Catholic ministry repulsed by priest’s comments

HURON (MI)
Huron Daily Tribune

May 31, 2019

By Bradley Massman

The Archdiocese of Detroit is standing by its decision to remove a priest, who now resides in the Port Austin area, from ministry three years ago.

“The Archdiocese of Detroit … is repulsed by comments attributed to him in recent media reports,” the archdiocese stated in reference to Lawrence Ventline.

Ventline is a priest who has been temporarily removed from the ministry since 2016. He is also currently facing licensing action by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office.

Earlier this week, Ventline indicated he was going to sue the AG’s office.

“A lawsuit will be filed by week’s end with the finest prosecuting attorney in MI (Michigan) to sue the Catholic axe-grinding same-gender attracted AG Nessel,” Ventline previously stated in an email to the Tribune this week.

“Ventline’s personal attacks against Attorney General Dana Nessel have no place in public discourse,”the archdiocese stated. “In addition, any threat of a lawsuit by him has absolutely no support or involvement from the Detroit archdiocese.”

As of Friday morning, the AG’s office has not received a lawsuit from Ventline, Dan Olsen, a spokesperson for the AG, told the Tribune.

Ventline lashed out at the archdiocese in response to its statement decrying his comments about Nessel.

“AoD (Archdiocese of Detroit) are hellish hypocrites losing Catholics daily who seek Jesus and the truth,” Ventline told the Tribune.

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