed that I was already separated from the Oblates, that they had no authority over me.

"After the way the Oblates treated me ... they accused me of raping boys. Terrible, degrading accusations.

"I never raped anyone in my life."


Accusations of rape in Texas in the 1960s
Ricardo Salinas, however, has said that Prado raped him in the 1960s, when he was 14 and Prado was his priest.

Salinas, 50, said the assault occurred in San Antonio in 1967, when he went to Prado seeking advice about his relationship with his father.

"My father physically brutalized me as far back as I can remember," Salinas said. "I liked Father Prado. I thought he was a safe haven for me.

"One evening, after a particularly harsh argument with my father, I went to the church to talk to Father Prado. He invited me into his private rooms and gave me a large tumbler of brandy and told me to drink it."

Later, when he was intoxicated, Salinas said, Prado sexually assaulted him.

"I remember him whispering, `Sssh, sssh. This will be our secret.' "

The following day, Salinas said, he told his mother about the assault, but she did not believe him.

"She told me, `Priests never do such things,' " Salinas said.

In June 2002, Salinas wrote the archdiocese in San Antonio, seeking information about Prado. The answer came from Father Patrick Guidon, director of the Oblates there.

"I want to express my sincere regrets for whatever inappropriate conduct happened to you," Guidon wrote. "I apologize sincerely for any responsibility the Oblate community bears for the pain you have suffered ...

"You asked if Alfredo Prado is still alive. ... He is now in retirement and is in poor health; he is legally blind and suffers from cardiovascular disease."

Prado said he does not remember Salinas and said he had no sexual contact with him.

Prado, however, acknowledges that he was accused specifically of assaulting Salinas and others.

He also acknowledges that he has performed weddings, heard confessions and performed other priestly functions for Delgado's group. In addition, he said, he continues to do so, which is the basis of a criminal fraud complaint brought by Casa Alianza.

Casa Alianza, the Central American branch of New York's Covenant House, serves as an advocate for children's rights in five countries, including Costa Rica. The group has been active in putting pressure on Central American governments to address violations, including "death squads" in Guatemala, where police were dispatched to shoot roving bands of orphaned children on the streets.

Harris, Casa Alianza's director, became the target of assassination attempts in Guatemala after that incident. His office was sprayed with machine-gun fire, and he was forced to flee the country.

Today, Casa Alianza offices in San Jose are housed behind a massive sliding steel door and protected by an armed guard who screens visitors.

"We're sort of a rabble-rousing group for children," Harris said. "We're not very popular with some of the governments in these countries, but sometimes we're successful in forcing them into action."

Harris said he learned of the "Virgin cult" in early summer, then began receiving more calls about it in August.

Some of those were from Randall Blanco, a North Carolina information technologist whose nephews, ages 16 and 14, were placed in the group after Blanco's brother joined the sect.

Blanco said he visited Costa Rica in late August. When he attempted to see his nephews and inspect their living conditions at the sanctuary, however, Delgado's followers rebuffed him. Later, he said, he was appalled to learn that his older nephew was living in the same quarters with Delgado.

Harris began calling various agencies about the sect in September and said the Oblate Fathers in San Antonio told him that Prado had been disciplined for child molestation.

Concerned that children were being molested in the cult, Harris contacted the church in Costa Rica as well as Rosalia Gil, Costa Rica's minister of youth. In addition, he said, he filed a formal complaint of fraud against Prado and Delgado for falsely representing themselves as priests, a crime in Costa Rica.

Gil, however, said there is little she can do about the cult.

"We will be working on this group, but, immediately, we have more pressing matters," said Gil, whose agency has been involved with the arrest of a child sex-trade ring, another campaign by Harris' organization. "Unfortunately, without definite proof that children are being molested in that group, there's not much we can do.

"We are conducting an investigation, but if they are there with parental consent, we can't just remove them. And we have no evidence at this point that Alfredo Prado or Delgado have molested anyone."


Seeking records from the church
That prompted Casa Alianza to request Prado's records from the Catholic Church, Harris said.

Within weeks, four Costa Rican Catholic bishops denounced the cult.

"But they knew about them before I ever called them," Harris said. "And, if they have information that Prado is a child molester as they said, they should produce it, rather than just disassociate themselves from him and allow him to remain in proximity to several young boys in that group."

Officials of the Oblate Fathers would neither confirm nor deny that they have any proof that Prado is a child molester. Guidon, however, confirmed that Prado was stripped of all authority in the early 1990s, that he was sent to the church pedophile treatment center and that the process to expel him from the order has now begun.

Shortly after the bishops' denunciation, the violence began. Father Benm Gomez, a priest who acts as spokesman for the San Jose Diocese, read the bishops' denouncement on a weekly radio program and began receiving anonymous phone threats.

"They told me I'd better change my attitude about their group, and I tried to explain that I was just relaying an announcement," Gomez said.

"Then, they attacked me."


Anonymous threats, a violent confrontation
On Sept. 3, Gomez said, 10 men came to his home and confronted him at the front door. The men shouted at the priest about "attacking our mother," then began beating him.

Gomez suffered multiple injuries and was hospitalized for several days. Now recovered, he said he is wary about venturing onto the street.

"This group is dangerous," he said. "I'm afraid when I go to my office now, when I leave my house."

Others who have left or opposed the cult have reported threats as well. Neighbors of the group regard it with little sympathy. Residents of San Isidro de Grecia have brought a petition with 139 signatures, demanding that Delgado and his group leave the little community.

"This group can bring us nothing but trouble," said Roberto Picado Gonzalez, a welder who worked at the compound before he knew what Delgado was building.

"He (Delgado) has nothing but contempt for his followers," Gonzalez said. "When I was working there, I saw a crudely done painting of Jesus and I mentioned that it wasn't good enough for a church.

"He (Delgado) just laughed and said, `Don't worry. It's good enough for the fools who will come here.' "

Other neighbors did not wish to identify themselves, although Alvaro Zamora spoke in detail of his dealings with Delgado.

Zamora, whose property abuts the sanctuary in San Isidro de Grecia, said he first lost his wife, then his children, his bulls, his dogs and finally his home to the cult.

"My wife believed in this Pablo," said Zamora, 48. "About a year ago, she began telling me I was a `witch' because I didn't agree.

"Eventually, Pablo told her to take my two bulls and sell them. Then he told her to kill my two Rottweiler dogs, and she poisoned them. Finally, she and my twin boys (ages 17) began spending all their time at the sanctuary with my 5-year-old daughter.

"By then, I was sleeping in a separate room with a lock on the inside of the door because I was afraid my wife might kill me in my sleep. Now, we're divorced and I live with my parents."


A comfortable new life, a `frightening' message
Now, Prado resides in a comfortable if Spartan room at the back of the sanctuary, unconcerned that the Oblates have started the process to expel him from the order. He is fed, clothed and cared for by the cult and, in turn, serves as its priest.

"These people do everything for me," he said. "I have nothing. The Oblates cut me off and Ihaven't gotten my pension, but these people clothe me, feed me and house me.

"No one is being molested here.

"The Virgin is happy about my priesthood. She could read my heart that I would live here and stay here the rest of my life."

Delgado, who announced that "the Virgin" would not speak during October, left the compound this month and has not been seen. Before departing, however, he announced that "the Virgin" had directed all members with young boys to consider placing their sons with the group, because "young blood" is needed.

"We've seen that message," Harris said. "That's frightening, isn't it?"

Former S.A. priest leading Costa Rican church that many call cult
KENS 5 Eyewitness News/February 16, 2004
By Deborah Knapp

The Archdiocese of San Antonio is warning Catholics about a breakaway church deep in Central America. Dozens of San Antonians have visited the sanctuary in Costa Rica and support it financially. But an investigation is underway to see if this sanctuary is truly Eden or evil.

"I was asking people, just asking them, I can not order them because if they want to travel to hell, that's their business," San Antonio Archbishop Patrick Flores said.

The place Archbishop Patrick Flores is asking San Antonio Catholics to stay away from is a sanctuary in Costa Rica.

Costa Rica, with its rain forests, jungles and mountain scenery, has been likened to paradise. But there's a warning to Catholics: Stay away from a sanctuary there.

The reason -- a visitor from San Antonio and a controversial visionary that has the Costa Rican government investigating and the archdiocese of San Antonio involved.

Father Alfredo Prado fled San Antonio last fall after church officials ordered him into a retirement home. Now he's involved in a controversial Costa Rican religious group at a small sanctuary nestled on a ridge above a coffee plantation.

The 73-year-old Prado is accused of sexually abusing teenage boys more than 30 years ago while serving as pastor at St. Timothy's Catholic Church in San Antonio.

He has never been charged and Prado denies any wrongdoing.

Dozens of San Antonians have visited the compound in Central America. Some are drawn by Prado, others come to hear a 24-year-old with only a third-grade education.

Juan Pablo Delgado is the leader of what locals call the Virgin Cult.

Troubled ex-S.A. clergyman still with group in C. America
Express-News Mexico City Bureau/January 4, 2004
By Dane Schiller

San Isidro de Grecia, Costa Rica -- Father Alfredo Prado has a new life here, a reinvigorated purpose and circumstances as unusual as his protégé, self-proclaimed visionary Juan Pablo Delgado.

The 73-year-old Austin-born clergyman has proclaimed the Gospel for decades in Texas, Mississippi, Arizona and villages in Mexico, where he used a bullhorn to preach under the stars.

Because of problems in his past - the exact nature of which neither he nor Catholic Church officials would describe - he doesn't have the church's permission to be in Costa Rica or to function as a priest. He says he needn't answer to church officials on that subject - just to the Virgin Mary.

And so he prays, counsels, advises and even celebrates Mass with pilgrims who come here to listen to Delgado, who says he receives messages from Jesus Christ, the Virgin and St. Michael.

Prado said he is Delgado's spiritual adviser and that he was called here by the Virgin.

He said the Oblates turned their backs on him despite his having preached the Gospel for so long.

"They threw me out in my old age and my blindness and all they threw me out, no money, no nothing," said Prado, who said his only income is a monthly $160 Social Security check.

Prado left the United States last year without permission and is disobeying the church by functioning as a priest, wrote Father David Kalert, who heads the U.S. Oblates out of Washington, in an Aug. 20 letter to Archbishop Hugo Barrantes Ureña of San José, Costa Rica.

"There are various, very grave allegations against him, and they seem to be credible," states the letter, without mentioning specifics....

Priest or Pedophile?
LAST UPDATE: 2/13/2004 2:59:10 AM
Posted By: Holly Whisenhunt

The Catholic Church says he's a renegade priest. The Archdiocese recently warned followers to stay away from Father Alfredo Prado. He is accused of molesting young boys. Prado now belongs to a violent dooms day cult in Costa Rica. Trouble Shooter Brian Collister and his photographer risked their lives, traveling to Central America to track down and confront Prado about the allegations.

More than 30 years ago when Ricardo was just 14 he and his family went to St. Timothy's Church on the Westside. He turned to Father Prado after an argument with his father. "When I was growing up, I thought the world of Father Prado." Ricardo recalls.

But Ricardo says instead of helping him, Prado gave him a glass of brandy then seduced and raped him. "He had his hands all over me down the front of my pants, he was unbuttoning my shirt."

Ricardo says he told his parents but they didn't believe him, because priests don't do that. He says after Prado raped him, his life spiraled out of control, including several suicide attempts, and years of therapy. Ricardo says his emotional scars have not healed, "The extent of the damage this did to me, I still feel to this day".

Ricardo is not alone. Other alleged victims came forward in the early 90's. The oblate order of the Catholic Church sent Prado to a pedophile treatment center and stripped him of his right to preach. Then just last year, faced with retirement, Prado disobeyed the church and fled the country.

He took refuge at this religious sanctuary in Costa Rica. The group is described as a violent cult. It's led by a 24-year old, Juan Pablo Delgado, who claims to see visions of the Virgin Mary. Prado now serves as his spiritual advisor.

Even though he's now hundreds of miles from San Antonio, the controversy continues. Costa Rican reporters found out Prado was staying in the compound along with several young boys.

Reporters quizzed the 73-year old last year when immigration officials hauled him in for questioning about the molestation allegations.

Costa Rican officials let Prado stay. But what exactly goes on inside this mysterious cult compound? Is Prado a priest or a pedophile? ...........

A.M. Costa Rica: "Controversial U.S. priest not yet dismissed "
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A priest from the United States who has become a controversial figure here technically still is a Roman Catholic priest but his religious order is trying to dismiss him.

The Rev. David Kalert is the provincial superior of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate for the United States. He told a reporter that the dismissal process has been going on for several months and that the priest, Alfredo Prado, 73, does not have permission from the Oblates to be in Costa Rica.

"I contacted the bishop there a couple of weeks ago to alert him that (Prado) was present," Kalert said.

The provincial superior was interviewed by a reporter for the San Antonio, Texas, Express-News who relayed the information here. Kalert would not discuss the priest’s performance there, and it was unclear exactly what dismissal might mean: expulsion from the order or termination of being a priest.

To date there are no known charges leveled against Prado in Texas.

Prado is involved with a group of religious believers — some say cult — who insist that the Virgin Mary is making multiple visitations near Grecia.

The priest was summoned to the Costa Rican immigration authorities last week and told that because he is a tourist he should not practice priestly duties.

The controversy centers on the Santuario de la Virgen Reina y Señora de Todo lo Creado in San Isidro de Grecia, an agricultural and retirement community west of here. The Sanctuary of the Virgin, Queen and Lady of all Creation, does not have the support of the local Roman Catholic parish nor of the Diocese of the Province of Alajuela where the community is located.

But the believers are strong in their faith. The words of the Virgin are passed through one young man named Delgado.
The night of Sept. 4 some 10 men beat up a young priest who is the official spokesman for the national conference of bishops, and the victim blamed the believers. The battered priest has been the media figure issuing statements disassociating the church from the visitations.
Meanwhile, Prado, who has hired a lawyer, claims he is getting death threats. The lawyer denies sanctuary members administered the beating to the younger priest at the man’s home in Escazú..

The case has gone so far that the lawyer, Gerardo Machado Ramírez, has filed a plea with the Costa Rican Supreme Court alleging violation of religious rights.

Prado first came to Costa Rica in January to witness the visitations. The sanctuary was a low-level religious dispute until Casa Alianza, a child welfare organization, called attention to Prado and claimed he had been expelled from the Catholic Church in Texas, in part, because of allegations of abuse of minors.

The organization, a branch of the New York Covenant House, said it filed a formal criminal complaint charging the priest with usurpation of authority and fraud, all based on the allegation that he no longer was a priest but was pretending to be one.

A day later, Prado, told the Spanish-language press that he was a victim of revenge in the United States for his complaints about witchcraft and rampant homosexuality in the Seminary of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate in San Antonio.

El Diario Extra newspaper said the priest said he saw a container with human blood in the residence for priests in San Antonio.

Prado, who is blind and with a bad heart, carries a certificate he says is signed by Patrick F. Flores, bishop of San Antonio, that gives him the right to say Mass in private, which is what he does.

The priest, a U.S. native of Mexican parents, will try to obtain an immigration status that will let him stay longer than the 90 days usually granted to North American tourists.

A.M. Costa Rica: "Priest says 10 supporters of Virgin beat him up"

By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A priest who is the spokesman for the Roman Catholic Episcopal conference said he was attacked by about 10 men at his Escazú home Wednesday night.

The cleric blamed the attack on the Roman Catholic Church’s position on a reported series of visitations by the Virgin Mary at a dwelling in San Isidro de Grecia.

The priest said that his brother also was beaten by the men and showed a television audience his bruised neck where men grabbed him. The priest is the most visible person for the church in the controversy.

A spokesman for the group known as the Santuario de la Virgen Reina y Señora de Todo lo Creado denied any responsibility for the attack.

The sanctuary came into the news this week because a priest there, U.S. citizen Alfredo Prado, 73, was singled out by Casa Alianza as a man who had been let go by a Texas parish. Casa Alainza is a
child welfare organization. Prado denied allegations of improper behavior Thursday.
The allegations are not supported by independent evidence, but the Catholic church here immediately disavowed the activities at the sanctuary, and immigration officials called in the priest for an interview Thursday.

An official explained to the priest that he was not allowed to work because he was here as a tourist. If the priest chooses to seek an immigration status so he can stay here, he will have to provide a police record. Officials are believed to be checking his U.S. police record anyway.

The allegations against the priest blurred when the church got into the act. They said he was not authorized to conduct his priestly duties. The sanctuary has long been an embarrassment for the Catholic Church here and its history goes back at least three years, long before the priest arrived six months ago. Traditionally the church is uncomfortable with miracles, particularly those that intrude on the miracles the church has verified.

The Tico Times Online Daily Page: "PANI Investigates Youth Living at 'Sanctuary' "
By Tim Rogers
trogers@ticotimes.net


Alfredo Prado
The Child Welfare Agency (PANI) said Friday that it is investigating the circumstances of two minors living on the grounds of the so-called 'Sanctuary' in San Isidro de Grecia, home to polemic U.S. priest Alfredo Prado, accused last week by child-advocacy group Casa Alianza of "usurpation of authority and fraud."

PANI Minister Rosalia Gil told The Tico Times that child welfare authorities paid a visit to the 'sanctuary' last Thursday and discovered two boys, ages 14 and 16, living there with the U.S. priest, who reportedly was accused of sexually abusing children in San Antonio, Texas, where he was expelled from his parish (TT, Sept. 5).

Gil said the two brothers are reportedly living at the sanctuary with the permission of their parents, and there is no evidence that either has been a victim of sexual abuse. She did, however, say that the 14-year-old should be attending school under Costa Rican law, and that the PANI is reviewing the situation to determine the best course of action.

Prado, 75, maintains he is innocent of all allegations of misconduct. Casa Alianza, however, has accused him of celebrating mass and marriages without the approval of Costa Rica's Catholic Church, which last week said it is investigating the matter.

The Church already has taken a critical stance against Prado and the 'sanctuary,' where the Virgin Mary is thought by some to have appeared.

The Church does not recognize the sanctuary, and many of the residents living nearby are skeptical, according to local press reports. Immigration authorities last week said that Prado is in the country on a 90-day tourist visa and is prohibited by law from working or celebrating religious events.

Those who claim the Virgin appeared at the sanctuary are fervent in their belief. Last Thursday night priest and Catholic Church journalist Glen Gómez, who denounced the sanctuary as unauthorized by the Church, was attacked at his home in Escazú by 10 people who reportedly claimed to be "sons of Mary" from the "sanctuary," according to the daily La Nación.

Gómez was hospitalized for 24 hours.

Members of the sanctuary later denied playing a role in the beating, according to La Nación

Archbishop Patrick Flores of San Antonio is warning Catholics about a Costa Rican religious cult in which a former San Antonio priest has taken refuge.

In an uncharacteristic move, Flores has issued a statement urging Catholics to stay away from the Reina y Se�ora de Todo la Creado, which translates as “The Queen and Lady of All Creation.”

The group, which has ties to Texas and several members from San Antonio, is centered around Juan Pablo Delgado, a 24-year-old “visionary” who claims to receive messages from the Virgin Mary. It has a reputation for violence in Costa Rica, and its members are reportedly preparing for the end of the world in late December.

Father Alfredo Prado, former pastor of St. Timothy’s Catholic Church in San Antonio, has become the group’s chief celebrant. Prado became a fugitive from the Oblate Fathers earlier this year when he defied orders to enter a retirement home and instead fled to Costa Rica.

Prado, 73, was stripped of his clerical authority in 1991 after differing with officials of the Oblate Fathers over theology and after he was accused of molesting boys — a charge he has vehemently denied. Recently, the Oblate Fathers served final notice on Prado that he is being removed from the priesthood altogether.

The cult has been denounced by three Costa Rican bishops. Citing those denouncements, Flores said, “I caution everyone in San Antonio to not get involved. I recommend this for your good and the good of the universal church.”

Flores’ release did not specify Prado by name but mentioned the concern of the Costa Rican bishops over Prado’s presence and his celebration of Mass and other sacraments at the cult’s sanctuary in San Isidro de Grecia, near San Jose.

“In addition to their suspicions concerning the validity of the apparitions themselves, the bishops of Costa Rica have also voiced concern over apparent irregularities involving the Blessed Sacrament and the unauthorized celebration of the sacraments by those who do not have the authority of the local bishop to perform these priestly functions,” the release states.

The archbishop did not address the child molestation accusations. The Oblates will neither confirm nor deny that Prado was disciplined for molesting boys, but Prado has said he was accused of such behavior and has denied the accusations.

Instead, Flores admonished Catholics to avoid the cult until — and if — the apparitions Delgado claims are proven.

“If this apparition ever receives the approval of the bishops, somewhere down the line, then it will be made public,” Flores said.

“It has already been made public that it does not have the approval of the bishop or the archbishop in that area.”
Link:
Archbishop Warns

Eden or evil?
Express-News Mexico City Bureau/January 4, 2004
By Dane Schiller

San Isidro de Grecia, Costa Rica -- On the edge of a lush coffee plantation, San Antonio Catholics with careers ranging from law to biochemistry invest their faith in a shaggy, black-haired prophet who never made it past third grade.

Drawn to this hilly compound by the belief that Juan Pablo Delgado is God's messenger, the pilgrims reject three bishops' warnings not to be tricked by the enigmatic 24-year-old, who shares with them daily messages from a Jesus Christ and Virgin Mary only he hears and sees.

They follow what they feel in their hearts and sniff from Delgado's socks - which they smell in praise for the sweet scent that's said to come from wounds on his feet similar to those of the crucified Christ.

And they laugh at outsiders who compare them to doomsday cultists like Jim Jones' People's Temple followers, who committed mass suicide in Guyana in 1978, or David Koresh's Branch Davidians, who perished in an inferno ending a federal siege of their compound near Waco in 1993.

"We are engineers, lawyers, doctors - we are not crazy people," said Guadalupe Nypaver, 64, of San Antonio.

But leaders of the Catholic Church, who admit to having laymen spies, paint a far different picture of this Eden in Central America.

Delgado's spiritual adviser is Father Alfredo Prado, 73, who recently was dismissed from his Oblate order and accused of sexually molesting two San Antonio teenagers more than 30 years ago, when he served at St. Timothy's Catholic Church.

The legally blind Prado, who denies any wrongdoing and defies the church by continuing to celebrate Mass and hear confession, never has been charged with a crime and says he's being unfairly attacked.

But his link to Delgado has deepened suspicion of the younger man.

Church leaders contend what happens at Delgado's compound is tragic, if not sinister. They believe Delgado cuts himself to make the Christlike wounds, and they're skeptical of the messages, from the purely devotional to the grimly apocalyptic, that Delgado delivers on his knees, into a microphone, before a rapt audience.

And the local archdiocese thinks Delgado, whom some believe could be schizophrenic, is making money by deceiving people.

"It is very, very dangerous because he is manipulating the people with fear by saying the Virgin says the world is going to end and you have to be here or you won't be saved," said Father Sixto Varela, an administrator for the Costa Rican diocese of Alajuela.

Father Glen Gómez, a spokesman for the Catholic bishops' conference of Costa Rica, claims he recently was beaten by young men claiming to be "children of the Virgin Mary" after he spoke out against Delgado.

On the advice of two Costa Rican bishops, Archbishop Patrick Flores of San Antonio took the unusual step of warning his flock not to visit.

"I caution everyone in San Antonio not to get involved," Flores wrote in a column published in Today's Catholic in November. "I recommend this for your own good and the good of the universal church."

Prado said he believes debate will continue over Delgado, but the compound will grow to 100 times its current size and draw thousands.

"It is difficult to explain to a nonbeliever because you know the saying: for the nonbeliever no explanation will suffice," he said. "For the believer, no explanation is needed."
Warnings of destruction

Church officials keep records on everything from the names of Delgado's dogs, Kadosh and Petrus, to photographs and government identification numbers of several followers.

Delgado, who canceled an interview for this article that was said to have been approved by the Virgin during a midnight session, hasn't had a traditional job in years and he's young enough to be a grandchild to many of the pilgrims. But that doesn't stop his followers from looking to him for answers on how to live  and kissing his feet.

Nypaver and other pilgrims form a core group of about a dozen Alamo City Catholics who learned of Delgado through friends, family, church and Bible study.

They come, sometimes monthly, to be in a place with an incredible view, a blessed stream, a guesthouse, wooden chapel, and plantings of sugarcane, coffee and banana.

The compound's life-size mannequins of Christ and the Virgin are dressed in crowns and regularly changing elaborate outfits designed by Delgado and made by a dressmaker follower.

"We haven't given up on the world, but at the same time we don't need to prove anything to the world," said Alicia Treviño, 56, who owns a San Antonio day-care center and was here on her 19th trip.

Followers said they spend their days praying, discussing faith and waiting for messages. For them, this is paradise.

"I cannot imagine the Garden of Eden was any more beautiful," said Kathy Gruber, 60, a retired clinical biochemist from San Antonio.

Delgado's followers don't have death wishes, they say. And that recent bulldozing some thought was for bunkers? That actually was part of expansion, which is funded largely by Texas donations and includes another two-story guesthouse.

For Nypaver, Gruber and the others here, this is a mystical world where nothing happens by chance. Whether finding a pair of glasses lost in a stream, managing the stress of daily life or seeing a child survive risky surgery, it all is the will of God.

They don't easily trust outsiders, who they believe spread lies about their paradise and secretly monitor and photograph them for church officials challenging their claim to a reserved seat to heaven.

Delgado's followers believe he is on the same road to sainthood taken by others once plagued by doubters. Through history, reports of the Virgin's appearing to people have been numerous and worldwide.

Such people have power regardless of the truth of their claims, said Martha G. Newman, director of religious studies at the University of Texas at Austin.

"He or she becomes an actor in a drama that lifts him or her out of the everyday and offers a special position as an intermediary to the divine," she said. "They provide (believers) ... with a strong sense of community, a strong sense of a connection with their God, and often a sense of consolation, instruction or confirmation of faith."

Some nearby residents said they avoid Delgado and his followers.

"Nobody gets involved with them and they don't get involved with anybody," said Andrea Alfaro Rojas, 25. "They are nice enough people, but we don't share their beliefs."
Words of the Virgin

Followers watched carefully on a recent evening as Delgado, wearing a black robe, went to his knees and stared at a spot 8 feet up the chapel's wall.

Clutching a microphone near his moustache and small goatee, Delgado spoke what his believers consider to be the words of the Virgin.

A teenage assistant, studying to be a priest, rang a bell to alert the area to the incoming messages.

"I tell you that I am the always virgin holy Mary, mother of the only and living God," he said in a soft, high-pitched voice in Spanish. "All my children, I, your mother, receive all your prayers. I intercede for all your needs."

Most of the 83 onlookers, many of them from Mexico, knelt. The elderly sat. Children lie on the floor.

Some wrote down the words and recorded his voice. Others cried. Delgado's voice has a higher pitch when communicating messages from the Virgin and a lower one when reciting those of Christ or St. Michael.

Delgado has had thousands of such visions, which started four years ago.

The messages deal with love, fire, brimstone and on occasion, practical matters. During one vision, he told a couple who own the compound site that they and their two children should give him their house and build a new one. They did.

There have been warnings to avoid the tumult that will come with the "destruction of the greater part of the world," descriptions of the earth shaking and seas rising in a vapor, even a prediction the pope will be assassinated by priests.

One message stated that when the world ends, only those in the compound will be saved. Last May, Delgado quoted the Virgin saying, "My warning has again been rejected, the punishment has arrived. This war will be worse than any other."

Delgado's visions, some of which are transcribed and posted in English on the group's Web site, come most nights after 6 p.m.

But once they came at 4 a.m., to accommodate pilgrims leaving on a morning flight.

See Full News here: Eden or Evil?