Local Priest Had Contact with Children, but It Wasn’t Sexual

By Ross Farrow
Lodi News-Sentinel
March 1, 2012

http://www.lodinews.com/news/article_7e53c378-6338-11e1-91c0-0019bb2963f4.html

Two parishioners at a Stockton Catholic church testified Wednesday about Father Michael Kelly touching children in 1984. However, both of them said they didn’t consider the acts to be sexual misconduct.

The testimony came from the first two witnesses in the civil trial in San Joaquin County Superior Court. The plaintiff, a man in his late 30s, has sued Kelly and the Stockton Diocese, accusing Kelly of sexually abusing him when the plaintiff was an altar boy at Cathedral of the Annunciation in Stockton in the 1980s.

Kelly hasn’t been arrested or charged with criminal sexual misconduct. The case is being tried before a civil jury.

Kelly has been pastor of St. Joachim’s Catholic Church in Lockeford since 2004 and previously served in Stockton, Sonora, San Andreas and Ceres before being assigned to St. Joachim’s.

Barbara Greene, a parishioner at Cathedral of the Annunciation with three grown daughters, testified about incidents involving Kelly at Straw Hat Pizza, Leatherby’s Family Creamery and a friend’s house in which he tickled children and roughhoused with them.

Roy Mazzanti, the second witness, talked about what he considered inappropriate roughhousing by Kelly at Mazzanti’s house in the 1980s, but he said he didn’t consider the physical contact to be sexual.

Greene told church Pastor Lawrence McGovern or other authorities about three incidents in 1984, but she said she didn’t think it was necessary to report them.

“Was it troubling to you or unusual?” Finaldi asked.

“No,” Greene replied.

Finaldi questioned Greene about incidents where Kelly allegedly touched a small girl on the leg at Green’s friend’s house, tickling and giggling with middle school-aged girls at Leatherby’s and “straddling” young children and tickling them at a church fundraiser at Straw Hat.

It wasn’t explained what constituted “straddling.”

“Did you think straddling children was wrong?” Finaldi asked Greene.

“I just thought it was immature,” Greene said.

Finaldi asked, “Did your mother’s instinct indicate this (conduct) may not be right?”

Greene said it didn’t.

Finaldi then questioned his own witness’ qualifications to determine what constitutes sexual misconduct. He asked Greene if she had ever had professional training in sexual abuse matters.

“You’re not an expert on sexual abuse?” Finaldi asked.

“No,” Greene replied.

In his testimony Wednesday afternoon, Mazzanti talked about Kelly visiting his Stockton home in about 1984 when he saw Kelly singing, playing the guitar and wrestling with several children on the floor. One of the children was Mazzanti’s son, who was 9 or 10 years old at the time.

Mazzanti asked Kelly to stop wrestling with the children, and two or three weeks later, Mizzanti told McGovern about it.

“Did you see anything sexual?” Finaldi asked.

“I can’t say that,” Mazzanti said.

Finaldi later asked if Mazzanti told McGovern that Kelly’s conduct was sexual.

“No, I told him the behavior that I saw was improper,” Mazzanti said. “No, I don’t think he abused my children.”

Prior to testimony before the nine-woman, three-man jury, plaintiff attorney John Manly told Judge Bob McNatt on Wednesday morning that he objected to McNatt’s decision to separate the Kelly trial into two phases.

The first phase is to determine whether Kelly is liable for any sexual misconduct. If the jury determines that Kelly is liable, a second phase will be held to determine whether the Stockton Diocese acted improperly in it handling of the allegations against Kelly.

“That throws my entire case into chaos,” Manly told McNatt.

Manly said he has witnesses for the case from all over the country, so due to logistics, he can’t put some of them on the witness stand twice — once during the first phase involving Kelly and again during the phase involving the diocese.

Furthermore, Manly asked why diocese attorney James Goodman is even present for the phase regarding Kelly’s guilt or innocence, adding that Goodman shouldn’t be allowed to cross-examine witnesses for the plaintiffs.

“It’s just unfair, judge,” Manly said.

McNatt denied Manly’s request, saying, “This case is going to live or die with Father Kelly’s liability.”

Contact reporter Ross Farrow at rossf@lodinews.com