In a historic report issued Monday, the state’s top prosecutor accused dozens of high-ranking Catholic church officials in Michigan of past sexual abuse that dates back to the 1950s.
In the lengthy report, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel stated that investigators had found numerous claims of abuse against adults and children in the Diocese of Lansing since 1950.
The state’s study, which was released following a search warrant acquired in 2018, is based on claims of abuse revealed by the church, open-source media, over 1,100 public tips, millions of computer data from the diocese, and interviews with alleged survivors of abuse.
The study accuses 56 individuals in all, including four deacons, three religious brothers, 48 priests, and “an apparent former religious brother”. The majority of the purported mistreatment occurred throughout the 1970s and 1980s.
Nine people have been convicted out of the eleven who have been charged in relation to the inquiry.
The attorney general stated that some surviving suspects cannot be prosecuted because of the statute of limitations or because the alleged victims have not filed charges, while many of the people included in the new report are now deceased.
Instead of focusing on criminal prosecutions, the report aims to give “an acknowledgment to the victims of these alleged crimes” and present the findings of a massive, five-year investigation in which detectives searched 3.5 million digital documents and seized 220 physical boxes of papers.
“These reports are important not only because we made a promise to the survivors years ago, but also because victims are often silenced, sometimes for decades or a lifetime, especially in cases like these where the assaults were committed by trusted members of a community,” Nessel said in a statement.
The church has cooperated with the investigation, the attorney general said in the statement, and the “willingness of the Diocese to provide information was instrumental in the compilation of the report.”
Among others convicted of crimes is Vincent DeLorenzo, an 84-year-old priest from Michigan who admitted last year to preying on a 5-year-old boy during a 1987 family funeral. While completing his term, he passed away in January of this year.
An Ann Arbor priest named Timothy Crowley pleaded guilty to two counts of second degree sexual conduct and was given a sentence of one year in prison and five years on probation.
Bishop Earl Boyea, who has led the Diocese of Lansing since 2008, responded by expressing regret to all of the assault victims.
My heart aches for everyone who has been harmed by the evil of clerical sexual abuse, which is a terrible betrayal of Jesus Christ, His Holy Church, the priesthood, and, most importantly, those victims and their families who were hurt physically, emotionally, and most importantly, spiritually, he said in a statement after reading this lengthy and in-depth report.
He remarked, “I want to express unequivocally and clearly to everyone who has been harmed by such criminal and immoral acts: these horrible things should never have happened to you; I am so deeply sorry that they ever did; please be assured of my prayers, penance, love, and support.”
The Lansing inquiry by the Michigan attorney general is one of several inquiries examining claims of abuse in the church. By 2026, the office hopes to have released reports into all seven of the state’s dioceses, having previously done so for Gaylord, Marquette, and Kalamazoo.
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