STOCKTON (CA)
The Modesto Bee
By Ross Farrow
Lodi News-Sentinel
STOCKTON — As Father Michael Kelly leaves St. Joachim’s Catholic Church in Lockeford after a jury determined that he sexually assaulted a former altar boy in the 1980s, the Stockton Diocese is picking up the pieces.
Bishop Stephen Blaire said Monday that he placed Kelly on paid administrative leave pending a recommendation by a special committee at the Vatican.
Kelly has moved out of the rectory on the parish grounds in Lockeford. He must find his own living arrangements, and he can no longer wear priest’s clothing, Blaire said.
Kelly, 62, was found liable of sexually assaulting an altar boy at Stockton’s Cathedral of the Annunciation in the mid-1980s. The plaintiff, now a 37-year-old man from Marin County, is on medical leave from his position as a pilot for Southwest Airlines. Kelly doesn’t face criminal charges because the statute of limitations has expired.
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