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.