EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated to correct a factual error regarding two West Michigan dioceses that are declining to release details of abusive priests to a Grand Rapids TV station. In reporting this story, our station misattributed that issue. We regret the error.
KALAMAZOO, MI (WTVB) – Two of the state’s seven Catholic dioceses that have been asked to share their lists of investigations related to priests with the media and abuse survivor advocates haven’t done so, according to a WOOD TV Target 8 investigation.
Courtney Covington, a spokeswoman for the Michigan Attorney General’s Office said, “in no way, shape or form” did Attorney General Dana Nessel say any diocese was not cooperating with state investigators.
Covington said Nessel had been questioned by the media last week during a visit to Rockford, and, when asked about the Catholic-priest investigation, simply said she hoped church officials were cooperative in the investigation.
For more than a year, Attorney General Dana Nessel has been looking into credible allegations of clerical abuse within Catholic churches in Michigan.
Her office has so far received lists including the names of 135 priests and church staff believed to have committed the possible crimes in previous decades, and countless victims.
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and several individual abuse survivors told Target 8 they’ve asked both Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo diocese for those lists, but have been unable to get them, according to SNAP director Zach Hiner.
Nessel’s investigation, so far, has led to the conviction of former St. Charles Borremeo and Our Lady of Fatima pastor Father Brian Stanley, who pleaded guilty to a felony of attempted false imprisonment.
Stanley has since been sentenced to 60 days in jail and required to register as a sex offender for 15 years. He will be on probation for five years.
Nessel’s office recently hired a victim advocate to aid abuse survivors in dealing with trauma as they navigate the judicial process, Covington said, adding the advocate is “there to support (survivors) through the entire process, to be their point of contact.”
It’s the first time the state has provided this type of service, Covington said.
Anyone who is a survivor of abuse or has information about an abusive priest, Covington said, is strongly encouraged to contact Attorney General investigators.
Call investigators’ hotline, toll-free, (844) 324-3374; email aginvestigations@michigan.gov; or submit information anonymously online.
The Grand Rapids diocese has a dedicated resource page at https://grdiocese.org/protecting-gods-children/resources. The Kalamazoo diocese resource page is here: https://protect.diokzoo.org.
WKZO’s Josh Scott and WHTC’s Peg McNichol contributed to this report
