Edinburg priest’s affair with married parishioner tore apart family, suit says

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A lawsuit seeking over a million dollars in damages originally filed in December against the Catholic Diocese of Brownsville claims an Edinburg priest’s longtime affair with one of his parishioners caused her divorce and led her to neglect her children so much that one of them began calling the priest “El Diablo.”

 

In the suit, Jose “Joe” Gonzalez claims his wife Sylvia Vega reignited a sexual affair with Father Alejandro Flores by at least 2024, when the diocese transferred him to be the pastor of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Edinburg.

That relationship, Gonzalez alleges, resulted in Vega spending so much of her time with Flores that it severely harmed the five children he and Vega raised together over the past decade and a half.

Gonzalez sued the diocese on behalf of himself and as next friend of four of Vega’s children, identified only by initials in court documents.

Three of those individuals appear to be adults and another a minor.

“Priests are supposed to pursue integrity, be trustworthy and seek purity,” the suit says. “They are supposed to be God’s shepherds here on Earth. Flores’ immoral sexual relationship with Vega is completely contrary to these tenets. How can he exercise any type of integrity when he, a priest, is in a sexual relationship with Vega? How can he not know that Vega is not spending any time with her children, that she is not being a “mother” to her children, that she has completely abandoned her children? How does that demonstrate integrity?”

The diocese and Vega did not respond to requests for comment by press time.

Currently, the diocese lists Flores as being on leave or “on study,” and appears to have replaced Flores at St. Joseph early this year — only after Gonzalez filed his suit.

According to the lawsuit, Vega — a divorcee with four children — first began a physical relationship with Flores in 2010, when he served as pastor of St. Pius X Church in Weslaco and Vega taught Confraternity of the Christian Doctrine there.

“Flores was a common visitor to Vega’s Weslaco home and Vega’s children believed Flores was Vega’s boyfriend,” it says. “Flores even accompanied Vega and her children on day and overnight vacation trips. It was common to see Flores at Vega’s family gatherings. Flores was a constant visitor to Vega’s home in Weslaco.”

In 2011 Gonzalez met Vega and they went on several dates before their relationship ended.

Several months later, however, Vega contacted Gonzalez and told him she was pregnant, after which they entered into a common law marriage and Gonzalez began financially caring for Vega, her four children and their soon-to-be-born child, according to the suit.

After Vega became pregnant, she was removed from her duties as a CCD teacher, the suit says. Flores was transferred to Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Brownsville.

When Gonzalez and Vega’s child was born, the suit says, it was Flores in the delivery room with her, not Gonzalez.

Gonzalez became uncomfortable with Flores’ presence around Vega and the children, according to the suit, and Vega agreed to break off contact with him.

“Unbeknownst to Joe, Vega broke this promise and continued her relationship with Flores after he was transferred to Our Lady of Guadalupe Church and on occasions Vega took the children to masses that were being officiated by Flores at such church,” the suit says.

In a response to the suit, the diocese argued claims about its knowledge of Flores and Vega’s relationship at that time are inadequately vague.

Allegedly, Vega started becoming distant from her family in 2022, which Gonzalez suspected was due to her relationship with Flores intensifying.

In September of 2024 Flores became pastor of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Edinburg, where the child Gonzalez and Vega had together was enrolled as a student and where Vega volunteered.

Vega, according to the suit, began leaving for St. Joseph’s early in the morning and returning home late at night, often leaving Gonzalez to bring their child to school and take them home.

“When Joe or any of the children asked her about her relationship with Flores, Vega stated her intention to continue her relationship with him asserting that “God put him back in my life” and dismissed the family’s concerns as ‘your problem,’” court documents say.

The suit says Vega filed to divorce Gonzalez in May of 2025.

Gonzalez, an attorney, had bought Teslas for Vega and the children, which can be tracked remotely.

He began tracking Vega’s Tesla.

For days at a time, Gonzalez logged Vega’s Tesla parked at a home in Mission owned by the diocese, often late at night and sometimes for hours a day.

Gonzalez hired private investigators to look into both Flores and Vega.

One day last July, the suit says, the investigators followed Flores and Vega to Hacienda Las Mariposas, an upscale Mexican restaurant in McAllen, and took pictures of the couple “behaving as only lovers in an intimate relationship do as they are seen kissing each other only as lovers do.”

Photos attached as an exhibit to the suit show that alleged interaction.

“Hours later that Sunday Flores officiated a mass,” the suit says.

The next month, according to court documents, Gonzalez and Vega were divorced.

The suit describes Flores and Vega’s alleged affair sowing acrimony in the family and leading her to neglect her children.

One of the children, the suit claims, suffered from anxiety attacks triggered by overstimulation and their mother’s absence, and twice attempted or considered suicide.

Another, a special needs individual who is autistic and suffers from epilepsy, would have to wait in Vega’s car for hours at a time when Vega was visiting Flores, the suit claims.

The youngest child, the one born around 2011, was bullied by classmates at St. Joseph’s Catholic School because of how much time Flores and Vega spent together, according to the suit.

The suit alleges that two families withdrew their children from St. Joseph’s because of the alleged relationship between Flores and Vega.

During one school trip to Austin, the suit says, that youngest child witnessed other children doing drugs on a school bus while Flores and Vega travelled together and checked into a hotel.

That child eventually began to resent Flores, calling him “El Diablo.”

 

 

The alleged relationship between Flores and Vega, the suit says, significantly distanced the children from Vega.

“They all mourn the loss of their relationship with their mother,” the suit says.

Initially, Gonzalez sued the diocese for harassment, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligence.

In an amended petition filed last month, Gonzalez only sued the diocese for intentional infliction of emotional distress and gross negligence.

“As set forth herein Flores intentionally or recklessly used the cloak of his position as priest of the Diocese to manipulate Vega,” that petition says. “Flores knew that his behavior would cause Vega to abandon her children and husband. Furthermore, as a result of the constant contact he had with Vega and the children, he knew that his relationship with Vega would cause severe emotional distress to Plaintiffs.”

In a response to the suit, the diocese argued that some of Gonzalez’s claims are inadequately vague.

The diocese also pointed out inconsistencies in the initials used to reference Vega’s children.

In February, the diocese filed a motion to have the suit dismissed, arguing its claims had no basis in law.