MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) — Protestors lined up outside of Cathedral Square Sunday morning demanding more transparency and answers from the Archdiocese of Mobile regarding disgraced priest Alex Crow, who went to Italy with an 18-year-old recent McGill-Toolen graduate.

The group of protestors called the Catholic Warrior Initiative went to Cathedral Square, holding up signs calling out the alleged actions of Father Alex Crow.

“Whenever an incident happens, whether it be evil, whether it be whatever, if they acknowledged it, if they told the parishioners about it, just be open, honest and transparent about it,” said Bud Hadley, organizer of the group.

The Mobile County Sheriff’s Office and Mobile County District Attorney’s Office launched their investigation after the Archdiocese of Mobile reported his behavior to them. MCSO previously stated that there may be evidence of Crow being involved with the recent graduate before she turned 18.

Disgraced priest Alex Crow, accused of grooming a high school girl before taking her out of the country after graduation (Archdiocese of Mobile photo)

Concerns from the protestors rose as little information has been released about the investigation, causing them to mistrust McGill-Toolen High School and the Catholic Church.

“The parents should not have should not have to worry about sending their kids to a Catholic school and worry about their children being sexually abused or emotionally abused,” Hadley said.

Other protestors said they’ve tried to report previous behavior that they’ve noticed to the archdiocese, but they said nothing has been done about it.

“Even though when we present evidence to the archdiocese, they ignore it,” fellow protestor Debbie Cooper said. “Whether it’s actual pictures, actual emails, text, whatever it is, they ignore it and they claim that they there was no knowledge of it occurring. They would have acted on it and they don’t.”

Protestors holding signs demanding action from the Archdiocese of Mobile (WKRG Photo)

“So the Crow situation, at least as far as him taking her to Italy, it could have absolutely been prevented,” Hadley said. “Parents and students have complained about Crow for years, but yet he was still allowed to. No matter what McGill says, he was still allowed to come on McGill property to the religion classes, to the theology classes, [and] hear confessions.”

In response to the protests, the Archdiocese of Mobile released a statement to WKRG News 5.

The Archdiocese of Mobile takes every accusation of sexual misconduct with a minor seriously.  Sexual misconduct with a minor is not tolerated and we work together with school and parish leadership, in whom we have full confidence, to ensure the enforcement of our Safe Environments Program.  Upon learning that Alex Crow had left the country with a recent McGill-Toolen graduate, the Archdiocese immediately reported this to the Mobile County District Attorney, who opened an investigation.  While the Archdiocese understands the public’s desire to know as much information about this situation as possible, since this is still an active criminal investigation, we continue to defer all further comment to the District Attorney and Mobile County Sheriff’s offices, with whom we are fully cooperating, so as not to hamper the investigation.

Archdiocese of Mobile

As MCSO and the Mobile County DA’s office continue to investigate, protestors hope immediate action will take place.

“Let their parishioners know what the archdiocese and what the administration [of] McGill has put into place to prevent that from happening again,” Hadley said. “I don’t know why they can’t figure that out. People would start trusting Catholicism. People would start trusting leadership in the archdiocese.”

“Pray for our city,” said another protestor Raymond Cook. “Pray for our kids, man.”

If you know any information that can help investigators in this case, you are asked to call the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office or District Attorney’s Office.