DULUTH (MN)
DavidClohessy.com [St. Louis MO]
September 23, 2024
By David Clohessy
This priest was accused of sexually abusing a boy.
His immediate church supervisors put him on leave.
They investigated the allegation.
They found that the allegations against him were ‘credible.’
They permanently removed him from ministry.
A second abuse report, by another person, was made.
The head of a different diocese put him on his ‘credibly accused’ abusers list.
Then, a third church official, the head of a different archdiocese, put him on HIS ‘credibly accused’ abusers list.
Finally, last year, he was included in a lengthy, widely-praised attorney general’s report on clergy sex crimes and cover up.
So it seems that few – if any – officials in the church or secular world doubt his guilt.
Yet in a recent – and perhaps one of the clearest – example of the Vatican’s hubris, callousness and recklessness, high ranking Catholic bureaucrats in Rome claim the evidence against this priest is ‘insufficient.’
They’ve ordered that he be put to work again in a church. So, that’s happened. The priest went back to his old parish.
Among the many questions raised by this extraordinarily troubling case: Are the ‘reforms’ US bishops claim they’ve set up to better handle abuse cases really SO toothless that one or two employees in the Vatican can overrule perhaps as many as a dozen Catholic officials who looked long and hard at two abuse reports and are much more familiar with the accused?
Who is this priest?
He’s Fr. William C. Graham of the Duluth Diocese. Here’s what the most credible source of information about accused predator priests, BishopAccountability.org, says about him:
“Ordained in 1976, he was pastor of St. Michael’s in Duluth in 2016, when diocesan officials put him on leave after he was sued for reportedly sexually abusing a boy, ages 15-16, in 1977-1978.
“The boy was a student at Cathedral High, where Graham worked variously as principal, chaplain, religious studies department head and teacher. Per the suit, the accuser’s father told the Diocese of the alleged abuse in 2010. Graham denied the allegation and filed suit in 7/2016 against his accuser. The Diocese announced in 8/2018 that the allegations against Graham were credible. Jury trial for Graham’s suit against his accuser 8/21/2018. The jury said the accuser interfered with Graham’s contractual duties when he filed claims in 5/2016, but did not intentionally inflict distress on him. The accuser was ordered to pay Graham $13,500 in damages. Graham was permanently removed from ministry. Added in 12/2019 to the Diocese of Joliet’s list; worked 2000-2005 at Lewis University in Romeoville. Included in 10/2022 on the Chicago archdiocese’s list of credibly accused. Included in the 5/23/2023 IL Attorney General’s Report. In 3/2024 the Vatican’s Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith found that the evidence against Graham was insufficient. His name was removed from the Diocese’s list of accused and he was to be reinstated. Returned to his parish 5/17/2024.”
Now, a scintilla of ‘good news.’ Just before finalizing this blog, I did some final fact checking. It turns out that one month after being ‘restored’ to his old post, Fr. Graham retired.
Once ‘credibly accused’ Duluth priest wins fight to return to church, retires weeks later.
That doesn’t guarantee kids are safer, of course. Nor does it explain how and why top Cathoilic officials continue to needlessly and heedlessly put innocent children in harm’s way.
NOTE:
Here he is on the Chicago archdiocese ‘credibly accused’ list:
And here he is on the Joliet diocese ‘credibly accused’ list: