EAST LANSING (MI)
Lansing State Journal
February 17, 2019
By Eric Lacy
A religious leader who resigned after being accused of sexually harassing a coworker last fall can no longer publicly function as a priest, a Catholic Diocese of Lansing spokesman said Sunday.
The Rev. Mark Inglot, 63, who served East Lansing’s St. Thomas Aquinas Parish and St. John Church and Student Center, has been given senior priest status, the Catholic church’s equivalent of retirement.
“In this climate we just want to make sure to folks this is not a question of a priest abusing children,” Michael Diebold, a diocese spokesman, said Sunday. “It was a credible allegation of sexual harassment, which was why Father Inglot was removed from the parish last fall.”
Inglot has not been charged of any crimes but will be prohibited from having any parish assignments within any Catholic church, Diebold said.
“Our senior priests are those who have reached an age where they are no longer assigned to a parish,” Diebold said. “Generally, a senior priest can and does help at parishes when it is necessary. That will not be the case with Father Inglot.”
A news release posted Saturday on the diocese’s website said Inglot was granted senior priest status after “a five-month period of therapy and discernment” and 37 years of service in the diocese.
It also stated that Inglot “will not have public faculties to celebrate the sacraments” and that he will “use the tools he has gained to live out priesthood in right relationship with God and others, and to strengthen his commitment to celibacy.”
Attempts to reach Inglot Sunday weren’t successful. Diebold said he isn’t sure if Inglot still resides in the Lansing area.
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