MADISON (WI)
WMTV [Madison, WI]
September 6, 2025
By Chris Pittner, Kaleia Lawrence, Gabriella Rusk, Camberyn Kelley and Nicole Herzog
The Diocese of Madison has responded to the recent allegations brought against a Madison priest accused of child sex crimes.
[To see the Madison bishop’s response, click here.]
MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) – The Diocese of Madison has responded to the recent allegations brought against a Madison priest accused of child sex crimes. 37-year-old Andrew Showers was arrested last month following an undercover operation by Clintonville police. Authorities say the priest tried to meet up with what he thought was a 14-year-old girl for sex.
On Thursday, a woman brought forth allegations from a separate incident involving Showers. In January 2024, Patricia Moriarty alleges that she was out with friends in Chicago when Showers introduced himself to her as a priest. She claims he then groped her underneath her clothes and talked to her in a sexually inappropriate manner.
Moriarty shared her story on the steps of the State Capitol building alongside Nate’s Mission, an advocacy group aimed at ending clergy abuse in Wisconsin.
In a five-page statement released on Friday, the Diocese of Madison responded to Moriarty’s claims.
“It is devastating to learn of this additional allegation,” the statement reads. “It takes great courage to step forward and relive a very difficult and traumatic experience like what has been alleged by Ms. Moriarty.”
The statement goes on to share ‘important corrections and clarifications’ that were brought up during Thursday’s press conference, including the reporting of the alleged assault to the Diocese of Madison.
According to the diocese statement, Moriarty’s father, John Moriarty, said he had reached out to the diocese about what happened, but would not share ‘essential information’ with staff, including the name of the priest, the location where the alleged incident had occurred, or which police department was investigating.
“Had we known that Fr. Showers was the priest in question behind the 2024 allegation, immediate action could and would have been taken,” the statement reads. “Without knowing the name of the priest involved, the name of the victim, or even which law enforcement agency was investigating, there was simply no way to pursue this or take corrective action.”
The Diocese also explained why Bishop Donald Hying did not call Moriarty or her father back citing that Church abuse reporting protocols, put in place to protect victims, preclude the bishop from speaking with those who have made allegations.
“This important precaution is there to remove any possibility or even suspicion of witness tampering, victim coercion, or potential cover-up,” the Diocese of Madison clarified in the statement.
Instead, the diocese said that the Special Assistant to the Bishop is the person who communicated with the Moriarty family and urged them to share the name of the accused priest.
No copy of the police report was ever sent and no law enforcement agency, including the Wisconsin Department of Justice, ever reached out to the Diocese of Madison about the alleged assault, the statement added.
In addition to the statement, the Diocese of Madison also released a copy of their email correspondence with Moriarty’s father and a detailed timeline of when the alleged assault was reported.
The Diocese of Madison also claims Moriarty never officially filed a report with the Victim Assistance Coordinator employed by the Diocese.
Nate’s Mission, which is a group dedicated to ending clergy abuse, had not filed a report with the Church on behalf of Moriarty, according to the Diocese.
Sarah Pearson, Deputy Director of Nate’s Mission, said this is due to their lack of trust with the church.
“We don’t trust the Church, and for a very good reason,” Pearson said. “So many of the survivors who’ve been involved in our organizations, Nate’s Mission and SNAP, have had horrible experiences that have re-traumatized and have not led to a just resolution when approaching the church. So we always go to law enforcement. We always go to justice officials first.”
She also said the Church’s policy is flawed, and believes they did not take the allegations seriously at the time.
“The problem is that the responsibility is always placed on the victims and their families to jump through all these hoops and follow these procedures by this Diocese, when they’re not even following through on like a basic internal investigation,” Pearson said.
The Diocese of Madison defended the actions of Bishop Donald Hying in response to these allegations by saying in the statement that the bishop “cannot discipline or remove a priest when groups claiming to want to prevent victims of clergy abuse do not share reports of abuse with him.”
Regarding the Lodi incident, the Diocese said both the pastor and parish staff did what should have done.
The Diocese said Showers asked the 14-year-old boy questions of moral nature during confession. Some of those questions included Showers explaining words for masturbation and looking at explicit content.
The boy allegedly said no to the questions, and had no other questions, so the conversation ended, per the Diocese’s shared portion of a police report.
A background check was done on Showers in June of 2025, which the Diocese said did not show criminal charges or convictions from Lodi, Wisconsin, Chicago, or anywhere else. The statement said until the arrest by Clintonville Police on August 25, 2025, there was ‘no reason to suspect Fr. Showers of inappropriate behavior.’
The Church has worked hard to fight the scourge of sexual abuse and misconduct, and an integral part of this fight is cooperating with law enforcement, facilitating the reporting of abuse, and taking action swiftly and decisively when a credible allegation is made. Like the faithful of our diocese, we are stunned, angered, and heartbroken. We continue to hold up in prayer all who have been affected by these events.
Diocese of Madison
“Like the faithful of our diocese, we are stunned, angered, and heartbroken,” the statement concluded. “We continue to hold up in prayer all who have been affected by these events.”
Pearson said the Church’s words represent a broken system.
“This is absolutely a failure on their part,” Pearson said. “And they’re trying to put it onto the family and to the victim, and that is absolutely wrong, and it’s not fair, and it should never happen.”
Bishop Donald Hying also released a statement on Saturday and said the last two weeks have been “very dark and sad” for the diocese.
He said Moriarty was brave coming forward with her allegation against Showers. The bishop went on to say that it is important for the church to listen and take action to support victims and prevent abuse.
“Unfortunately, the victim advocacy groups who hosted the press conference, while intending to correct perceived injustices, have painted a scandalous version of events that is simply not true,” Bishop Hying explained. “It is false to state that I or diocesan staff knew of abuse allegations against Fr. Showers and failed to act on information which had been received about him.”
The statement said Bishop Hying has not and will not excuse or defend any member of clergy who commits sexual abuse of any kind.
“Regarding this latest allegation, had we known the identity of the priest being accused of this abusive misconduct, he would have been removed from active public ministry immediately,” the bishop said.
Bishop Hying also asked his congregation to not lose faith amid sad days.
“We place our hope in Jesus Christ, who is our light and life, who has already gained the victory over the power of sin and death,” Bishop Hying said.
The diocese did not bail Showers out of jail and they are not providing him with legal representation, according to the release.
Showers is due in court for his initial appearance on September 30. He is charged with attempted use of a computer to facilitate a child sex crime, attempted child enticement and attempted second-degree sexual assault of a child under 16 years old.
Click here to download the WMTV15 News app or our WMTV15 First Alert weather app.
Copyright 2025 WMTV. All rights reserved.