Parishioners Celebrating Holy Week with "Heavy Hearts" Amid Saginaw Diocese Sex Abuse Probe

By Michael Kransz
Michigan Live
March 30, 2018

http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index.ssf/2018/03/parishioners_celebrating_holy.html

The Most Rev. Joseph R. Cistone, Bishop of Saginaw, delivers the homily during Ash Wednesday Mass, Feb. 18, 2015 at the Cathedral of Mary of the Assumption, 615 Hoyt in Saginaw.(Andrew Whitaker)

The Catholic Diocese of Saginaw says many parishioners are celebrating Holy Week with "very heavy hearts" after recent search and seizures on two church properties and the home of Bishop Joseph R. Cistone as part of an investigation into sexual abuse by priests

Just days before Holy Week, which started March 25 and concludes with Easter Sunday on April 1, police raided the bishop's home, a cathedral rectory and the diocese offices. The search warrants were executed, because, prosecutors allege, diocese officials failed to fully cooperate in the ongoing investigation into sexual abuse within the diocese.

On Tuesday, March 27, Cistone commented on the doubts some parishioners might have about clergymen.

"Many of those we serve have doubts about the integrity of the priesthood and the sincerity of our commitment," Cistone said. "Tragically, the doubts and mistrust which people feel toward their priests often broadens into a mistrust of the church herself.

"Parishioners lose faith in the church as a community and institution. Unfortunately, they tend to separate the church into two parts: they the people and those who form the hierarchy of the Church."

"But, there is only one church and, together, we all form the one body of Christ, with Jesus as our head," the bishop continued.

Cistone gave those remarks Tuesday at a Chrism Mass at the Cathedral of Mary of the Assumption in Saginaw. At the Chrism Mass, priests of the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw renewed their priestly promises, said Erin Looby Carlson, a diocese spokesperson.

Since the raids, some parishioners have called for Cistone to resign, citing his past as a high-ranking member in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and a grand jury report on sexual abuse and cover-up within that diocese.

Carlson did not comment on that, offering only remarks the bishop made following the search and seizures.

"I understand this news is distressing and disheartening for the greater community and most especially our Catholic faithful," Cistone previously stated. "The diocese has made a sincere effort to cooperate with law enforcement to date and will continue to do so moving forward."

To date, only one diocese priest, the Rev. Robert DeLand, has been criminally charged. He was arrested Feb. 25 on accusations he sexually assaulted two males -- a 21-year-old and a 17-year-old -- in his Saginaw Township condominium.

Since DeLand's arrest, numerous tips and allegations about further sexual abuse dating back as far as three decades have flooded area police departments, investigators previously said. Among the tips were allegations against other clergymen.

In early March, the Saginaw County Prosecutor's Office formed a special investigative team to coordinate and investigate allegations of abuse involving "officials" within the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw.

The investigation ramped up with the raids March 22 on the bishop's home on Corral Drive in Saginaw Township, the rectory at Cathedral of Mary of the Assumption in Saginaw and the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw offices in Saginaw Township.

Another diocese priest, the Rev. Ronald J. Dombrowski, was suspended earlier in March by the diocese after they received a report he allegedly sexually assaulted a person when they were a minor. He has not been criminally charged.