DULUTH (MN)
Duluth News Tribune [Duluth MN]
March 29, 2024
By Jimmy Lovrien
According to the Diocese, the Vatican “decided that there was not sufficient evidence presented to arrive at moral certainty that Father Graham was guilty of the accusation made against him.”
DULUTH — A Catholic priest in Duluth will have his duties restored and be removed from the credibly accused list after a Vatican investigation determined there “was not sufficient evidence” that he was guilty of sexual abuse of a young person, the Diocese of Duluth said in a statement Friday.
In 2016, Rev. William Graham, pastor at St. Michael’s Catholic Church in the Lakeside neighborhood, was placed on administrative leave after a man accused him of abusing him on at least three occasions in 1977-78 when the man was 15 to 16 years old and attending Duluth’s Cathedral High School. Graham, a teacher at Cathedral High School at the time, was ordained as a priest in 1976.
According to the Diocese, the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome, the governing body overseeing potential clergy misconduct, notified Bishop Daniel Felton of its decision on Graham on Monday, March 18.
“The Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith decided that there was not sufficient evidence presented to arrive at moral certainty that Father Graham was guilty of the accusation made against him, and therefore he was acquitted with a decree of absolution,” the Diocese wrote in its statement.
Felton signed decrees on Thursday, March 28, that ended any restrictions preventing Graham from carrying out his priestly ministry and removed him from the List of Clergy with Credible Claims Against them Concerning the Sexual Abuse of a Young Person. The decrees were emailed to the News Tribune on Friday afternoon by Graham’s sister.
On Friday, Graham said he was “delighted, and grateful to God and to the Vatican” for the outcome.
“I look forward to returning to Duluth and to my parish. I am grateful for the great and unwavering support of family, friends and parishioners,” Graham said in an emailed statement to the News Tribune. “I am saddened that the announcement from the diocese and bishop contains no hint of regret for the injustice I have suffered, and for their failure to show any mercy in the last 94 months.”
In addition to the end of duty restrictions and removal from the accused list, Felton said he would also restore Graham to active ministry at St. Michael’s “as soon as this is feasible.”
“Now that a final decision and decree of absolution has been issued by the Dicastery of the Doctrine of Faith, I will do all that I can to attend to the pastoral needs of those impacted by this very long and difficult process,” Felton said.
Terrence Jerome Davis Jr. made the accusations against Graham in a lawsuit filed against St. John’s Church, St. Benedict’s Church and Marshall School (formerly Cathedral High School) in May 2016. Davis had originally filed his lawsuit anonymously as “Doe 446” but spoke to the press publicly in 2018.
Reached by phone Friday, Davis said reinstating Graham as a practicing priest “makes absolutely no sense to me,” noting the high threshold of evidence needed for a priest to be on the credibly accused list in the first place.
According to Davis, the Diocese told him Thursday that Graham would be reinstated and had given him a heads-up of its possibility a few weeks ago.
Davis said former Duluth Bishop Paul Sirba had assured Davis, and made clear in the press at the time, that he stood by his decision to remove Graham from public ministry. Sirba died unexpectedly in December 2019.
“He should not be a priest,” Davis said.
Davis said he fears others will think his accusations are untrue.
“What do I have to gain by telling a lie?” Davis said.
Graham countersuedDavis, and a State District Court jury in 2018 agreed with Graham’s claim that the action against him interfered with his contractual duties, but it said accuser Davis did not intentionally inflict emotional distress, as Graham’s countersuit claimed.
The jury awarded $13,500 to Graham, which was upheld by a Minnesota Court of Appeals in 2019.
