JACKSON (MI)
MLive [Walker MI]
September 11, 2024
By Nathan Clark
JACKSON COUNTY, MI – A former Jackson Lumen Christi High School priest convicted on multiple sexual assault charges died in prison this week while serving his sentence.
James Francis Rapp, 84, died of heart failure Friday, Sept. 6, at the Michigan Department of Corrections’ Duane Waters Health Center outside Jackson, MDOC Public Information Officer Jenni Riehle confirmed Wednesday, Sept. 11.
Rapp was in prison serving a 20- to 40-year sentence after pleading no contest in 2016 to three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and three counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct. As part of a plea agreement, 13 charges of criminal sexual conduct were dismissed.
Rapp, who was charged by the Michigan Attorney General Cold Case Sexual Assault Project investigating abuse by clergy, was accused of sexually abusing multiple children while serving as a priest, teacher, maintenance supervisor and coach during his time at Lumen Christi from 1980-86.
The investigation started in 2013 after two men came forward to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office.
Rapp was ordained in 1959, went on to work in Philadelphia from 1959-61, Salt Lake City from 1968-73 and Lockport, New York, from 1979-80 before coming to Lumen Christi. After that, he went to Naperville, Illinois, from 1987-90, and Duncan, Oklahoma, from 1990-98.
Prior to his conviction in Michigan, Rapp had pleaded no contest to lewd molestation in Oklahoma and was sentenced to 40 years.
Related: ‘If there is a hell, you deserve to be first in line,’ victims speak in former priest’s sentencing
Nathan Clark | nclark1@mlive.com