Report on Catholic Diocese of Kalamazoo names 19 former priests accused of abuse (2024)

KALAMAZOO, Mich. — The state's top lawyer released details on her investigation into another part of the Catholic church in Michigan.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel issued a report on the Catholic Diocese of Kalamazoo today. In total, 65 tips and 345,178 documents were tied to allegations against former clergy.

Report on Catholic Diocese of Kalamazoo names 19 former priests accused of abuse

19 priests are listed in the report. They are accused of grooming victims and then sexually assaulting them. The victims include children, teens, and adults.

Twelve of the priests are deceased. The remaining seven living priests are all out of active ministry.

Here are their names:

Leonard Bogdan
Dennis Boylan
Robert Consani
Thomas Devita
Richard Fritz
Robert Gerl
Jerome Heyman
Bernard Horst
Thomas Lapine
Wieslaw Lipka
Francis Marotti
David Otto
Gary Pammen
Carl Peltz
Stanley Staniszewski
Brian Stanley
Jacob Vellian
Bogdan Werra
Leroy White

Two of the men, Brian Stanley and Jacob Vellian have already had criminal charges filed against them. Stanley pleaded guilty to one county of attempted false imprisonment. He was sentenced to 60 days in jail, probation, and ordered to register as a sex offender in January 2020. Because of a ruling in an unrelated case, his registration as a sex offender was removed by state police.

Vellian was charged in 2019 with two counts of rape. According to the Attorney General's Office, Vellian was serving at a parish in India when he was charged. Vellian reported died in 2022 amid the extradition process. His death hasn't been confirmed by the U.S. State Department.

Bishop Edward M. Lohse, who started leading the Kalamazoo Diocese in 2023, held a press conference Wednesday morning responding to the report.

“The ugliness detailed in the Attorney General’s report is not the whole of who we are, but it is a part," he said. "The sexual abuse of minors by priests here in the nine counties of the Diocese of Kalamazoo is a historic reality. It is tragic, appalling and inexcusable.”

Catholic Diocese of Kalamazoo responds to abuse allegation report by the AG's office

The report is part of the Attorney General's on-going investigation into alleged abuse by clergy members.

“We must break down the walls of silence that so often surround sexual abuse and assault," Nessel said Wednesday. "In the end, we hope that this report provides a voice to those who’ve suffered in silence for so long.”

Nessel's office previously released reports on the Marquette Diocese and Gaylord Diocese. The remaining reports on the other four dioceses are still pending. She said there isn't a timeline for when they might be released, but said Lansing will likely be next, followed by Grand Rapids, Saginaw and Detroit.

AG Dana Nessel press conference on Kalamazoo Diocese report

The Diocese of Detroit is where Judy Larson was sexually assaulted in 1957.

Report on Catholic Diocese of Kalamazoo names 19 former priests accused of abuse (1)

“I was 10 years old. This is what I looked like," Larson said, holding up a picture of herself in black and white.

Larson said her abuse started when a priest took her to the rectory during Girl Scout meetings.

“Told me I was special, and then forced me to perform oral sex on him," she said.

The was only the beginning, and she said it only got worse. Decades passed before that priest, Richard Lauinger, was finally made it on the Diocese of Detroit's list of Restricted/Removed Clergy.

Larson, now 77, is on the Board of Directors for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP.

She applauds the AG's reports, but said they haven't changed much of anything in her eyes.

“There is still child abuse going on, and we won’t here about the cases now for another 30, 40, 50 years," she said.

According to a report on child sexual abuse published in the National Library of Medicine, most victims won't share their story for an average of 20-46 years. In fact, "early disclosure" usually refers to abuse reported within 15 years, it said.

Before Nessel was elected in 2018, the Attorney General's Office announced it would investigate the seven dioceses for past allegations of abuse by clergy. Investigators seized hundreds of boxes of documents and millions of digital files the Michigan Dioceses had compiled on abuse allegations against clergy members.

In her report today, Nessel noted the Diocese has cooperated with investigators and the Attorney General does not believe any information has been withheld.

Roughly one month ago, the Diocese of Kalamazoo issued changes to its youth protection policy and named several people who would not qualify to work with children any longer. 11 of the former priests listed by the Diocese are also named in the Attorney General's report.

Resources are available for anyone who is a survivor of abuse at the hands of clergy. The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests will help people to make a police report, find a therapist, and has more information on its website.

The Michigan Attorney General's Office has a dedicated hotline for reporting abuse allegations at 844-324-3374. Allegations can also be sent in through the AG's website.

The Catholic Charities is also running a crisis hotline at 1-800-873-8336. The Kalamazoo Diocese will also provide financial support for counseling and free entry into a 10-week treatment in the Trauma Recovery Program.

Victims of sexual abuse or assault in need of additional resources can contact 855-VOICES4.

Report on Catholic Diocese of Kalamazoo names 19 former priests accused of abuse (2024)

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