BIRMINGHAM (AL)
Church Militant
May 14, 2020
By Martina Moyski
The newly named bishop-designate of Birmingham, Alabama, who will serve as spiritual advisor to EWTN, is coming to his new position with unresolved allegations of cover-up on his back.
Bishop Steven J. Raica has been accused of “maintaining the ministry of priests who abuse kids,” according to a press release issued May 12 by St. Mary MacKillop Coalition for the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults.
The Coalition issued the statement “to help spread the word” of Bp. Raica’s cover-ups before he steps into the sphere of the world’s largest Catholic network.
E-mails, letters and news reports that circulated throughout the diocese of Gaylord, Michigan — Bp. Raica’s previous location — show that the bishop promised the community that a priest credibly accused of sexual misconduct who was to have been permanently removed from ministry in 2002, may never have been removed from ministry at all, St. Mary MacKillop Coalition president Nadja Tirrell said.
Emails in the possession of the coalition show Fr. Jim Holtz was back in ministry in May of 2019, despite Bp. Raica’s reassurances to the contrary to the diocese.
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