GRAND RAPIDS (MI)
WZZM - ABC 13 [Grand Rapids MI]
December 16, 2025
By Riley Mack, Steven Bohner, Kayla Crandall, Kiara Patterson, Cali Lichter, Brielle Meyer
A comprehensive look at 51 Catholic priests accused of abuse in West Michigan, the survivors who spoke out and decades of allegations finally revealed.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel released a comprehensive report detailing allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct within the Diocese of Grand Rapids.
It spans 336 pages, through 51 priests and dates back over seven decades, despite resulting in zero convictions of sexual abuse related to the report.
Of the 51 priests listed in the report, 37 of them are known or presumed to be dead. The AG’s report stated that the 14 people who are living or assumed to be alive are not currently active in ministry within the Diocese of Grand Rapids.
13 ON YOUR SIDE does not identify survivors of sexual abuse unless they want to identify themselves. All survivors will be titled by their order of allegations or as “the accuser.”
Multiple people are looking through the documents. The full summary will be completed over the coming days.
The Attorney General’s office emphasized that inclusion in the report does not reflect a determination that the allegations are credible, substantiated or indicative of a crime. A criminal charge is merely an allegation, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Find the full report here.
Daniel Aerts
First allegations in the late 1970s
Father Daniel Aerts was ordained to the priesthood in 1977. He worked at Holy Spirit and St. Thomas the Apostle parishes in Grand Rapids. His first accuser stepped forward in 2002.
Accuser 1
A Mona Shores High School student was 15 or 16 years old when he says the sexual abuse started. Twenty-two years later, he came to the church with his claims.
The survivor alleges he went to Father Aerts for counsel as he was experiencing same-sex attraction, as Father Aerts was the liaison for the Catholic Church and Dignity, “a group that tries to reconcile the sexual practice of homosexuality with Catholic Church teaching.”
From there, Father Aerts—who identified himself as a gay man to the survivor—and his same-sex partner introduced him to “another way of life,” the survivor said. He claims Father Aerts knew his age at the time.
“The two of them led me to believe that this was ‘okay,’ as the two of them loved each other and would simply be expressing this love for each other through their mutual ‘comfort’ of me,” he said.
These activities included “leathers” and S&M activity, he said. Another 16-year-old was brought into these activities.
The survivor would spend Fridays through Mondays with Father Dan and his lover. Eventually, his school dismissed him for his non-attendance, and the survivor became estranged from his family as a result of the abuse.
“This critical harm done to one during the formative years of adolescence, when one is trying to establish his independence, when he is coming to terms with his sexuality, when he is defining himself as an adult person? This harm is beyond measure, with its effects still felt today,” said the man, who is now 39 years old.
A Bishop personally apologized for Aerts’ actions in a letter to the survivor.
“I know that he is feeling deep sorrow and guilt for what he did and its effect on your life,” the bishop said, claiming Aerts has lived a celibate life since these events.
Aerts admitted to the sexual abuse. The church paid for the survivor’s therapy expenses.
Accuser 2
Another survivor was 14 years old when he says the abuse began.
He claims Father Aerts and himself allegedly looked at “gay magazines,” smoked pot, and, while lying clothed in Aerts’ bed, would kiss each other and Aerts would touch the boy’s crotch
The second accuser also accepted financial assistance from the church for therapy.
Aerts was permanently removed from the priesthood in July 2002.
Eugene Alvesteffer
First allegations in 1985
Father Eugene Alvesteffer was born in 1938 and died in 1998. He worked at St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Grand Rapids, St. Simon’s Church in Ludington and St. Bernadette’s in Stanton. Five people have accused him of sexual abuse.
Accuser 1
His first accuser claimed Alvesteffer sexually abused him while he was staying overnight at his cabin as a child in 1985. Alvesteffer denied the allegations.
Accuser 2
A second accuser brought forward allegations in 1992, claiming abuse at St. Simon’s Church in 1970.
The information regarding Alvesteffer was also provided to the Kent County Prosecuting Attorney for review in 2002.
Accuser 3
A third accuser brought forward allegations in 2009, claiming Alvesteffer abused him over the course of eight years.
The accuser says Alvesteffer molested him between 1970 and 1978 in a sacristy at St. Bernadette’s. He was seven years old. The church paid for his counseling services.
Accuser 4
A fourth accuser brought forward claims in 2010. The church paid for his counseling services.
Accuser 5
A fifth accuser stepped forward in 2019. He claimed abuse by Father Wagner—who is later featured in this list—and Father Alvesteffer sometime between 1978 and 1980.
The fifth man alleged that Wagner attempted to force his penis into his mouth. He alleged Alvesteffer did the same at his cabin, though he was “not as forceful.”
He says Alvesteffer was “very touchy and kissy.”
Written documents show the Diocese found these claims “credible.”
Charles Antekeier
First allegations in 1966
Charles Antekeier was born in 1935. He worked at St. Andrew’s Cathedral, St. Francis Xavier Parish and St. James Parish in Grand Rapids.
Since 2003, nine men have stepped forward to claim Antekeier abused them.
Most of his accusers were altar boys at Antekeier’s churches. Three of Antekeier’s former altar boys—who are not featured in these documents—have committed suicide, the Diocese says.
Accuser 1
Antekeier’s first accuser is an adult man. The abuse began after the accuser told Antekeier he was sexually abused as a teenager.
The accuser says Father Antekeier solicited sex acts from him before, during and after confessions on about 30 to 40 occasions.
The man said Antekeier would run his hands up his legs into his pants, French kiss him and massage, grope and masturbate his penis.
The man “would turn away from it and tell him I do not want to do that. I don’t want to do this … but he would do it anyway,” he said.
Antekeier admitted to some of the aforementioned abuse.
The accuser took his claims to the Diocese. He alleges they handled his case like a joke, “laughing and kidding around” about the situation. The man signed a secrecy agreement with the church.
Accuser 2
Antekeier’s next accuser claims he suffered abuse from 1969 to 1976 when he was an altar boy.
He came to Antekeier at 8 years old, looking for a father figure after his dad left. He says Antekeier took advantage of this.
After church services, Antekeier would apparently coerce the boy into mutual masturbation in the bedroom, bathroom and living room of the rectory. Other times, it was in a classroom or the sacristy.
Over time, the behavior escalated. The accuser claims they mutually performed oral sex and he was sexually penetrated three times. The last time, the accuser claimed, was so aggressive “he ended up bleeding on the kneeler,” documents say.
“I can remember kneeling on the kneeler in the sacristy, on one occasion when I was penetrated. This was part of my penance, at least that was the understanding I had about it,” the accuser said.
Documents say he went to the doctor a “couple of weeks after this last assault, because he was having trouble with bowel movements. He reports that he did not tell the doctor the truth, but said that a fishing hook got caught and tore his rectum.”
When he told his principal at St. James about the abuse, he was expelled, as school staff claimed he was lying about the situation.
His mother wrote a letter to the Diocese to corroborate her son’s claims.
“My son was told he could not wear jeans in church and that altar boys in the Vatican did not wear pants or underwear under their cassocks. Andakar [sic.] would pull the cassock over my son’s head and perform anal and oral intercourse on him,” she wrote.
She said she remembers him “being constipated, when in actuality he was keeping himself from defecating, or ‘holding it in’ because his anal canal hurt him so much,” she wrote.
When questioned by the Diocese over these claims, Antekeier said that he was not attracted to minors “and would not have done such acts to a child ‘unless I blocked it out of my memory because it is so evil.’”
Accuser 3
Another altar boy at St. James Church alleged Antekeier abused him in the early 1980s when he was 11 or 12 years old.
Antekeier apparently invited the child to his cabin in Newaygo multiple times. While driving to the cabin, Antekeier would often reach across the passenger seat and grope his genitals, joking about finding a “pressure point,” the accuser said.
After swimming in Antekeier’s pool, he suggested the accuser take a nap. He apparently woke up to Father Antekeier standing to his right, holding the boy’s penis with one hand and putting a finger in the boy’s rectum with the other.
It allegedly happened a second time in Antekeier’s bed.
Antekeier stated that he “never, never” had any boys up at his cabin, and kept repeating that over and over, at one point adding, “[u]nless I’m in denial,” documents state.
The boy’s and her husband began to notice a change in him, “from a happy, dynamic child who was devoted to Father Antekeier to one who had developed a hatred toward him,” she said.
In a 2015 meeting, Antekeier’s priesthood was officially restricted. The bishop requests he “lead a life of prayer and penance,” and Antekeier “expressed his gratitude to the Bishop,” records show.
The church publicly apologized to Antekeier’s victims in a 2015 statement.
Accuser 4
An accuser came forward in 2015. He says he was a student at St. James when Antekeier “slapped him hard several times on the side of the head, and pulled his hair.”
When the student pushed Antekeier away, he says he was expelled from the school.
Prior to this incident, he remembers Antekeier asking him questions about masturbation during confessional.
Accuser 5
Another altar boy claimed abuse in 2015. He says he was in middle school in 1989 and 1990 when he confessed something sexual to Antekeier. After that, he claims Antekeier touched him in an inappropriate manner.
Accuser 6
In a statement to the Diocese, an accuser came forward in 2011. He says he was abused by Antekeier in 2001 at St. Francis Xavier.
The accuser was struggling with his sexual orientation and was a recovering alcoholic. He says Antekeier took advantage of this.
Antekeier apparently began showering the accuser with attention, gifts and trips.
“Along with that came the gradual but steady increase in inappropriate behavior on his part, and he would always superficially apologize,” the accuser said.
The behavior continued to escalate. One night, the accuser found “his penis in” Antekeier’s mouth.
“I had gone to him for spiritual guidance and friendship, and what I got in return was a priest with an erect penis constantly sexually harassing me,” said the accuser.
Antekeier allegedly gave the accuser a large sum of money and cosigned on some of his student loans. All the accuser had to do, Antekeier told him, was write a letter stating he’s never had a sexual relationship with him.
“He holds himself out as such a pious holy man, and it’s such a charade,” said the accuser.
Accuser 7
Accuser 6’s letter to the Diocese mentioned Antekeier’s seventh accuser. It states Antekeier masturbated and performed oral sex on him when he was an altar boy at St. Francis Xavier.
Accuser 8
Antekeier’s eighth accuser says his abuse spanned from when he was a young boy to early adulthood, when he lived in the rectory. He came forward with his story in 2020.
The accuser first met Antekeier during a “healing mass,” which was a private one-on-one session with Antekeier in a backroom of the church.
The accuser came to Antekeier because he was struggling with his sexual orientation. When he told Antekeier this during that first mass, Antekeier put his hands on the accuser’s face and put it in front of his crotch.
The eighth accuser says oral sex between the two began before the accuser reached puberty and continued until he was a young adult. He says Antekeier “expected” him to perform oral sex on him.
“Antekeier believed his semen was the semen of ‘God.’ So, by ingesting Antekeier’s semen, I would become more holy,” said the accuser.
He also claims Antekeier sodomized him once with his penis and four fingers, causing “horrible pain.”
In 1990, when the accuser lived at the St. Franic Xavier Parish rectory, Antekeier “would crawl into his bed in the middle of the night.”
Their roommate, Father Badgerow, who is featured next in this list, apparently knew about it and “saw nothing wrong,” documents say.
Antekeier once apparently confided in the accuser that he and Father Badgerow would “wrestle.” He later learned the alternate meaning behind the term.
Accuser 9
An accuser came forward as recently as 2021, when he emailed the Attorney General’s tipline.
He claims Antekeier sexually abused him when he was an altar boy between 1966 and 1970 at St. Mary’s and St. James.
The accuser claims Antekeier and another priest got him drunk when he was 10 to 14 years old, fondled his private parts using holy water and sodomized him.
Antekeier apparently told him to undress and let him “initiate” him by penetration. The accuser claimed Antekeier told him that “it’s necessary to be an alt[a]r boy and to be saved.”
Antekeier was suspended from ministry in 2003 when the allegations began. He was permanently restricted in 2006. In 2015, he was altogether removed from ministry.
Rock Badgerow
First allegations in 1975
Rock Badgerow was born in 1953. He worked at St. Andrew Cathedral in Grand Rapids.
Two men accused him of sexual misconduct.
Accuser 1
The first accuser’s story dates back to 1993. The accuser was around 15 years old and a freshman at Catholic Central High School.
He claims he was walking home after a pep rally on Sheldon Avenue when a red Jeep pulled over to the curb. The driver, who was not dressed as a priest, offered him a ride.
They drove a short distance when the man claimed he was having engine trouble and pulled over. He walked to the front of the Jeep and opened the hood. The teen also got out to look.
The accuser claims the man then took him over to an old Catholic Central building and put his mouth on the teen’s genitals.
The teen got scared and froze. When it was over, he says he ran away.
His parents later mentioned a new priest at their church, St. Thomas. The accuser went to mass and discovered the new priest was the driver of the red Jeep — Father Badgerow.
When the accuser came forward years later, the Diocese questioned Badgerow about the incident. He denied the allegations.
Badgerow says he did have a Jeep, but it was “an orange color.”
Another priest suggested that perhaps his memory of the alleged incident was suppressed or “blocked out,” to which Badgerow said, “Maybe that could be the case.”
Badgerow also said he would “help pay the man’s therapy costs if it would end the accusation, although he wouldn’t think it was right if he was mistakenly identified.”
Badgerow later admitted to a sexual encounter involving a man in an empty parking lot on Sheldon Avenue, but said the man was twenty years old and the encounter was consensual.
“If this is the man who has made these allegations, I am not responsible for his psychological problems,” said Badgerow.
Accuser 2
An adult man visited a charity event at St. Patrick Church in Parnell. He says his scheduled place to stay for the night cancelled on him, so Badgerow offered the rectory.
That night, the accuser claims Badgerow came into his room and sat on his bed. He claims that when Badgerow grabbed his arm for an “uncomfortable amount of time,” he left the room. Badgerow apparently followed him.
Badgerow then offered a foot massage.
The man “hesitantly agreed” to not “displease the priest,” he said.
Badgerow then allegedly offered a back massage. The man was hesitant “but let it begin and soon requested that it end.”
Badgerow later admitted to the Diocese that the “backrub crossed the line.”
The Chancellor of the Diocese, Ed Carey, wrote in a letter to the Diocese that “I suggest that you reread his complete file and I think you will reach the conclusion that RJB is a wolf among the faithful you have asked him to shepherd.”
A witness later came forward, claiming Badgerow remarked that a certain tenth-grade boy at Sacred Heart was attractive and commented, “The older I get, the younger I like them. I can’t help myself.”
Badgerow denies this, saying he finds boys “handsome,” but never made the comment sexual.
Badgerow was restricted from ministry in 2018. In 2023, he was granted senior priest status.
Edward Statkus
First allegations in 1966
Fr. Edward Statkus was born in 1908 and died in 1999. He worked at St. James Parish in Houghton Lake, St. Michael’s in Roscommon Co., and possibly other locations within the Diocese of Grand Rapids.
Since 2008, one person has accused him of sexual abuse.
His accuser claimed Statkus came to his summer cabin in the summer of 1966 drunk. He says Statkus asked him to drive him to buy beer. The accuser was 15 and did not have a license. The accuser says Statkus then molested him.
The accuser was an altar boy at St. James and St. Michael’s Parish in Houghton Lake.
Reinhard Sternamann
First allegations in 1973
Fr. Reinhard J. Sternemann was born in 1924 and died in 2024. He worked at St. Augustine Seminary in Saugatuck.
Since 2007, one person has accused him of sexual abuse.
A man reported Sterneman sexually abused him in 1973 when he was a student at St. Augustine Seminary in Saugatuck. He was 15 or 16 at the time, and Sternemann was an instructor there.
The man claims Sterneman called him into his suite and fondled him, touched him and masturbated.
After he completed his sophomore year, the teen “left the school and went to a public school.”
John Thomas Sullivan
First allegations in 1958
Fr. John Thomas Sullivan was born in 1917 and died in 1999. He worked at Holy Spirit Parish in Grand Rapids, St. Jude Parish in Grand Rapids and St. Patrick Parish in Grand Haven.
Since 1994, 10 women have accused him of sexual abuse.
In a 2003 report out of New Hampshire, officials released handwritten notes from 1958 between the Bishops of Grand Rapids and Manchester, New Hampshire, “both of which were not found among the documents seized from the Grand Rapids Diocese in the Michigan Attorney General’s investigation.”
Grand Rapids’ Bishop Babcock wrote: “A Father J.T. Sullivan wrote me the full story of his difficulties in the priesthood and of his desire to reestablish himself as a good priest. I am desperate for priests and am considering giving him a chance. Do you think he can be relied upon for making an honest effort?”
The New Hampshire bishop wrote back: “My conscience will not allow me to recommend him to any Bishop and I feel that every inquiring Bishop should know some of the circumstances that range from parenthood, through violation of the Mann Act, attempted suicide and abortion. Father [Gerald] Fitzgerald of Via Coeli would accept him only as a permanent guest to help save his soul but with no hope of recommending him to a Bishop. He considers him a schizophrenic and from experience believes that a new diocese would only mean new pastures.”
Despite this, Sullivan served in Grand Rapids until March 1960. He was an Assistant at Holy Spirit Parish in Grand Rapids from 1958 to 1959, then began serving as an Assistant at St. Jude Parish in Grand Rapids. From 1959 to 1960, Fr. Sullivan served as Assistant at St. Patrick Parish in Grand Haven. At this point, he was dismissed from the GR Diocese.
Sullivan wrote to New Hampshire’s new bishop to ask for a placement back there, and GR’s bishop writes: “I honestly believe Father Sullivan is a psychopath… While nothing of an immoral nature came out in the open while he was with us, there were indications of danger of this in his conduct with children.”
Three sisters reported years of severe sexual abuse while he was serving in Grand Rapids and Grand Haven. They sued in 1994.
“She remembers that her parents told her that Father Sullivan wanted to talk to her and teach her about boys. Her mother put her in a green dress and delivered her to St. Jude’s rectory,” the report says.
After that, Sullivan raped her, documents say.
The Diocese of Grand Rapids settled the out-of-court matter for $500,000.
In 2002, they paid out a fourth female victim who said Sullivan had abused her and other girls, sometimes at the same time. They paid $35,000 in the case.
James Thiel
First allegations in 1986
Fr. James Thiel was born in 1908 and died in 1999. He taught religion at Catholic Central High School in Grand Rapids from June of 1968 to August of 1994.
Since 1994, at least two people have accused him of sexual abuse.
He was not ordained in Grand Rapids, but by another order of priests.
In 1994, that other order told the Grand Rapids Diocese that there were allegations of Thiel abusing children outside Michigan, and they removed him.
In 2007, an accuser said he was abused by Thiel when he was 16 or 17, when he was a student at Catholic Central. He says Thiel abused him sexually in a classroom, in the bathroom and at the YMCA.
Theodore Tsiakalos
First allegations in 1950
Fr. Theodore Tsiakalos was born in 1946 and died in 2016. He worked St. Mary Catholic Church in Cheboygan, Michigan.
Since 2007, two men have accused him of sexual abuse.
The accusers claim the abuse happened in Cheboygan from 1950 to 1951. At that time, he was within the Grand Rapids Diocese.
The first accuser claimed Tsiakalos took him and another minor to spend the night with him. The next morning, they say he molested them in the bath and in his bed.
Richard J. Barry
First allegations in 1983 or 1984
It is unknown when Richard J. Barry was born and his current status is also unknown. He worked at Immaculate Heart of Mary parish in Grand Rapids from 1986 to 1988.
He is accused of rape and indecent exposure to a minor.
Accuser 1
In August of 2018, a mother alleged that Barry exposed himself to her 10-year-old son in 1983 or 1984.
“When he was about ten years old while at a gym[,] he and a friend walked by the hot tub[,] and Father Richard Barry, OMI, invited the boys to join him and he stood up naked exposing himself,” the mother alleged.
As an adult, the alleged victim was offered counseling by a church official, but the alleged victim was living outside of the United States at the time and told their mother they did not want to talk about the incident.
Accuser 2
According to the bishop accountability website, Barry also worked in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia. He is also accused of raping and assaulting a child at St. William’s in Tewsbury, Massachusetts, where he was assigned from 1978 to 1981. A settlement was made in 2021 for a victim who had accused Barry of abusing him at age 14 while on a camping trip to New Hampshire in 1981.
Louis Baudone
First allegations in the 1970s
It is unknown when Louis Baudone was born. He died in 2024.
He worked at Sacred Heart Parish in Muskegon, St. Edward Parish in Lake Odessa, St. Gregory’s in Hart and St. Joseph’s in Elbridge.
Five people accused him of sexual abuse.
In 1993, Baudone resigned as pastor of the Hart and Elbridge parishes due to allegations of sexual misconduct from earlier years. Grand Rapids Bishop Robert Rose said “there is evidence that the allegations are well-founded.”
That same year, the church placed Baudone on disability leave and directed him not to celebrate public liturgies.
In 2002, the church fully removed Baudone’s faculties. He was restricted to private Mass only and also prohibited from wearing clerical garb.
Baudone later moved to the Diocese in Portland, Maine. In 2004 and 2006, Grand Rapids bishops notified the Portland diocese that Fr. Baudone was credibly accused of sexual abuse and not authorized for public ministry.
Accuser 1
In 2002, the sister of an alleged victim came forward after reading an article from the Muskegon Chronicle. The article claimed that no sexual abuse “had ever happened in Muskegon.”
She alleges Baudone abused her brother.
Her brother died by suicide in 1992. She said that the Church paid for some of her brother’s counseling and later paid for his funeral.
She said that her “brother had many problems, part of which were the result of the abuse by the priest, and he had eventually committed suicide.”
Even after the sexual abuse became known, she said, Baudone was allowed to return “to parish work with youth.” Baudone continued to work at a high school and then his own pastorate.
Accuser 2
Also in 2002, the mother of another alleged victim wrote a letter to the Grand Rapids Diocese and Baudone, accusing him of sexually abusing her son.
She alleged that her son was assaulted between the ages of 10 and 13 from 1978 to 1981.
She claimed that there were about 20 incidents including inappropriate touching, oral sex and digital penetration involving her son and Baudone.
The alleged victim told their mother and father that Baudone tried to molest him. Baudone admitted that he had tried, but said the alleged victim ran away. At the time, the parents decided to drop the matter after Baudone apologized and promised it would not happen again.
After allegations came out years later, the son confessed to his mother that Baudone molested him.
The last four pages of the mother’s letter to Fr. Baudone chronicled the “the horrible [e]ffect you have had on our son,” including her son’s bankruptcy, incarceration, “mixed emotions about men,” alcoholism and counseling.
In 2003, the alleged victim spoke about the abuse, saying he was abused 20 times or more between 1978 and 1981. He said he was bribed with cookies, candy, wine and cigarettes to avoid telling anyone.
The Diocese reimbursed counseling expenses and psychiatric hospital costs for the alleged victim.
Criminal prosecution of the case was not possible due to statute of limitations.
Accuser 3
In 2002, the parent of an alleged victim wrote a letter to Bishop Rose claiming their son was sexually abused by Baudone from 1976 through 1980 at St. Edward Parish in Odessa.
The alleged victim did not tell his parents of the abuse at the time, but did tell his sisters, who later told his parents. The alleged victim became estranged from his family and told his sister he was still having nightmares even after he had married.
Accuser 4
In 2002, an alleged victim reported Baudone’s abuse from the early 1970s to the Michigan State Police. The alleged victim claimed he was abused by Baudone at St. Edward’s Church in Lake Odessa when he was 8.
The alleged victim was able to identify Baudone from a photo lineup, and police sent a request for a warrant to the Ionia County Prosecutor’s Office. Officials denied a warrant request because there was not enough evidence “to sustain a criminal charge.”
Accuser 5
In 2021, a fifth alleged victim came forward claiming that he was “accosted” by Baudone in the St. Patrick Parish rectory in the mid-to-late 1970s.
The alleged victim also said he was groomed “for some time” before he was assaulted.
The alleged victim indicated that he “began acting out,” using marijuana and drinking, and later became an alcoholic. He added that he “really loved going to church, but that Baudone “took that joy from me…” and that “I lost my faith” and “trust in other people.”
Shamaun Beas
First allegation in the 1990s
Father Shamaun Beas was born in 1968 and was deported to Pakistan in 2010.
Beas was charged multiple times for attempting to meet and have sex with someone who he believed was a 14-year-old girl. He was convicted in 2005 and sentenced to five to 20 years in prison.
In 2008, while serving his sentence, he pled guilty to two counts of criminal sexual conduct, fourth degree and sentenced to additional 16-24 months. Two years later, he was deported.
Before moving to the United States, Beas was accused of having a sexual relationship with a high school girl in Pakistan. He was suspended and lived at home for two years.
Beas moved to the United States and worked as the Associate Pastor of St. Patrick’s Parish in Portland, Michigan, beginning in 2001.
Accusations against Beas began in 2002, when multiple women shared complaints about him.
Accusers
Middle school girls noted how they felt uncomfortable with how Beas put his arm around them in the reconciliation room.
A married woman complained that Beas was calling her home too often.
The mother of a recent high school graduate also said she was uncomfortable with the amount of time Beas spent visiting her daughter at home, including visits when she wasn’t present.
The Diocese evaluated the situation in 2002 and had Beas participate in a counseling program to address “cultural and relational differences” in 2003.
The Diocese found that Beas was still “fit for ministry” after completing the program.
Arrest
In 2004, police arrested Beas as part of a child predator sting. Investigators say he had been communicating with someone he believed to be a 14-year-old girl.
Following the arrest, the church put Beas on administrative leave, had his faculties for priestly ministry removed, was ordered to refrain from contact with anyone under 18, was prohibited from public celebration of sacraments and wearing clerical garb and was not allowed to reside in the parish rectory. The Diocese also opened a preliminary investigation.
Beas was convicted and sentenced in 2005 and deported in 2010.
Stanislaus Albert Bur
First allegation in the 1950s
Bur was born in 1920 and died in 2009. He worked at St. Rita Parish in Maple City, St. Joseph Parish in Maple City and SS. Peter and Paul Parish in Ionia and in Muskegon.
Bur had at least six people who accused him of sexual assault.
Accuser 1
In 2006, an alleged victim reported that Bur assaulted him in July of 1967. The victim was 13.
The accuser said that during a trip to visit Bur’s brother, he was molested “almost every night” at motels. He said that Bur forced the accuser to sleep naked beside him.
The alleged victim said that Bur also molested his cousin and brother.
The accuser said he has had nervous breakdowns and has been unable to work since the late 1970s.
Accuser 2
In 2007, another alleged victim claimed that Bur molested him and two other boys at his cottage on Douglas Lake.
Accuser 3
In 2006, an alleged victim claimed that Bur abused him in the late 1950s when he was 11 at the St. Rita’s Church rectory and at Bur’s brother’s ranch in Pellston, Mich.
He also accuses Bur of repeatedly pulling him from class in 8th grade to “talk about sex.” He added that Bur used a tape measure on his penis to check if “developing well,” touched his buttocks, claiming to check for firmness and on one occasion, claimed Bur came back with pants down, wanted to show “self lubrication” during masturbation.
The Diocese offered counseling assistance to the victim.
Accuser 4
In 2007, an alleged victim claimed that Bur asked him inappropriate questions in 1957, 1958 and 1962 at the rectory at SS. Peter and Paul in Ionia and at a gas station in Muskegon.
He claims that Bur asked him about masturbation and sexual encounters he and his friends had with girls.
The alleged victim told the Diocese that he knew of four other people experienced this type of behavior from Bur. He said they had all “developed an addiction to alcohol, and had left the church.”
The Diocese told the alleged victim that they would reimburse counseling expenses.
Accuser 5
The alleged victim said he had been abused by Bur in 1958 when he was 12 at his family home and at school.
The alleged victim claims Bur came to his home on a Saturday while he was asleep and his mother told Bur to go into the victim’s room and wake him up.
The accuser said that Bur fondled him before he chased him out of his house.
He also claims that Bur watched middle school boys undress and shower after basketball practices.
The alleged victim said that in 2017, Grand Rapids Diocese Bishop Walkowiak denied him a request for a $750,000 settlement and public apology. The Bishop apologized in private to the alleged victim.
The Attorney General’s report mentioned other alleged victims of Bur, but they were not detailed.
Daniel Arnold Cook
First allegations in the early 1990s
Daniel Arnold Cook was born in 1961 and ordained at St. Andrew Cathedral in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1990.
Cook worked at the Holy Spirit Parish, St. Francis Xavier Parish and St. Isidore Parish in the Grand Rapids Diocese in the early 1990s. He later worked for multiple churches in the Diocese of Alexandria in Louisiana.
He is accused of sexually abusing and raping an adult woman, and also of having inappropriate relationships with other adult women in the church.
Accuser
In 1993, an alleged victim told Father Robert Sirico that she was in a sexual relationship with Cook, despite being married.
She claims that the abuse escalated from requests by Cook that she “hold him like a mother” with his head against her breasts, to orally raping her shortly after Christmas in 1992.
She also said Cook spent the night at her home while her husband was away. She said her and Cook participated in kissing, fondling and touching.
The alleged victim said that other women were known to have been involved with Cook as well. She said she went to Father Rock Badgerow (also named in the AG’s report) with the allegations and he told her, “Don’t get caught. Be careful.”
The accuser claims that she had initiated oral sex with Cook in 1992 while she was “tipsy.” About a week later, she said that Cook forced her to have oral sex with him.
She added that Cook sent a note to her daughter with his “religious ‘come on’ style of writing.”
After originally denying the claims, Cook eventually confessed to the relationship with the accuser and said the relationship began innocently but “got physical and was wrong and sinful.”
Cook said the alleged victim needed affirmation and was a “clinging type,” who felt worthless and had low self-esteem.
The alleged victim told Father Charles Antekeier about problems with Cook, but Antekeier “shamed her and told her she was ruining his vocation.”
Cook was treated at the Albuquerque Villa, Servants of the Paraclete therapeutic center in 1994. The church relieved Cook from associate pastor positions in August of 1995, and later permitted him to go to Madonna House in Ontario, Canada for “spiritual growth and further vocational discernment.”
In 1998, Cook resigned from Madonna House and the church transferred him to the Diocese of Alexandria in Louisiana in 1999. He worked there until 2007 when he resigned to care for his ailing mother.
In 2020, the alleged victim reported the rape to Michigan State Police, but said she did not wish to proceed with criminal prosecution, despite the ability to press charges.
As of 2016, Cook was listed as sacramental minister at St. Cyril and St. Margaret Mary Missions, Louisiana. As of 2025, he not appear in Diocese of Alexandria directory, nor does he appear to be in active ministry anywhere.
Michael Gormley
First allegations in the 1950s
Fr. Michael Gormley was a priest who served at the St. Lazare Retreat House in Spring Lake, Michigan. He was a Vincentian priest for the Congregation of the Mission, and not a priest for the Diocese of Grand Rapids. Gormley is presumed dead.
Since 2018, one victim has accused him of abuse.
In August 2018, an accuser came forward to report that when he was in the 7th or 8th grade in the 1950s, Fr. Gromley wanted to wrestle in the church basement. When they did, the accuser said he “could feel Fr. Gormley’s erection pressing against his leg as they wrestled.”
This victim also alleged abuse by Msgr. Arthur La Rue (later featured in this article) during the same timeframe.
The alleged victim said in 2018 he just wanted to report what happened and did not want to “re-tell his story of abuse with someone else.”
Joseph Walter Grill
First allegations in 1969
Msgr. Joseph Walter Grill was born on Beaver Island, in Charlevoix County, in 1910. Ordained in 1938, he served at St. James Parish in Grand Rapids. Grill died in 1994 in Florida.
Accuser 1
One man came forward in March 1994 through an attorney, stating he was 12 years old when Msgr. Grill sexually abused him about a dozen times.
That year, diocesan legal council wrote back to the attorney stating Msgr. Grill denied “any improper conduct with [Accuser 1] or anyone else[,] and it would be helpful to have some further detail on the claim of your client to see whether the specifics produce any different response from Monsignor Grill.”
However, the Diocese agreed to pay for therapy for this accuser.
The accuser felt that the Church had “pushed everything under the rug.”
Accuser 2
Another victim reported to the Diocese that Msgr. Grill sexually abused him when he was in the 7th and 8th grades at St. James Parish in Grand Rapids.
He claimed Msgr. Grill grabbed his buttocks and asked him inappropriate questions during confession.
The Diocese’s Victim Assistant Coordinator at the time sent this victim a consent letter to send to the Kent County Prosecutor’s Office, but this accuser believed he could settle with the Diocese.
These allegations came about 40 years after the alleged abuse took place, and the statute of limitations had run out.
John Raphael Hadnagy
First allegations in 1998
Born in 1959 in Virginia, Fr. John Raphael Hadnagy was ordained in 1990 at Our Lady of Angels Catholic Church in Woodbridge, Virginia. He was a member of the Franciscan Order and served in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. It wasn’t clear in the AG’s report when and where he served in the Grand Rapids Diocese, as they found no file for this priest. He died on June 14, 2022.
Accuser 1
In August 2018, an accuser wrote to Bishop David Walkowiak about an Easter confession at St. Anthony in 1998 involving Fr. Hadnagy. This victim said Fr. Hadnagy told the victim he was gay and found him attractive, then tried to touch him.
When this victim went to confession with Fr. Jim Chelich, this priest suggested the victim report what happened.
The AG’s report did not find any other documents about this victim’s allegations.
Accuser 2
In 2019, another victim called the tipline to allege that during a 1998 confession at Our Lady of Consolation in Carey, Ohio that Fr. Hadnagy “came on” to this victim. This included statements like, “I want you sexually,” and “you need to be with the body of Christ,” while touching the victim’s leg and thigh.
Lawrence Newton Hartwig
First allegations in 1973
Fr. Lawrence Newton Hartwig was born in Portland, Michigan, in 1939 and was ordained in 1967. He served in Muskegon, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Texas. He died on Sept. 21, 1998. The Diocese of Grand Rapids substantiated an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor in 2002.
Accuser 1
In a letter dated 2019, the victim said he was subject to sexual advances by Fr. Hartwig while he was a senior in high school in 1973. This victim also said that when Fr. Hartwig gave him altar wine, he became drunk. They wrestled and Fr. Hartwig “got an erection,” so he ran away.
The Grand Rapids Press in 2002 identified Fr. Hartwig as one of eight priests with substantiated allegations of sexual abuse against minors.
Donald Joseph Heydens
First allegations in 1972
Fr. Donald Joseph Haydens was born in 1944 in Holland and was ordained in 1970 at St. Francis Church in Holland. He served at St. Francis Xavier Church in Grand Rapids and St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Grand Rapids.
There were at least 21 identified victims, and the Diocese officially substantiated four allegations involving young girls in the 1970s.
The Diocese removed Heydens from all parish ministry in 1993 and prohibited him from having any unsupervised contact with minors. His priestly faculties were revoked in August 2002. The Diocese first learned about the allegations in 1989.
One alleged victim wrote a letter to Bishop Robert Rose in 1990, claiming that his failure to act on her report allowed “the parents of children to believe Fr. Heydens to be an ethical man.” She wrote that he was a threat to women and children, and demanded that he be removed from the youth camp staff. The victim also requested that she have the opportunity to confront Fr. Heydens in person.
Fr. Heydens wrote a letter to his parishioners dated April 20, 1993, where he admitted wrongdoing. It’s unclear if this letter was delivered to his parish.
“The statements going around the parish are about my sexual offenses with minor women some twenty years ago; these allegations are not 125 completely without foundation. I have in fact sinned. Teens coming to me at that time had a right to expect that I was safe; in fact, I was not. I am sorry with all my heart, and I ask sincere forgiveness of all whom I have hurt,” he wrote.
Martin James Hoogterp
First allegations in 1979
Fr. Martin James Hoogterp was born on January 31, 1922, in Grand Rapids and died on October 7, 1998, in Muskegon. He served at the Sacred Heart Parish in Muskegon.
A woman came forward in 2004 and reported that her father, Fr. Hoogterp, sexually abused her from 1979 to 1980 when she was a young teenager.
Fr. Hoogterp allegedly threatened her into silence by saying God would strike her or someone she loved if she told anyone.
The Diocese said they covered the cost of the alleged victim’s therapy.
Richard J. Host
First allegations in 1988
Fr. Richard J. Host was ordained on March 17, 1974. He is retired to senior priest status and remains in the Diocese of Grand Rapids.
During contentious divorce proceedings in 1988, a woman filed a suit against her ex-husband and Fr. Host, alleging they had sexually abused her and her two young boys, ages 4 and 6.
Officials brought no criminal charges against Fr. Host or the estranged husband, partly because the woman refused to cooperate with the Grand Rapids Police Department and the Kent County Sheriff’s Office in their investigation into her claims. That lawsuit was dismissed in 1990.
The Diocese investigation found no credible evidence.
Joseph Kenshol
First allegations in 1993
Fr. Joseph W. Kenshol was ordained on Jan. 19, 1973 at St. Mary’s Church in Grand Rapids. He retired to senior priest status in 2013 and died on Dec. 19, 2022.
Nessel’s report reads that a recovered document outlined several allegations concerning Kenshol. The allegations were that he gave underage boys, or students, haircuts in his home, where they would be alone with him, that he gave “full body” massages to the students, offered them sleepovers at the parish, took the students on overnight road trips and would sit in the weight room and “stare” at the 6th to 8th grade boys while they lifted weights.
Accuser 1
According to Nessel’s report, a recovered memorandum from October of 1993 alleges Kenshol gave a 16-year-old boy a “full body oil massage” in the rectory. On Dec. 10 of 1993, Bishop Robert Rose wrote to the parishioners and staff of Sacred Heart Parish:
“After considerable consultation and reflection[,] I have decided that the concerns of the parish and Father Kenshol’s welfare would be best served by his assignment to another parish in the Diocese.”
A report dated Dec. 19, 1993 reveals a summary from Fr. John Najdowski of interviews with five high school students. Four of the five boys all shared alleged experiences with Kenshol.
The summary contained the accuser 1’s allegations of the massage, and reveals the boy had refused to give Kenshol a massage upon request. The boy denied that anything else had occurred.
Accuser 2
Another young boy, identified in age as a high school senior, alleged that Kenshol had twice given the victim a massage “with an electronic device.” The boy said he was in his undershorts during the massages, and, similarly to the first accuser, refused to reciprocate when Kenshol asked and said nothing else occurred.
A few years later, in 1995, he filed a suit against the Diocese of Grand Rapids, Sacred Heart Catholic Church of Grand Rapids and Fr. Kenshol in the Kent County Circuit Court, and subsequently filed an amended complaint in April of 1996.
In his lawsuit, he alleged that Kenshol suggested and performed a haircut on the boy. He alleged that during the haircut, Kenshol pressured him into meeting him in a private setting in the rectory for conversation and relaxation, in the summer of 1993. He alleged that during that meeting, Kenshol used his “superior position of authority over [victim] into inappropriate, intimate physical contact including body massage.”
He also alleged in the lawsuit that “inappropriate, intimate or sexual abuse was conducted” at least twice, and alleged he had been pressured to massage Kenshol.
In 1996 or 1997, the Kent County Circuit Court dismissed the claims against the Diocese of Grand Rapids and Sacred Heart Church. The Michigan Court of Appeals affirmed this decision.
However, Nessel’s report says that prior to that decision, the Diocese, Kenshol and the victim had entered into a settlement agreement. In the settlement, they agreed that if the Court of Appeals decision were to be in the victim’s favor, the Diocese and Kenshol would pay the victim a sum of $800,000, and if the court had ruled against the victim, the Diocese and Kenshol would instead pay him $100,000.
As part of that settlement, Nessel’s report states the Diocese agreed to monitor Kenshol for a period of five years, conducting “annual documented interviews with all members of the Parish Council of any parish to which Kenshol is assigned.”
Accuser 3
A 1993 document states that a high school sophomore also brought forward allegations. He said he received his first backrub from Kenshol when he was in just eighth grade.
The boy said Kenshol used a “massaging device,” though the boy said he was fully clothed. He said the backrubs occurred two or three times, and on one occasion he had removed his t-shirt. He had told Najdowski that he gave Kenshol a massage once or twice as well, and while there was no “intimacy or familiarity,” he did “not want Fr. Kenshol to continue as pastor of the parish.”
Accuser 4
The last of the four accusers said he was a high school junior when Kenshol abused him. He said his family was friends with Kenshol, and that at one time Kenshol had given him a massage in the presence of accuser 3.
Edward J. Kubiak
First allegations in 1963
Fr. Edward J. Kubiak was ordained on April 9 of 1934 at St. Mary Cathedral in Saginaw. Kubiak died in February of 2003.
Accuser
In November of 1998, a woman alleged that, 35 years earlier, her son had been tied to a chair “at least once” by Kubiak and another priest at the Guardian Angels rectory in Manistee. She said that while he was tied up, Kubiak and the other priest “did stuff” to her son. At that time, Kubiak and the other priest were the associate pastor and pastor, respectively.
The woman’s son enrolled in the Guardian Angels School in the fourth grade, when he was just ten years old. The alleged sexual abuse occurred in or about 1965 through 1967, when the boy was 10-12 years old. Msgr. Najdowski sent a memorandum to Bishop Rose and Msgr. Stewart detailing the alleged abuse in 1999. The memorandum read as follows:
“[Victim] was told that if he wanted to become a priest there would be certain restrictions in behavior or relationship. On several occasions, the number 8 was mentioned. Fr. Kubiak allegedly blindfolded the boy, tied his wrists, and sat him in a chair. He was told that if he wanted to be a priest he must not have any association with women and that priests did different things. The touching of genitals was introduced by the adult. The adult, also, started oral penetration. The youngster was directed to reciprocate. [The other priest] seemed to be an observer. On one occasion the blindfold slipped slightly. [Victim] saw [the other priest] and reportedly touched his genitals. The presence of the younger clergyman is sensed. The level of participation is indefinite.”
The victim alleged that this sexual abuse took place in both the rectory and the dining room, about twice a week, and for a total of about 50 times. Kubiak denied the allegations, and said that while he was pastor at Guardian Angels Parish, there were several other problem priests, including Fr. Albert Watson, who is also included in Nessel’s report.
The victim said he had also reported his allegations to police, according to a 1999 memorandum. However, similarly to the Diocese investigation, police found his allegations to be “unfounded,” and no actions were taken against Kubiak, according to Nessel’s report.
William Allen Langlois
First allegations in 2008
Fr. William Allen Langlois was ordained on Feb. 24, 1974 at St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Grand Rapids. He retired to senior priest status in April of 2016, was removed from ministry in March of 2018 and stripped of his ordained status in May of 2021.
Accuser 1
In a letter dated July 2, 2014, a woman wrote to Bishop Walkowiak alleging Langlois sexually abused her while she attended St. Patrick Parish and St. Anthony’s Catholic Community in Grand Haven from 2008 to 2013.
The woman, who was married, said she had been struggling after multiple relatives passed away, and she began confiding in Langlois. She went on in her letter to say that Langlois would touch her hand after giving communion “with tenderness.” She said in her letter that she had been falling in love with him, but later understood he had groomed her, along with other women in the parish community.
In the letter, she said she had confessed her feelings to Langlois, and he told her she was special. He then recommended she see a former Jesuit priest for spiritual direction. The woman said that from there, Langlois and the spiritual director began urging her to leave her women’s bible study group and not confide in anyone else. She said she listened to them and stopped any contact with other women or church ministries.
That letter read the following:
“Eventually, I was only interacting with my priest and my spiritual director. I had lost trust in all other people. My husband was grieving the loss of his dad and at the same time he was being promoted at work. Our time together was nearly nothing. … My spiritual director had told me that the relationship I had with my husband would never compare with what I had with my priest. My priest would meet me in confession on Saturday mornings and listen to me. My priest kissed away all my tears as I grieved my recent miscarriages. We were gradually growing more intimate. My priest came across as being in need of me and what I could offer him as a woman. He would hug me and feel my bra. I confided this to my spiritual director and the spiritual director simply nodded like that was expected and appropriate. I felt mad that the spiritual director was so focused on the sexual needs of my priest[.] … Eventually, the relationship with my priest developed greater sexual undertones. I was kissing my priest in the confessional while kneeling between his legs. I felt loved.”
In the letter, the woman alleged the interactions escalated to Langlois touching her nipples and breasts. She said he did always ask if it was okay. After some time, she said he asked her to stop scheduling Saturday appointments to meet with him through the parish secretary, as she was getting suspicious and refused to schedule future meetings for the pair to meet in the church.
She said they then began meeting in the confessional late at night, she told her spiritual director this and said she felt like a “w****,” she said her spiritual director did not want her to feel like that, and directed her to no longer meet Langlois in the church, but to begin seeing him in his rectory. Her letter read the following:
“It wasn’t soon after that my priest invited me into the rectory in the evenings. I asked my spiritual director if I was supposed to watch my priest masturbate. The spiritual director said ‘yes.’ My priest was initially reluctant to masturbate before me, but he did masturbate beside me as I masturbated myself. I went back to report to my spiritual director that I had ‘accomplished the goal of getting my priest to masturbate.’ The spiritual director wanted to know all the intimate details. The spiritual director seemed upset that I had not physically masturbated the priest myself. I felt like I had somehow ‘failed[,]’ but I couldn’t understand exactly how.”
The woman said in the letter that her spiritual director wanted her to draft a contract that “limited any sexual relationship” with Langlois. She lost trust in the spiritual director and stopped seeing him in the fall of 2009. However, she said in her letter that she engaged in a “sexual, emotional affair” with Langlois for the next four years, until January of 2013 when she ended things. She and her family moved to another state months later.
A letter dated July 8, 2014, reveals Bishop Walkowiak’s response to the woman’s allegations. He told the woman he was “very concerned by the description of the relationship” she had detailed. He said in his letter that they would begin an investigation.
A handwritten note dated July 15, 2014, reads that the bishop met with Langlois and Langlois acknowledged ongoing sexual contact with the woman. The note’s writer wrote that it was a “consensual relationship,” and he “thought the relationship was helping her.” The writer told Langlois not to have any contact with the woman or be alone with any woman in a private setting.
Four years later, in 2018, the woman again wrote to Walkowiak in a letter that she considered a “formal complaint.” At this point, Michigan State Police were also investigating.
The woman recounted her relationship with Langlois to police, citing specific instances. She told them that during a Sept. 2008 confession, she was sitting face to face with Langlois. She alleged that he “wrapped his legs around her legs and pulled her in tight to him.” She told police that she pushed back and created distance from him, then stood, out of confusion. She said he convinced her to come back, put his hands on her thighs and began rubbing back and forth, saying he wanted her to “feel the love of Jesus through his actions.” She alleged he would pull her in tight, rub her back/bra strap, and wanted to create a spiritual marriage.
She also alleged that after her miscarriages, when she would weep during confession, Langlois would “literally” lick her tears away, and called it “drinking her tears away.” she alleged that contacts during confession became more frequent, eventually escalating to meetings in the rectory, meetings at her home and eventually having oral sex. She said he felt “indebted to him.”
Accuser 2
According to a recovered memorandum, on March 3, 2016, woman who was a staff member at St. Patrick Parish in Grand Haven alleged that Langlois “came up behind her and gave her a shoulder massage.” She alleged he also “walked behind her and allowed his hand to brush against her buttocks.”
The memorandum also read that in response to the woman’s allegations, the writer reached out to a member of the “Fr. [Langlois] accountability group,” to relay the information and propose next action steps.
They planned meetings with the woman and Langlois, according to the memorandum, and continued to monitor Langlois for any further “incidents.”
Accuser 3
In March of 2018, a woman called Victim Assistance Counselor Teresa Postema to allege that Langlois had sexually abused her while she was a minor teenager, when he was stationed at St. Patrick Parish in Grand Haven. Postema wrote up a report on the allegations. The report reads that the woman alleged the abuse began when she was 13, in 1995-1996. She alleged that Langlois began “grooming” her with frequent and prolonged hugs.
She said Langlois had begun an informal youth group with her and four or five other children. She said that in retrospect, she realized he often sat too close to her and would initiate physical contact. She said that when he would hug her, she could feel his erection.
After some time, she said her mother was diagnosed with lung cancer. By this point, she said Langlois had given her a key to the rectory and offered for her to use it any time that she needed a place to get away. She alleges that during this time, his hugs became longer, with occasional “rubbing” when she would leave, which he apologized for and said it was because he was stressed.
She said she was confused and knew that it was somehow wrong, but she needed a refuge. Time went on, and when the girl’s mother went away for treatment, she said Langlois had offered for her to stay in the spare bedroom at the rectory. She alleges things progressed to him telling her he was tired and asking her to come to his bedroom to talk.
The woman described things between her and Langlois as an accordion; as he would come too close to a boundary line, she would back off and not speak to him for a period of time. When she was a senior in high school, she said her mother’s cancer spread. She said she sought out Langlois for counsel.
She alleges that when she sought counsel, he would “engage her in discussions about what couples would tell him what made them feel better.” She alleges he would say things such as: “I spoke with this couple the other day and they said that oral sex, masturbation, or some other sexual act, made them feel better.” At one specific meeting, she alleges he told her that masturbation had helped the couple. Within two weeks, she alleges he used her hand to masturbate himself.
She said that Langlois made her feel like she was ministering to him to allow him to minister to others.
When she graduated high school she was accepted to a university. However, as her mother’s health was declining, she remained at home and commuted to classes. She said she continued to see Langlois, and the alleged abuse continued.
The woman said that Langlois had asked her to go to reconciliation with his confessor at some point, Fr. Balzar at St. Alphonse in Grand Rapids. She said she detailed to Balzar the situation with Langlois and Balzar told her to “end all relationship with Fr. Langlois as it was causing him to sin.”
After the woman shared the allegations with Postema in March of 2018, an investigation began and law enforcement became involved. He was dismissed from the clerical state as a result.
Arthur La Rue
First allegations in the 1950s
essel’s report did not have much information on Msgr. Arthur La Rue. It is not known when or where he was ordained. However, he is presumed to be dead.
Accuser
A man alleged in 2018 that La Rue had sexually abused him in the 1950s, when he was in the seventh or eighth grade. The accuser was attending St. Mary’s in Spring Lake at the time of the alleged abuse. He was an altar boy.
He told Victim Advocate Coordinator Teresa Postema that La Rue had groomed him by being very friendly with him. He alleged that things evolved into duck hunting trips. drives to secluded areas of the beach and skeet shooting. He said that he would go with La Rue when he golfed with the Bishop at the Spring Lake Country Club. He alleged that during those golfing trips, La Rue would place his hands down the boy’s pants and “fondle” him.
He said La Rue never asked or encouraged him to reciprocate any touching, and he stated he was never raped. He alleged that the abuse occurred repeatedly for many months, until at one point La Rue allegedly took the boy to the rectory. While there, he said La Rue wanted him to remove all his clothing so he could weigh him. The accuser said he refused, and after that incident, he told his parents.
The report ends there.
Richard Joseph Lawie
First allegations in the late 1980s
Fr. Richard Joseph Lawie was born in Muskegon in 1943 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1969 at the Cathedral of St. Andrew in Grand Rapids. He died in 2022.
Starting in 2002, four men have accused Lawie of sexual abuse.
Accuser 1
Investigators found a 2001 correspondence between a Diocese Bishop and a victim advocate involving Lawie.
In it, the victim advocate says a church member claimed Lawie anally raped him twice. Lawie denied these allegations, but the church paid the alleged victim and his wife thousands in financial support for therapy.
Accuser 2
In a second letter, the victim advocate claims Lawie raped a different church member during an event in Holland in summer 1989, when the alleged victim was a young adult. The alleged victim said he was seeking guidance on his sexual orientation when he met with Lawie, and Lawie took advantage of that.
Lawie admitted to the allegation.
A later correspondence states Lawie visited the second alleged victim in 1999 and apologized to him. The alleged victim became concerned Lawie is still active in the church.
When confronted with this concern, Lawie said he was willing to “retire and simply do supply work.” The church told him they weren’t considering this. Lawie was still assigned to a parish.
The church offered the second alleged victim $50,000 for therapy expenses. They said this alleged victim still posed “the threat of going public.”
They settled the matter by giving the alleged victim $100,000.
The documents say Lawie took a polygraph test in 2002, but do not include the results.
Lawie released the following statement in January 2003.
“It is with great pain and regret that I have confessed to making an error in Judgment when I engaged in inappropriate behavior with an adult male friend more than 10 years ago. As a priest, I am responsible for setting Christ’s example in our world, and I understand my behavior to be wrong.
Recognizing my poor judgment in this situation, I reported what occurred to the Diocese in 1993 and asked for assistance in counseling. I attended a residential counseling program out of state from 1993 to 1995[,] and I continue counseling today.
Over the past two years, I shared this situation with some colleagues and friends and members of my parish. I also asked the Diocese of Grand Rapids to support me in providing the other party involved with a financial settlement to assist in paying for his counseling costs.
Settling this issue was the best way to avoid further pain and humiliation and provide all of us an opportunity to continue the healing process. I have discussed repayment with the Diocese[,] and I have already made strides in that direction.
I have talked with my parish council and greater parish community about what occurred and have asked their forgiveness. I have expressed my deep sorrow and regrets to the parish, that I may have caused them pain and unwanted scrutiny because of this error in judgment made so many years ago.
Throughout the past several years, I have continued spiritual direction and counseling. I will continue to seek forgiveness from God.”
Lawie resigned the day after he released his statement.
Documents show the church granted Lawie “long-term disability status on Feb. 1, 2003.”
Accuser 3
A third alleged victim stepped forward in 2006, claiming Lawie sexually abused him in the 1950s, when he was about 11 years old. The man lived in California, so he met with the Diocese of Sacramento to tell his story.
He stated that these incidents involved Stanislaus Bur at St. Rita’s Church in Maple City (featured above in this article) and Lawie.
The accuser claims Bur would take him to his cabin in Pellston. There, Bur encouraged him to sleep beside him and skinny dip with him. Bur would apparently use a bar of soap in the water to masturbate in front of the accuser, encouraging the boy to do the same.
He says Bur would expose himself and touch the accuser inappropriately.
Lawie attended one trip to the cabin. The accuser said he would share a bed with Lawie. One night, he awoke to Lawie touching his penis, he said.
He said he jumped up out of bed and told him, “I don’t want you to do that, I’m not like that,” documents say.
The accuser witnessed repeated incidents of inappropriate behavior between Bur and Lawie, he said.
The Church claims Lawie was also a minor at the time and not yet a priest, so it was not a situation they would investigate.
David Eugene Le Blanc
First allegations in 1971
David Eugene Le Blanc was born in Cheboygan in 1935. He died in 2019.
Le Blanc was ordained to the priesthood in 1961 at St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Grand Rapids. His priestly faculties were removed in 2007.
Since 1993, two alleged victims came forward with claims Le Blanc sexually abused them as boys.
Accuser 1
The first of Le Blanc’s alleged victims came forward in 1993.
The accuser says he was 10 or 11 when Le Blanc offered for him to stay in the rectory for a long weekend in 1971. Le Blanc apparently invited him to sleep in his bed.
Le Blanc suggested they take off their clothes for “sex instruction,” the accuser said. Soon after, the phone rang and the accuser put his clothes back on.
The next night, the two went to an explicit R-rated movie and took a shower together, the alleged victim said. He claims Le Blanc “soaped him up and rubbed him down.”
Six years later, the alleged victim’s mother died. While planning the funeral with the church, Le Blanc reportedly asked the alleged victim bout his “love life” and said lots of children stayed with him in the rectory since that weekend.
After the allegations surfaced, the church revoked Le Blanc’s priestly faculties in 2007. Le Blanc wrote an email to a Bishop on the matter.
“I beg of you to stop or, at least slow down the process,” wrote Le Blanc, saying he was originally slated to take an early retirement “without publicity.”
“I keep thinking of the Church which embraces the teachings of Jesus about forgiveness. I was forgiven through the Sacrament of Reconciliation and also forgiven by the victim, but the Church and the Diocese which I have served for forty five and a half years does not have the means or the willingness to forgive. There is either something wrong with the Charter or the interpretation of the Charter in my case,” he wrote.
“I would prefer not to do this if that were possible,” the bishop wrote back, in part.
Le Blanc “with great reluctance and sense of injustice” resigned from Holy Family Parish in Caledonia in 2007.
Le Blanc openly admitted to the child abuse in a letter to his former parishioners.
Accuser 2
Another accuser came forward in 2019. He said that in 1999, Le Blanc sexually abused him.
The accuser was a student at St. Vianney Catholic School in Wyoming.
The student made a bomb threat to the school during spring break and was suspended. Due to his behavior, his parents brought him to their priest, Le Blanc.
Le Blanc and the accuser, alone in the rectory, began discussing the bomb threat. The topic then shifted to girlfriends and masturbation.
The accuser told Le Blanc he did not know what masturbation was. He says Le Blanc then pulled out his genitalia and began masturbating in front of him. Le Blanc allegedly grabbed the accuser’s hand and placed it on his penis.
Le Blanc then opened the accuser’s pants, and they masturbated each other, the accuser said. The boy never got an erection, and Le Blanc allegedly told him it was “good,” because that meant he was “holy in heart.”
Le Blanc then apparently told the boy it was normal to never share what happens during meetings with parishioners with anyone else.
Le Blanc never faced criminal charges because the alleged victims were barred by the statute of limitations, the document reports.
Benedict J. Marciulionis
First allegations in 1969
Benedict J. Marciulionis was ordained to the priesthood in 1943, was removed from ministry in 1981 and died in 2000.
Marciulionis was ordained for the Diocese of Grand Rapids in 1943. When the Diocese of Gaylord was formed in 1971, he became a priest of that diocese.
Marciulionis’ name appears on the Diocese of Gaylord Clergy with a Substantiated Allegation of Sexual Abuse of a Minor List and on the BishopAccountability website. Marciulionis also appears in the AG report for the Diocese of Gaylord.
Accuser
As part of the Attorney General’s investigation, a victim advocate interviewed one of Marciulionis’ alleged victims in 2020.
She says it happened at St. Mary Parish in Lowell, while he was still a priest of the Diocese of Grand Rapids.
The first accuser says she and her two sisters spent more time with Marciulionis after their father died in 1969. She said her mother worked at night and Marciulionis would babysit the three girls overnight at the rectory.
The accuser’s sisters slept in one bedroom, and she slept in Marciulionis’ bedroom with him, she says.
The sexual abuse began, she says, when Marciulionis would cuddle her. It “escalated to him rubbing and touching” her, she claims.
She says she has “blocked out a lot of what occurred during those nights but remember[ed] that she would curl up into a ball to try to prevent anything from happening,” the documents say.
The girls later moved in with their grandparents. Marciulionis began picking up the girls there to take them shopping. When they got to the store, he’d send two of the girls inside so one would be alone with him in the car, the accuser said.
When it was the accuser’s turn to sit with him, “he’d tell her that he was going to take car[e] of her, that he loved her, and everything would be okay,” the document said. The accuser stated that at first Fr. Marciulionis would kiss her and touch her over her clothes, “and it escalated to him doing this beneath her clothes as well.”
The alleged victim said Marciulionis took her on trips, one being to Chicago with another girl, and that night they stopped “in front of a strip club to watch a woman dancing in the window,” she said.
Marciulionis also took the alleged victim, her brother and one of her sisters on a trip up north, she claims. During the night, her pants had been removed, and she woke up to her siblings playing doctor on her, touching her genitalia, while Marciulionis watched, she said.
The alleged victim said this abuse has a lasting impact on her. She said she did not know how to have “a good relationship with a man throughout her life and has never enjoyed sex.”
The alleged victims said her sisters also suffered Marciulionis’ sexual abuse.
Donn Patrick Tufts
First allegations in 1981
Fr. Donn Patrick Tufts was born in 1908 and died in 1999. He worked at St. Francis de Sales in Muskegon, St. Andrew Cathedral in Grand Rapids
Since 2002, one person has accused him of sexual abuse.
Tufts’ accuser says he was active in youth ministry at St. Francis de Sales in Muskegon between 1979 and 1981, and he went to Tufts for counseling in 1980 regarding his sexual orientation. At some point over the following years, Tufts gave him a full-body massage, including giving him an orgasm, telling him, “[t]his is for you, so that you will know more about sex.”
In 2004, the accuser wrote to the church that Tufts “took advantage and preyed on a vulnerable young adult” – and should be “punished and corrected.” He further wrote that Tufts “should be kept away from youth and young adults.”
The diocese says Tufts underwent a psychological evaluation, and while he wasn’t removed from being a pastor, he was under “restrictions” and “regular supervision.”
Marcel Alphonse Vanbergen
First allegations in 1956
Fr. Marcel Alphonse Vanbergen was born in 1925 and died in 1983. He worked at St. Stephens in East Grand Rapids.
Since 2008, two people have accused him of sexual abuse.
Accuser 1
In 2008, an accuser came forward and said Vanbergen molested him when he was in kindergarten in 1956. The accuser told another priest and was told that “they did not believe him and told him to stop telling lies or he would go to ‘hell.’”
Accuser 2
In 2013, a second accuser said that when he was 13 or 14, the priest saw his erection and talked to him about it, which then turned to touching. The diocesan attorney thereafter notified the Kent County prosecuting attorney of this allegation.
It’s unclear why this investigation did not move forward.
Richard John Van Lente
First allegations in 1985
Fr. Richard John Van Lente was born in 1939 and retired in 2006. He worked at St. Patrick’s Church in Portland and St. Jude Catholic Church in Grand Rapids
Since 1985, four women have accused him of sexual misconduct.
The women reported that he exposed himself, made sexual comments and more.
One said that Van Lente also commented on one of the other parish members previously leaving the priesthood, telling her that there “was no reason to leave the priesthood,” and “every priest knows that you can have women and the priesthood too.”
He underwent psychological testing. The Diocese told him to “avoid unsupervised contact with adolescent females” and was no longer assigned a parish.
He retired in 2006.
Frederick J. Voss
First allegations in 1968
Fr. Frederick J. Voss was born in 1918 and died in 1977. He worked at St. Thomas the Apostle Church and the East Deanery in Grand Rapids and St. Stephen’s church and St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Grand Rapids. Fr. Voss organized and founded St. Robert’s Church in Ada in 1951. He served as pastor of churches in Onekama, Lake Leelanau and Big Rapids
Since 2002, one woman has accused him of sexual misconduct.
The woman claimed he touched her inappropriately when she was 19 and again when she was 22.
In 2008, the church gave her an official apology.
John Makysmowski
First allegations in 1968
Msgr. John A. Maksymowski was born in 1897 and died in 1987. He served in the Diocese of Grand Rapids and was pastor of St. Adalbert’s Basilica from approximately 1935 until 1970.
Since 1997, one person has accused him of sexual abuse.
His accuser came forward in 1997. He reported that he was sexually abused by Msgr. Maksymowski in the late 1960s while serving as an altar boy at St. Adalbert’s Basilica, when he was in 7th and 8th grade.
The Diocese provided more than $9,000 for counseling services for the man and his wife.
Because Msgr. Maksymowski died in 1987, the Diocese claimed that the allegations could not be verified, and no formal claim was anticipated.
John Wahlen Patrick McGee
First allegations in 1957
Fr. John Whalen Patrick McGee was born in 1916 and died in 1987. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1943 and served in the Diocese of Grand Rapids, including assignments at St. Henry Parish in Rosebush, Michigan, and later at St. Pius Parish in Grandville, Michigan.
Since 2021, one person has accused him of sexual abuse.
His accuser came forward in August 2021. She reported that Fr. McGee sexually abused her over an extended period beginning in approximately 1957, when she was a fourth-grade student, and continuing until about 1968, when she was 21 years old. She described a pattern of grooming, coercive sexualized contact, kissing, inappropriate physical closeness and sexual exploitation. The abuse allegedly occurred primarily at parish rectories associated with St. Henry Parish and later St. Pius Parish. She stated that Fr. McGee was trusted by her family, exercised spiritual authority over her and used that authority to manipulate and control her.
The accuser informed the Diocese that she did not intend to file a lawsuit but requested reimbursement for counseling expenses and asked that the Church acknowledge and take responsibility for Fr. McGee’s conduct.
Because Fr. McGee died in 1987, no criminal or civil action was pursued.
Michael Gerard McKenna
First allegations in 1973
Fr. Michael Gerard McKenna was ordained to the priesthood in 1973 and served in the Diocese of Grand Rapids until his removal from ministry in 2006.
Since 2002, multiple people have accused him of sexual abuse.
The first known accuser came forward in May 2002. He reported that Fr. McKenna sexually abused him beginning in 1973, when he was approximately 11 or 12 years old and serving as an altar boy at St. John Vianney Parish. He alleged inappropriate touching and sexualized massages during overnight stays at the parish rectory.
After this report, additional individuals came forward alleging sexual abuse or inappropriate sexual conduct by Fr. McKenna involving minors during the 1970s and early 1980s. These allegations included misconduct toward altar servers and other youth.
All reported incidents occurred before the Diocese became aware of any allegations against him. As a result of the multiple reports, Fr. McKenna was permanently removed from public ministry in October 2006 and was directed to live a life of prayer and penance.
Edward Joseph Mike
First allegations in the late 1960s
Fr. Edward Joseph Mike was ordained to the priesthood in 1961. He later moved to inactive priest status in 1972 and was believed to have married. He died in 2025.
Since 2010, one person has accused him of sexual abuse.
His accuser came forward in May 2010. She reported that Fr. Mike fondled her on multiple occasions when she was 10 or 11 years old in the late 1960s. The alleged abuse occurred at St. Peter and Paul Church and included incidents in the church, the parish office and the school.
The Diocese confirmed that Fr. Mike served at the parish during the relevant time period and offered counseling assistance to the accuser. Investigators from the Michigan Attorney General’s Office sought to interview Fr. Mike in July 2025, but he had died before an interview could take place.
Denis P. Nash
First allegations in 1990
Fr. Denis P. Nash was ordained to the priesthood in 1954, retired to senior priest status in 2000 and died in 2007.
Since 1990, two people have accused him of sexual misconduct.
The first accuser came forward in September 1990. She reported that Fr. Nash engaged in inappropriate sexual contact with her, including French kissing, touching her breasts and misuse of his clerical authority. She stated that the conduct caused severe emotional distress and contributed to a suicide attempt. A second woman later reported that Fr. Nash kissed and touched her inappropriately on two occasions during the same year.
Diocesan officials met with the first accuser, witnesses and Fr. Nash. He admitted to imprudent hugging and kissing but denied any sexual intent. The Diocese paid for counseling, medication and hospital expenses for the first accuser and discussed counseling or treatment options for Fr. Nash. His possible removal from the parish was considered. No additional allegations were identified in his diocesan file.
Edward O’Connor
First allegations in 1968
Fr. Edward O’Connor, a member of the Redemptorist order, served in the late 1960s. His date of birth, ordination and death are unknown.
Since 1995, one person has accused him of sexual abuse.
In a letter dated February 21, 1995, the accuser reported that Fr. O’Connor attempted to put his hand inside her school uniform on at least two occasions between 1968 and 1969. She stated that she told her mother about the incidents at the time and later raised concerns when Fr. O’Connor was scheduled to participate in her mother’s funeral.
Because Fr. O’Connor was a member of a religious order, diocesan officials advised the accuser to report the allegations to the Redemptorist provincial. Subsequent notes indicated that Fr. O’Connor reportedly did not have unsupervised contact with youth. No additional allegations or documentation were located.
Peter Omogo
First allegations in 2015
Fr. Peter Omogo was ordained in 2004 in Nigeria and later served in the Diocese of Grand Rapids.
Since 2024, multiple adult women have accused him of sexual misconduct.
Between 2015 and 2024, several women reported unwanted sexual contact, boundary violations and grooming by Fr. Omogo. Allegations included unwanted kissing and groping, inappropriate conduct during confession and sexual coercion. One accuser alleged that Fr. Omogo repeatedly raped her beginning in 2019 while she worked closely with him through parish and charitable foundation activities.
Reports were made to local law enforcement, the Diocese and the Michigan Attorney General’s Office. Fr. Omogo denied criminal wrongdoing, declined police interviews on the advice of counsel and submitted to a private polygraph arranged by his attorney. In June 2025, the Attorney General closed the criminal investigation without filing charges, citing evidentiary issues, statutes of limitation and victims’ decisions not to pursue prosecution.
The Diocese restricted Fr. Omogo from ministry during the investigation. In May 2025, his faculties were removed, and he returned to his home diocese in Nigeria.
January Padlo
First allegations in the late 1950s
Fr. January Padlo was ordained to the priesthood in 1946 and was a member of the Franciscan Friars, Province of Our Lady of Guadalupe. He served as a visiting priest in the Diocese of Grand Rapids and died in 1976.
Since 1998, multiple people have accused him of sexual abuse.
Several individuals reported that Fr. Padlo sexually abused them as minors during the late 1950s and early 1960s at St. Margaret School in Otsego, St. Michael Parish in Muskegon and St. Mary’s Church in Lowell. The allegations included fondling, groping, digital penetration, oral sex and coercive grooming. The reported abuse occurred in schools, rectories and victims’ homes.
The allegations were reported to diocesan officials, the Franciscan provincial, local police and the Michigan Attorney General’s Office. Because Fr. Padlo was deceased, no criminal charges were possible. Victims primarily requested documentation of the allegations in his personnel file. Fr. Padlo appears on the Franciscan Friars’ list of substantiated claims and on the BishopAccountability website.
Theophilus Palukaitis
First allegations in 1951
Fr. Theophilus Palukaitis was a Lithuanian displaced priest who assisted at St. Mary’s Church in Custer, Michigan, during the summer of 1951. His date of birth, ordination and death are unknown. Later diocesan records indicated that he could not be located and was presumed deceased or to have left the United States.
Since 1995, one person has accused him of sexual abuse.
In a letter dated February 21, 1995, the accuser reported that Fr. Palukaitis molested her in 1951 when she was eight years old. She stated that the abuse occurred in the back of the church during a summer Confraternity of Christian Doctrine program and that she told her mother at the time. She later learned that other girls were allegedly abused but that no reports were made.
A diocesan review concluded that there was no reason to doubt the allegation and that Fr. Palukaitis could not be located. The Diocese provided a $3,000 payment to assist with therapy-related expenses.
Joseph E. Shaw
First allegations in the 1960s
Msgr. Joseph E. Shaw was born in 1910 and died in 1990. He served in the Diocese of Grand Rapids and was associated with St. Joseph Seminary during the mid-20th century.
Since 2006, two people have accused him of sexual abuse.
The first accuser contacted the Diocese in January 2006 and reported that Msgr. Shaw inappropriately touched him while he was a minor seminarian, likely during the 1960s or 1970s. He declined to file a formal allegation. In 2018, he again communicated with the Diocese but did not pursue a formal report.
A second accuser reported to the Michigan Department of Attorney General in October 2018 that Msgr. Shaw sexually abused him between 1963 and 1966 while he was a seminarian between the ages of 13 and 15. He alleged repeated acts of sexual abuse, including coerced masturbation while Msgr. Shaw watched and being singled out for attention.
No further investigation was conducted to confirm Msgr. Shaw’s specific assignment to the seminary during that period or the accuser’s enrollment, and no criminal or civil action followed.
William Paul Walters
First allegations in 1964 or 1965
Fr. William Paul Walters was born in 1937. He worked at St. James Parish in Grand Rapids. He was laicized in 1974 to get married.
Since 2005, one person has accused him of sexual abuse.
In 2005, the accuser alleged he was sexually abused by former Fr. Walters in or about 1964-1965 when he was 13-14 years old. The accuser was transferred to St. James school due to parental abuse.
His parents wanted him to talk to former Fr. Walters because he was having trouble in school and his behavior was “problematic.” He said he knew who he was because of confession.
He claims former Fr. Walters would pick him up on weekends. They would ride in his car and Walters would allow the accuser to smoke cigarettes and drink beer, he said.
The accuser says this led to him sitting on former Fr. Walters’ lap, where there would be inappropriate touching, nudity and sexual abuse. He says this would always happen in desolate areas, or in former Fr. Walters’ cottage in Manistee, where they would sleep together.
“This was like a dream, and I believe now that I suppressed the memory of this for years,” he said of them sleeping together.
He says this went on for a full year, on weekends.
He also says Fr. Walters once caught him and his girlfriend performing sexual acts in a tunnel at St. James School, and he “had them perform for him.”
Before the accuser’s brother died of cancer, they found out they had the same weekend experiences with former Fr. Walters.
In July of 2005, another priest sent a letter to former Fr. Walters, requesting they set up a time to discuss “a matter that has recently been brought to [their] attention[;]” however, the letter was “refused unclaimed” and returned.
When the accuser also sent a letter, the same thing happened.
Two decades later, a special agent with the Department of the Attorney General spoke to former Fr. Walters regarding the allegations of sexual abuse reported to the Diocese. He “denied knowing the victim(s) and denied all allegations.” He also did not provide any additional information.
Dennis Alan Wagner
First allegations in 1983
Fr. Dennis Wagner was born in 1948. He worked at St. Stephen’s Parish in East Grand Rapids, St. Michael’s Parish in Coopersville, St. Jude’s Parish in Grand Rapids, St. Ann’s Home in Grand Rapids, Holy Family Parish in Caledonia (residential), St. Thomas Parish in Grand Rapids (residential), Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Belmont (residential), Basilica of St. Adalbert in Grand Rapids (residential), St. Pius X Parish in Grandville (residential), Catholic University of America in Washington D.C. (schooling) and St. Luke Institute in Suitland, MD, (institutionalized). He was also frequently at St. Joseph’s Parish in Grand Rapids, according to the report.
He was removed from ministry in May 2002 and was laicized in April 2004.
Since 1983, 19 victims and several witnesses have accused him of sexual abuse.
In 1983, seven years after he was ordained, Fr. Wagner was charged with one felony count of gross indecency involving a 13-year-old boy. According to a news article, Fr. Wagner fondled the boy in Egelston Township while driving to his cabin in Newaygo County. He allegedly continued to fondle the boy until the two reached the cabin and went tubing down the Muskegon River.
A month after he was charged, he resigned from his pastorate. Ultimately, he pleaded no contest to misdemeanor assault and battery and got two years of probation.
In January 1984, just weeks after he entered his plea, a licensed psychologist wrote to Bishop Breitenbeck and recommended that Fr. Wagner return to his duties without restriction.
The psychologist wrote he did not think he should be sheltered from interacting with young boys, and he has learned “the tools to effectively deal with his homosexual tendencies,” saying he won’t slip in the future.
The Diocese rejected that recommendation. In March 1984, the diocesan chancellor wrote a memo confirming Fr. Wagner would not be doing any pastoral work at Holy Family Parish in Caledonia where he had residency, but would be working full time in the Diocesan Marriage Tribunal under supervision. He would not have regular contact with minors but would work from the chancery.
In a memo from January 1986, Fr. Wagner was allowed to celebrate weekday morning Masses; conduct hospital visits to adult parishioners; make First Friday communion calls to the elderly; and assist parishioners seeking annulments. They reaffirmed he should avoid contact with anyone under the age of 18.
In July 1986, it was noted that Fr. Wagner was going to have an evaluation at St. Luke Institute in Suitland, Maryland in August of that year, and if it was favorable, he would be attending the Catholic University of America.
In June 1987, his priestly duties were broadened when he was moved to Assumption Parish in Belmont, but he still was told to avoid situations that would have him interacting with people under the age of 18. He was also told he must continue to receive medication and treatment that St. Luke Institute recommended.
While he resided at Assumption Parish, the Diocese directed his supervisor to make sure Fr. Wagner had no contact or activities with minors without the presence of other adults, know generally what Fr. Wagner was doing when he was not at the parish and contact the chancery office if there was a concern of violation.
In Sept. 1988, the church appointed Fr. Wagner Officialis of the Tribunal of the Diocese of Grand Rapids. His work would be done at the chancery and Fr. Wagner would not have regular contact with minors.
In a memo about this appointment, Bishop Breitenbeck wrote that Fr. Wagner was still meeting with the psychologist from 1984. Fr. Wagner had apparently joined a group in Lansing, referred to in the memo as “Child Abuser Anonymous.”
Fr. Wagner “had no hesitation whatsoever in discussing his personal problem” with the Bishop. While the Bishop did not think it was advisable to let him replace pastors when they were away, he did say it was okay to help the priest/supervisor he was living with, Fr. Porter, to hear the confessions of the First Communicants.
In July 1989, Fr. Porter wrote to the Bishop. He says a parishioner of the Church of the Assumption reported Fr. Wagner for inviting her 13-year-old son to play racquetball. When the Bishop spoke to Fr. Wagner, they concluded “that there was no improper approach on his part.”
However, the boy’s mother was concerned about the invitation, and it violated the rule that he was not allowed to interact with anyone under the age of 18, especially without adult supervision.
When Bishop Robert Rose took over from Bishop Breitenbeck in 1989, Fr. Wagner was appointed as Judicial Vicar for the Tribunal of the Diocese of Grand Rapids.
In December 1989, Fr. Terrence Stewart wrote to Bishop Rose with concerns. He claimed Fr. Wagner was in contact with young boys, scheduling swimming trips and visits to the parish where young boys were present.
When Fr. Stewart met with Fr. Wagner about these concerns, Fr. Wagner said that he was using the pool as therapy for his ankle and discovered a family who also use the pool. He assured Fr. Stewart that this was not to swim alone with boys, but with the family. Fr. Stewart cautioned Fr. Wagner on the dangers of this contact.
In December 1990, Fr. Stewart formally requested that Fr. Porter be Fr. Wagner’s “supervisor-friend,” which he described as “an individual in a supervisory capacity who has knowledge of his history and who is aware, in a general way, of his current activities. What is appropriate here is not hour-by-hour accountability, but rather a supportive relationship with a knowledgeable and sympathetic superior.”
In a letter to Fr. Wagner from the same month, Fr. Stewart wrote to confirm the understanding reached between the two men.
Fr. Stewart wrote that he thought Fr. Wagner was “very important to us as a person and a very talented priest.”
A few days later, Fr. Porter wrote a letter to Fr. Stewart, expressing questions and concerns about how to be a “supervisor-friend.”
In that letter, he said it was inappropriate for any priest to invite young boys to the pool and that Fr. Wagner gravitated towards friendships with parents of young boys.
In April 1992, Fr. Porter wrote a letter to Fr. Wagner. He also sent copies to the Bishop and Fr. Stewart. In this letter, Fr. Porter wrote that “the events of these recent days have forced me to recognize that I have served you as an enabler and for both our sakes this must cease.”
He wrote that he was the one to suggest his moves in the Tribunal, graduate studies and appoint him as Judicial Vicar.
He wrote that he had been forced to learn about addiction, denial, enablers and tough love, and it was time to show tough love. In his opinion, Fr. Wagner needed to be in a residential treatment facility for sexual abuse, because he continued “to place [his] hands on young people” and he frequently visited houses with young children. Fr. Porter wrote that this was “playing with fire” and is “simply setting the stage for disaster.”
He wrote that Fr. Wagner should go to a different residence no later than July 1 of that year, which would correspond to the usual diocesan transfer.
In another letter from Fr. Porter to the Bishop from that month, he said that Fr. Wagner needs serious and professional treatment, but that he has to want it for it to benefit him.
Eight days later, Fr. Stewart sent recommendations from Fr. Wagner’s psychologist, the same one from 1984, that a psychiatrist evaluate him in an office-review format, not a clinical stay. The other option would be to meet with the psychologist.
In July 1992, the Diocese moved Fr. Wagner to residence at St. Adalbert in Grand Rapids, where he continued his work as Judicial Vicar. The church also assigned him to chaplaincy work at St. Ann’s Home in Grand Rapids. He was being supervised.
In September 1992, Bishop Rose (presumably) wrote a memo about a conversation he had with a witness. The witness was victim’s father from Fr. Wagner’s 1983 criminal case.
The victim told his father that the abuse happened in the water as they were canoeing or swimming, and that he immediately resisted. There was no evidence of abuse, according to the memo. When his mother took legal action, the diocese offered no help or assistance of any kind.
In May 1993, a news story featured one of Fr. Wagner’s alleged victims. When interviewed by the diocesan legal counsel, the accuser says the incident happened in the summer of 1985 in Caledonia.
The accuser was a 12-year-old altar server. Fr. Wagner allegedly asked the boy and his teen sister to go to the lake with him to go swimming. When the boy tried to get up out of the water on a pontoon, Fr. Wagner held him in the water and would not let him go after repeated requests and fondled him. This went on for 20 minutes, according to the man.
When the accuser told his parents, he said Fr. Wagner thought it was a big joke and laughed. No one brought the allegations to Fr. Wagner. Despite the accuser’s parents being upset, he came over to their home once or twice after that.
In February 1996, the Diocese settled with the accuser from the 1985 Caledonia incident in the amount of $10,000 plus payment for ten additional counseling sessions, in exchange for a Release of All Claims.
In April 2002, the accuser from this case reached back out, expressing anger after reading a settlement between the Diocese and three women. He believed he was “cheated” because he only received $10,000, and wanted more money, or he would report the alleged sexual abuse to the media.
In April 2003, he wrote again, requesting $50,000 for counseling for him and his family.
The Diocese paid him the money, and the accuser signed a Release of All Claims that, interalia, recited that when he signed the initial release in 1996, “there were provisions of the Code of Canon Law which may have allowed a proceeding by [accuser] in an ecclesiastical tribunal even though [accuser’s] rights under civil law were barred,” but “the parties were not aware of [accuser’s] potential rights” at that time.
In June 1993, because of the “recent publicity” of Fr. Wagner’s behavior, the Diocese transferred him to St. Pius X Parish in Grandville. All of his other work continued, including as coordinator of the implementation of the guidelines for Pastoral and Finance Councils in the parishes. The church prohibited him from pastoral or social activities involving children or young people. He also had to go to local sexual abuse meetings at least once a week.
The same month, another accuser came forward and was interviewed by the church. He says Fr. Wagner sexually abused him in 1978 when he was at St. Stephen’s Parish.
The accuser says Fr. Wagner took an interest in him, and at night when no one was around, they would play racquetball in St. Joseph’s Seminary Gym. Before they would go out for a treat, Fr. Wagner made them shower, where he initiated nude wrestling.
The second time, the accuser said, the wrestling got closer. The third time, he says Fr. Wagner introduced “a cool down” where he would run his fingertips along the body of the accuser. This felt weird to him, strange and almost erotic, he reported.
The contact went away until high school, when Fr. Wagner went to the accuser’s family cottage. There, they went swimming and boating.
Fr. Wagner stayed the night and had to sleep in the same bed as the accuser. When the accuser woke up, he said he felt rubbing down his pants, where Fr. Wagner was touching him. He says he stiffened, his eyes closed, “petrified, afraid,” and didn’t know what to do. Fr. Wagner was allegedly breathing heavily.
His parents entered the room, which Fr. Wagner couldn’t hear because he took out his hearing aids, but the accuser sat up.
Fr. Stewart apologized to the accuser on behalf of the church and the Bishop, and offered to pay for counseling.
Ahead of an evaluation by St. Luke Institute in July 1993, the Diocese sent several documents detailing concerns and the accusers to St. Luke’s.
In a February 1994 letter, Bishop Rose wrote to Fr. Wagner when he was in treatment at St. Luke’s that the Diocese would assist his recovery, that he was a good and gifted priest, and that they loved him.
In a June 1995 letter Fr. Stewart wrote to Fr. Wagner from St. Pius X rectory. Fr. Stewart referenced an exchange a witness noticed between Fr. Wagner and a family friend that was “concerning.”
Fr. Wagner says that he would not offer an apology based on “third party information” but would if it were requested by the individual person involved or any person who may have been harmed by him.
In October 1997, a husband and wife came forward saying Fr. Wagner, who was a family friend, sexually abused their son 16 years earlier, around 1979 to 1980. That was when Fr. Wagner worked in the Diocesan Religious Education Office at St. Thomas Parish.
They say that at the time, Fr. Wagner met with their son to work out adolescent problems. He was in their home as a guest and was a spiritual director and confessor.
At the time, when their son told them what had happened, they said they did not go to law enforcement or Fr. Wagner because their son was young, but they were shocked, angry and felt betrayed.
They also say that back then, little was being said publicly about the long-term effects of sexual molestation.
When Fr. Wagner was arrested, they felt grief and guilt. They thought if they had reported Fr. Wagner at the time, this wouldn’t have happened.
The parents know the statute of limitations has passed, but they wanted to make sure Fr. Wagner never worked with families again. They had failed their son, they said.
“How can the Church knowingly support any priest that has hurt the Body of Christ so deeply?” they asked, according to the documents.
The following month, then Msgr. Stewart met with the parents and their son. One of the parents took issue with Msgr. Stewart’s statement that Fr. Wagner was removed from parish ministry, because he saw him at mass at St. Thomas and also heard he attended a wedding.
During that meeting, Msgr. Stewart said “we do not throw out a person like this to then be free to abuse and harm others.”
In October 2020, the Department followed up with accuser, who says the abuse he experienced was “nothing short of rape.” He says they would play racquetball, go to the showers, and Fr. Wagner would touch and sexually assault him in the shower.
He says as a coping mechanism, he would count the shower heads and lights in the shower room, as he cried out to God for help.
He also claimed Fr. Wagner would masturbate on top of him and ejaculate onto his back. Due to the size difference, he said he could not fight back at 11 years old.
He claimed Bishop Rose would not meet with him despite repeated requests, but the Diocese did pay for counseling.
In November 2000, Fr. Donald Heydens wrote to Msgr. Stewart that Fr. Wagner and Fr. Gene Alvesteffer (No. 2 in the report) sexually abused one of his friends.
In December 2000, the accuser wrote a letter to Msgr. Stewart. The accuser is also listed in Fr. Alvesteffer’s report.
The accuser says he began flashbacks of abuse as a child, when he was around 8, 10, or 11, when Fr. Wagner and Fr. Alvesteffer would abuse him. He says he was suppressing this for two decades, and it had bubbled into anger.
Although he forgives the priests, he wanted the Diocese to know what kind of men they have working for them and the turmoil they put him through.
In a reply from Msgr. Stewart, he apologized and wrote it was “terribly disheartening to the rest of us priests to get a report like this and discover that one of our own has hurt a trusting member of the flock this way.” He also said that the Diocese would pay for counseling.
He mentioned that the Diocese sent Fr. Wagner for evaluation and treatment, removed him from parish work and prohibited his contact with young people.
In a letter with an illegible date, the accuser wrote to Msgr. Stewart that he had taken back his forgiveness of Fr. Wagner and expressed frustration with the Diocese.
He claimed he was seeking legal counsel for criminal charges against him, and that he would be going to the media to get his story out and share that these men are still working in the church.
“If you wish to settle this matter privately, I’m sure we can come to some sort of agreement. Otherwise, I’ll see you in court,” he wrote. “God be with you, because I know no one else will[.]”
In a letter from May 2001, Msgr. Stewart again apologized for his experiences and offered payment for counseling and psychological help “to find peace and healing.”
He restated their reasoning for keeping Fr. Wagner, and offered the help of their Victim Assistance Minister, whose role is to work with people who suffered abuse by Diocesan personnel.
In June 2001, the accuser countered Msgr. Stewart’s May letter. He emphasized it was two priests, not one, who abused him.
He also says that Fr. Wagner still ministering to people is “a slap in the face to every boy that he abused.”
As to the Victim Assistance Minister, he wrote, “I don’t know which is worse, that you have a person that works with people abused by diocesan personnel, or that this happens so often that you actually have a name (Victim Assistance Minister) for it.”
He says if the VAM would like to hear his story, she should talk to Fr. Wagner. But he believes he would lie about the interaction.
The accuser retained legal counsel, but was requesting $30,000 for pain and suffering and a written apology by Fr. Wagner instead of court.
In July 2001, Msgr. Stewart wrote that they are willing to pay the money and get the apology if he signs a Release of All Claims.
The accuser signed. In August 2001, the Diocese sent a letter and the money. Fr. Wagner apologized for what happened and any pain he had caused. He could not change the past, but he wrote that he was protecting the future, he said.
In April 2002, another accuser alleged when he was a Boy Scout between 11 to 13 years old, Fr. Wagner sexually abused him many times.
He claimed “there were undoubtedly other boys” but they were not present during the abuse. He had lasting trauma, he says, but didn’t request assistance.
A week later, the Diocese released a statement on Fr. Wagner, which clarified his position in the church and said he has ongoing counseling.
In May 2002, another accuser came forward and said that between 1981-1982, when he was 14 or 15, Fr. Wagner sexually abused him when he was his Eagle Scout mentor at St. Jude’s Parish.
The accuser says Fr. Wagner would take him to movies, to play racquetball, swim and go on walks. They spent a “fair amount” of time together.
At the movies, Fr. Wagner took the accuser’s hand and placed it on his own “private parts,” according to the report.
Fr. Wagner would call the accuser’s home, asking for his younger brothers, but the accuser said he would go with Fr. Wagner to “spare” his brothers.
When the report came out that Fr. Wagner faced charges in 1983, his parents asked the accuser if it had happened to him. He told him it did, and they reported it to the youth minister at St. Jude’s and a pastor at St. Jude’s.
The pastor took them to meet with Bishop Breitenbeck. Breitenbeck told them Fr. Wagner was receiving counseling and that he would be reassigned to work that did not involve children.
The accuser said he and his mother went to 13 ON YOUR SIDE. They said that representatives of the Diocese denied that the accuser came forward to report the abuse in 1983.
This report on 13 ON YOUR SIDE aired on May 6, 2002.
On the same day, the Diocese of Grand Rapids said in a press release that Bishop Rose decided to “relieve Fr. Wagner of all duties.”
In the meantime, the Diocese investigated a new allegation of sexual abuse.
The following day, the Diocese released another statement saying it has no active cases of abuse of minors on record, and the allegations happened more than 17 years ago. They said they reached out to the county prosecutor on the matters.
On May 8, Bishop Rose wrote a letter to the priests of the Diocese about Fr. Wagner’s history, a new substantiated allegation against him and the decision to remove him.
That day, the Bishop wrote that they had substantiated the fifth allegation with Fr. Wagner’s cooperation.
The report claims that in 1983, at the time of Fr. Wagner’s criminal conviction, the Diocese knew Fr. Wagner has more alleged victims. His lawyer said police and the prosecutor knew there were likely more cases involving Fr. Wagner as well.
He believes that the Diocese was cooperating fully with the prosecutors and the court.
Also in May 2002, another accuser came forward, who was a friend of the accuser from October 1997. The accuser told the Diocese Fr. Wagner also abused him. While he didn’t want to talk about it at the time, he said that Fr. Wagner needed to go to jail.
Four days later, another accuser came forward. He said Fr. Wagner abused him while at St. Thomas Parish when he was 11 or 12, while his mother was ill.
Fr. Wagner was kind to him, but he said the relationship developed an “inappropriate physical component” to it.
In a letter later that month, an accuser authorized the release of his records to the Kent County Prosecutor’s Office.
In May 2002, a witness spoke about an incident that occurred in her home between her son and Fr. Wagner in 1979 while they were both in a swimming pool.
While Fr. Wagner was at a pool party, he allegedly embraced her son from behind. Her son said he wouldn’t let him go, which the mother saw.
She kept watching, but Fr. Wagner was smiling like he was pleased with something. He continued holding her son, while she went in the house to figure out what to do.
She later saw red grooves on her son’s arms, where she believed he was held for 20 minutes.
Later, she and her husband wrote that they hoped that the abuse of their son was not made public because he “was not suffering from any long-lasting stigma” and the statute of limitations had run out.
Bishop Rose wrote back that he was “surprised and shocked by his message.” He apologized that the Diocese did not provide what they needed.
In May 2004, one of the parents said that the news stirs up memories, and Bishop Rose wrote them a $2,500 check to cover therapy expenses they incurred “connected with the abuse that your son was subjected to by one of our priests.”
The boy involved later came forward. He says Fr. Wagner was the assistant pastor at St. Stephen’s school at the time of the abuse in 1977 and 1978.
He says his family believed it was an honor that Fr. Wagner took an interest in him, and he would invite him out to eat on occasion, which was a nice treat because the accuser’s family was poor.
During the showers after racquetball, Fr. Wagner would allegedly grope him, which became more intense.
When he was a freshman in college, he and his family went with Fr. Wagner to a cottage on Indian Lake. Since there wasn’t enough sleeping room, they slept together. This is when he woke up to find Fr. Wagner groping him, he said.
The reason he did not report this at the time was that he feared a family member’s employment was at risk. Later, though, they reported the situation to five or six priests.
During the same meeting, the accuser says Fr. John Najdolski contacted him in 1991 and the accuser told him his story. He felt that the issue was “unfinished, that there had[d] been no remorse, and no justice for him.”
Later that night, Fr. Najdolski sent the dates of support group meetings. The Diocese gave him $12,150 to reimburse the cost of therapy for him and his wife. The Diocese said they would continue to pay for therapy in relation to the abuse. He was also told that the Diocese petition for Fr. Wagner’s laicization.
In May 2002, Fr. Wagner was one of eight priests in the Diocese who had “substantiated allegations” of sexual abuse against minors. Their files were turned over to the county prosecutor.
In June 2002, another accuser came forward saying that he was abused by Fr. Wagner when his family attended St. Robert’s Church in Ada.
He says in 1981 to 1982, Fr. Wagner would come around his house for Sunday dinner up until he was arrested in 1983.
The incident was in 1982 Fr. Wagner’s cabin up north. His family went with the priest. Due to sleeping arrangements, the accuser was on a sleeper sofa in the main room. Fr. Wagner allegedly spooned him during the night and fondled him through his underwear.
When his mother found them, Fr. Wagner said they were just cold.
He alleges Fr. Wagner also fondled him while tubing, and looked at his genitals while they showered after a game of racquetball and while hot tubbing.
His father noticed and told Fr. Wagner not to come around their home except on occasion.
A day before the news of the arrest came out, Fr. Wagner met with the accuser’s mother and told her that it would be coming out in the press, but denied ever touching her boys.
In May 2002, another accuser came forward, saying he was frustrated by how the church handled things. He says he had an experience with Fr. Wagner and his partner, Pete, when he was younger, that he blamed himself for. He says he has lost a lot in his life because of it.
Soon after receiving this letter, the Diocese agreed to pay for a 30-day residential treatment program for the accuser and gave the accuser three months of financial assistance. In April 2004, the Diocese also agreed to pay six months of his rent, along with his $600 security deposit. They paid $450 in rent assistance from November 2004 through July 2005. In December 2005, they paid $675 in emergency rent assistance, three months of counseling for his mother in 2013 and $2,000 in December 2013.
In August 2020, the Department followed up with this accuser, who provided more details on the abuse.
He says Fr. Wagner choked him out when the accuser said he was going to tell. When he woke up, Fr. Wagner allegedly told him he was going to kill him if he reported it. He said it happened at the rectory at St. Joseph Seminary, where they would play racquetball.
When the Trooper asked the accuser if he had been raped, he said, “It was, yeah. It was as bad as you can even think…”
He says he reported the abuse to St. Thomas School and to Catholic Central High School teachers and was threatened and called a liar.
In June 2002, another accuser came forward, saying he was sexually abused by Fr. Wagner in 1988 or 1989 when he was 16 or 17. The Diocese agreed to pay for his counseling.
In September 2020, the Department talked to this accuser. They determined that although he had been Fr. Wagner physically abused him, Fr. Wagner never been sexually abused him.
In January 2004, the accuser detailed that he spent four to seven weeks going to Riverview Racket Club [sic.] with Fr. Wagner. He says he thought something was wrong with him if he thought a priest from his church would harm or abuse him.
The accuser alleged Fr. Wagner would rub his leg when they were in the car together and give him compliments or words of encouragement. He would often discuss emotional and sexual feelings.
In the shower after racquetball, he believed Fr. Wagner would look at him. There were times they would go for walks behind the church down the railroad tracks with his arm around him. The accuser would have visions of Fr. Wagner trying to abuse him, which was scary, he said.
He compared the incidents to a “cat and mouse” game.
“I think he must have known that. And not only did he know but I think he had fun with it like that just like a cat plays with mouse it killed before he eats it,” said the accuser.
The accuser believes Fr. Wagner was trying to mentally break him the day he touched his genitals. They were sitting in the car, and the accuser told him “I’m not like that,” and he pulled his hand away. Nothing happened after that.
He says he was embarrassed to tell anyone, and he didn’t think people would believe him. He says he also thought it would break his parents’ hearts if they knew they sent him off to be with a sexual predator.
In a letter from March 2003, a person wrote to the chancellor of the Diocese, on behalf of the first accuser, saying that Fr. Wagner and Fr. Daniel Aerts sexually abused him when he was a teenager living in Muskegon.
The Diocese paid for intensive psychiatric therapy, the alleged victim’s education and credit card debts for $74,000.
In September 2003, Bishop Rose met with two parents whose son told them Fr. Wagner sexually abused him in 1978 when he was about 10.
Fr. Wagner met their son when he was a Deacon in Muskegon in 1976, before he was a priest. He took their son alone to his cottage for a rafting and tubing weekend, when the alleged abuse took place. They say it was hard for their son to talk about the details.
Bishop Rose noted that he doesn’t doubt the allegations because they show a pattern that Fr. Wagner used with various other boys.
They paid for the accused victim’s counseling.
In December of 2003, at the urging of Bishop Rose, Fr. Wagner filed a petition for laicization. He wrote that his ‘psycho-sexual development’ was seriously disturbed, rooted in events and circumstances before his adolescence that continued into adulthood.
He called the part of him in ministry his “good side,” and his sexual issues side his “dark side.”
Effective April 5, 2002, Fr. Wagner’s petition for laicization was granted by Pope John Paul, II.
In January 2005, another accuser came forward who alleged that Fr. Wagner touched him inappropriately while he attended First Step Program from St. Mary’s school in Spring Lake.
He was interested in the priesthood and went on an overnight trip with Fr. Wagner. They were swimming when the accuser says Fr. Wagner grabbed him and each of the other boys held them for a couple of minutes.
The accuser was 13 or 14 years old at the time. While he didn’t know the three other boys on the trip, he said one of them had committed suicide and another “led a life of drinking and drugging” like the accuser.
The accuser’s parents, also at the meeting, believed their son met with Fr. Wagner multiple times, not just one. After that, their son became more troubled and less talkative, which they attributed to Fr. Wagner’s abuse.
One year later, almost to the day, the accuser died of a heart attack.
A September 2005 email alleged that a man in his late 30s or early 40s believed Fr. Wagner molested him when he was 10 to 11 years old.
In April 2016, another accuser came forward, saying he was abused at St. Stephen’s during the mid-to-late 1970s. The accuser was in fourth grade.
The accuser and Fr. Wagner went to a swimming pool in East Grand Rapids. He says Fr. Wagner would wrestle in the pool, putting his fingers down the accuser’s shorts and fondling him, he said.
This went on more times. The accuser began to dread Saturday mornings when his mother would send him off with Fr. Wagner.
The final culmination was when Fr. Wagner came over for dinner, and he wrestled him in front of his parents, grabbing his crotch. The accuser peed his pants to get Fr. Wagner off of him, then left to get changed. When he returned, Fr. Wagner still put his hands in the accuser’s pockets.
The accuser asked the Diocese to not report this to law enforcement, but he requested counseling.
In September 2018, another accuser came forward, claiming he had previous sexual contact with Fr. Wagner at St. Thomas.
While these allegations were investigated, the statute of limitations had expired. In a 2020 follow-up, the accuser said that it was a “weird type of ‘play’ which crossed boundary lines.”
In 2019, the AG’s Department talked to another accuser, who said Fr. Wagner molested him in the mid-19080s while he was a student at St. Thomas.
He says he and other boys would go with Fr. Wagner to play racquetball, wrestle and other sports at St. Joseph’s gym. He said, on multiple occasions, Fr. Wagner’s hands would wander on his body and under his swim pants.
He said Fr. Wagner also would give “very intimate” and uncomfortable hugs.
The Department found this was reported in 2013, but no further communication took place with the accuser.
In June 2022, another accuser emailed the Department and said Fr. Wagner molested him at the East Grand Rapids Public Pool in 1982, when he was 13. He said Fr. Wagner held him tightly and inappropriately until he kicked him and got out of the pool.
Albert Lambertus Watson
First allegations in the 1960s
Fr. Albert Lambertus Watson was born in 1923 and died in 1987. He worked at St. Patrick’s Parish in Portland, St. Joseph Parish in Muskegon and St. Michael’s Parish in Coopersville.
Since 1993, four people have accused him of sexual abuse.
Accuser 1
In 1993, a man met with the vicar for priests about his interactions with Fr. Watson while he was an associate pastor at St. Patrick’s Parish in Portland, Michigan. That was then sent to Bishop Robert Rose.
The accuser alleges that when he was 14, during confession with the priest, he invited him “to discuss his problems and/or sins outside the confessional.”
At the time, he told Fr. Watson he “had problems with masturbation.” He said he was reluctant to meet the priest, but he was desperate to talk with someone and was fearful of talking with his parents. That’s when he went to Fr. Watson. He said his parents were “very violent and strict… [and] practiced faith rigorously.”
During the discussion, Fr. Watson allegedly held up the phone and said “is there any reason why I should not call your parents?”
The accuser was “terrified” and begged Fr. Watson not to call his parents. In response, Fr. Watson allegedly told the accuser, “he must do whatever [Fr. Watson] asked if he wanted a solution.” […] “Subsequently[,] the priest took him to his bedroom and went to bed with him.”
This happened once, the victim having refused Fr. Watson after “several additional requests.”
In response to the allegations, the vicar for priests apologized to the accuser “in the name of the Church.” He also authorized counseling.
Accuser 2
Nine years later, another accuser came forward alleging that when he was in eighth grade, he was sexually abused by Fr. Watson when he was a priest at St. Michael’s Parish in Coopersville, in the mid-1970s.
He described the abuse as “touching through clothing” and “double entendre conversation” of a sexual nature. He said there was a complete lack of boundaries in the sexual area.
The accuser says there were two others involved with him during some of the incidents, involving a game of “gotcha,” which involved grabbing young men in the genitals.
He “found the whole thing frightening and confusing, mostly because of the strange behaviors of the priest,” according to the report.
The Diocese offered to cover the cost of 10 counseling sessions, according to the report.
Accuser 3
The next year, another accuser came forward, alleging Fr. Watson abused him when he was a high school freshman at a lake cottage in Newaygo County. He was an altar boy.
He says his family and Fr. Watson were close. During the summer, he says Fr. Watson invited him to go to his cottage for a few days, and the accuser’s cousins joined them.
“Father announced that these boys would have to ‘join the club’ and he told them to go in to the bedroo[m], to remove their clothing, and to lay on the bed. He then took an ice pick and heated it up to a red hot heat. He then went into the bedroom with each one, individually,” the report reads. The accuser said he was not asked to do this.
Later in the evening, he said he went to sleep with Fr. Watson in another bedroom. When he woke up, he alleges he saw Fr. Watson standing over him, with his hands in his pajama bottoms. He said he pushed him away and Fr. Watson was angry.
Accuser 4
In 2014, another accuser alleged Fr. Watson abused him in the 1950s at St. Joseph Parish in Muskegon during catechism when he was 17 years old.
He did not provide any details on the alleged sexual abuse, only requesting an apology and a handshake. He says he “prayed with the chaplain to forgive [Fr.] Watson and that made him feel better.”
Herman Henry Zerfas
First allegations in 1979
Msgr. Herman Henry Zerfas was born in 1921 and died in 2010. He worked at St. Sebastian Parish in Byron Center, St. Joseph Parish in Muskegon and Muskegon Catholic Central High School. He retired in 1988, and his ministry was restricted in 1995.
Since 1994, three people have accused him of sexual abuse. Two of them were alleged victims, while one said they witnessed the alleged abuse.
Accuser 1
In November 1994, an accuser met with a priest with allegations of sexual abuse by Msgr. Zerfas which she says began around 1979, when she was experiencing “significant mental and physical difficulties.”
She says initially, Msgr. Zerfas comforted her and “helped her deal with some things.” They met on several occasions in the rectory and at her home. She says he made her safe “from all the vicious things outside” when she met with him. Whenever they saw each other, she alleges it wound up physical.
After a knife attack, Msgr. Zerfas allegedly checked her breasts to see how they were healing. She says he would check for scars and lumps.
She says it went on for 14 years.
The accuser says he touched her breasts and rubbed her back. She also alleged that he kissed her once.
On one occasion, after Mass, when everyone left the church, she alleges Msgr. Zerfas rubbed her back, put his arms around her and fondled her breasts under her clothes.
The report reads, “He then told her that ‘God [made] her breasts good and the scars were nothing to be ashamed of.’”
She said that she talked to him about the touching, saying that it was wrong. He allegedly said it was poor judgment, and he was only trying to relax her.
When the priest met with Msgr. Zerfas about the allegations, he “said he was sorry he was ever involved in the situation.” He said only the touching occurred, and he was like a “priest brother.” He says he touched her when she complained of breast pain. He “put his arms around her ‘to help her overcome her negative feelings.’”
According to documents, he said he knew touching her was “stupid” and thought of their time together as “years of emotional support.”
He also claimed she was seeking him, and he was not seeking her. He says he was under a lot of pressure at St. Joseph Parish.
He compared the interactions to his past ministry in a psychiatric institution where patients were sometimes “not clothed and some women were not covered up.” He says it did not get him sexually aroused. He also claims that the accuser was the only one.
“But Zerfas “couldn’t explain why he did it[,] [h]e lays it to stress and pressures and the rat race,”” the report reads. “Msgr. Zerfas told Fr. Stewart it “has been [two] years since this stopped.” He confirmed that most of the incidents occurred at his home every week and “took place about 1979 to 1992.””
On another occasion, she said she confided in Msgr. Zerfas about the issues she had with love-making because of a previous assault. Msgr. Zerfas allegedly said he was going to help her enjoy sex and showed her pictures of sex organs, asked her intimate questions, suggested sexual positions and provided foreplay advice.
After several questions about sex, Msgr. Zerfas allegedly said he wanted the accuser to “make love” to her husband, and if he could be, Msgr. Zerfas would be in the room guiding her.
He allegedly told her to think of him in the room, watching her. This made her feel uncomfortable, like she was being raped, she said.
The next year, according to the report, the priest wrote to Msgr. Zerfas. The letter allegedly included instructions for therapy, to engage in regular spiritual direction and to stop individual counseling with women and provide the sacrament of reconciliation.
In a letter later that year, the accuser wrote to Bishop Rose that she had requested a meeting with him that didn’t take place. She had concerns, and she wanted to discuss them and get answers.
“One of the topics I would like to sit down and discuss with you is some responsibilities of the Diocese that I don’t feel have been taken care of. I don’t know if it is because you don’t know what to do or if, perhaps, you just don’t know how to be sensitive to a victim, or the family,” she wrote.
She told Bishop Rose that she had realized Msgr. Zerfas has done a great deal of harm and has affected her emotionally and spiritually, damaged her life, her husband’s life and their children’s lives.
“I am not naïve and think there are not other abuse cases in the Grand Rapids area involving priests. It is, however, disheartening to be told that I was not the only victim handled in this seemingly non-sensitive manner,” she wrote.
She alleges victims were treated insensitively, and that there was a lack of support.
“Why can’t there be communication, concern and action taken before threats of exposure have to be taken? That only confuses and hurts and drives people to distrust the leaders of our Church even more,” she wrote.
She ended the letter by saying she still wants to meet with Bishop Rose.
Bishop Rose responded a month later, saying he had been busy. But they were taking her concerns “more seriously than you are aware of.”
He says that during the last winter and spring, they invited in consultations from professional people from a large archdiocese that has dealt with more cases of abuse than they had.
He says they agreed there needed to be more support for victims/survivors who need it. He also told her they had hired a Victim Assistance Minister, a “fine Catholic woman” with the background and experience to lead a support group for people who need it.
Bishop Rose told the accuser she could meet with this woman and express to her what her experience had been and what she felt they could or should have done.
While he says her doing this does not rule out a meeting with him, it would help her get answers she is looking for before scheduling a meeting.
In a letter from 1996, the accuser wrote to Bishop Rose that she “was reaching out, as a victim, trying to trust and have faith again in God’s representatives and you just let go and dropped me with no concern or respect for how I would feel.”
She says she felt “unworthy and unimportant in the eyes of the Church.” She met with the new victim advocate, but had not had any follow-up contact from her.
“[I]t is more than obvious to me now, that the only way I can get anyone from your office to take the needs of the victim serious, is to get the news media involved.” She also wrote that she was “willing to take a softer approach in obtaining my goals in this, if I could have some sincere dialogue with you on initiating my goals in this, if I could have some sincere dialogue with you on initiating some programs of support to the victims recovery process.”
In a response, Bishop Rose apologized that she did not find the victim advocate helpful and said he would speak to the Intervention Team about the concerns. He also asked the accuser to make concrete recommendations in writing.
An attorney representing the accuser reached out to Bishop Rose in 1996. By 1997, the Diocese, Msgr. Zerfas and the accuser entered into a Release of All Claims, which the Diocese agreed to pay $33,000 to the accuser and her attorney and to pay her “outstanding counseling/therapy obligations.”
Msgr. Zerfas acknowledged that there was inappropriate sexual contact by him with spiritual and emotional consequences for the accuser, and he would continue to receive psychotherapy as long as it’s necessary. The accuser agreed not to sue the Diocese or Msgr. Zerfas.
Accuser 2
In 2002, a woman brought forth another allegation against Zerfas.
She called Muskegon Catholic Central High School and reported that when she was a freshman there, she was hospitalized and visited alone in her room by Msgr. Zerfas, who was the principal at the time. This was in the early 1960s.
He allegedly asked the accuser if her feet were cold and put his hands on her feet, rubbing her legs. She could not recall what happened after that.
She recalled the allegation a few months later to Msgr. Terrance Stewart.
The Diocese paid for her counseling through 2005.
Accuser 3
In 2004, a witness reported that Zerfas abused ninth and tenth-grade girls. The accuser alleged that at some point in the past, Msgr. Zerfas made them come from behind a screen while in the confessional, refusing to hear their confessions until they did so.
When hearing their confessions, he allegedly asked “if they were virgins” and if they “let boys touch their breasts.”
He also told one of the girls he would “go to bed dreaming of her smile.”
Msgr. Zerfas did admit he asked people to come from behind the screens, and effective immediately, he was not to hear any confessions. The church where this occurred was not identified.
Dennis Cooney
First allegations in 1990
Father Dennis Cooney was born in 1947 and died in 2020. He worked as an associate pastor for the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Grand Rapids, beginning Sept. 1, 1988. He worked there until sometime around 1990 when he left for Washington D.C.
Cooney is accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a married adult woman he was counseling.
Accuser
The alleged victim claimed that her marriage ended “largely as a result of the relationship with Fr. Cooney.” She claimed that a sexual relationship with Cooney began during pastoral counseling.
She said that Cooney and her participated in sexual intercourse, other sexual acts and sexual phone calls. She said that Cooney told her not to tell anyone about it.
She said that in 1990, she told Father Jim Haley about the relationship, but he did not do anything.
The accuser said that her counseling sessions with Cooney moved from the church into her home. That’s when she says they became sexual.
She said that even when Cooney left Grand Rapids, she continued to have a relationship over the phone. She added that they had meetings in person between 1990 and 1995.
In 1998, Oblates of Mary Immaculate paid the alleged victim $30,000. She released all claims.
The alleged victim said Cooney referenced relationships with other women as well. She said the relationship caused her to lose faith and trust in the clergy.
Lawrence Dannemiller
First allegations in 1964
Father Lawrence Dannemiller was born in 1925 and died in 2021.
Dannemiller is accused of sexually abusing an adult teenage girl in 1964 while he worked at St. Francis de Sales in Muskegon.
Accuser
In 1997, the alleged victim reported abuse by Dannemiller from 1964, when she was 18 or 19 years old, to Diocese Chancellor Sister Patrice Konwinski. She alleged that Dannemiller first kissed her on multiple occasions before she was sexually assaulted.
The accuser said that Dannemiller asked her to go to the airport where he had an airplane. She said Dannemiller had previously taken her brother and sister on plane rides.
When Dannemiller took the alleged victim to the airport hangar, she claims he undressed and made her touch and fondle him. The alleged victim said it was scary and she told Dannemiller, “he was crazy.”
She said that Dannemiller apologized, got dressed and said, “It shouldn’t have happened.”
The alleged victim said that Dannemiller told her that she had to go to confession, and he had to as well.
The following day, the accuser said Dannemiller told her that he loved her and that he’d like to make her his wife.
The alleged victim told Dannemiller that she couldn’t marry him, adding, “I don’t feel that kind of love for you. The world needed him more than I did.”
The Diocese responded by investigating the allegations in 1997 and 1998, but when their attorney spoke to Dannemiller, they said he was “uncooperative.”
Dannemiller described the alleged victim as “a former prostitute by her own admission,” and said she wanted $66,666.66 in restitution.
The Diocese paid for the alleged victim’s counseling.
In 1999, Dannemiller resigned from the United Church of Christ ministry rather than face a scheduled disciplinary hearing.
Harold Rudolph Feltman
First allegations in 1960
Father Harold Rudolph Feltman was born in 1926 and died in 2003. He worked at St. Simon Church in Ludington from 1959 to 1963.
Feltman allegedly sexually abused a 15-year-old girl in 1960.
Accuser
In 2004, the alleged victim told the Diocese that Feltman sexually abused her. They shared the allegations with the Mason County Prosecutor’s Office, but they did not pursue a criminal case, as Feltman was dead and the statute of limitations was expiring.
The alleged victim claims that she had already been a victim of family abuse and was seeking counseling from Feltman when the abuse took place.
She claims that Feltman began the abuse by making her have oral sex with him, and later intercourse on at least one occasion. She added that the alleged abuse lasted for about three months and left her confused and with compound trauma from this abuse coupled with her family’s abuse.
In a letter from a victim assistance coordinator from the Diocese, the alleged victim “was asking only to be believed and was comforted by the fact that she was being believed.”
Isidro Tabay Gargantiel
First allegations in 1978
Father Isidro Tabay Gargantiel was born in 1939 and died in 2010. He worked at the Holy Trinity Parish from 1978 to 1979 and Pewamo from 1984 to 1985.
Two people accuse Gargantiel of abuse and solicitation.
Accuser 1
In 2002, an accuser spoke with a priest at the Diocese about Gargantiel’s alleged abuse, saying it occurred between 1984 and 1985. He claims that Gargantiel had sexual conversations with him on multiple occasions and kissed him on his head on two separate occasions.
He said that during a trip to Pewamo, Gargantiel invited him into his bedroom, saying he “wanted to do some things to him.”
The alleged victim said he was considering becoming a priest at the time, but Gargantiel’s abuse and solicitation discouraged him.
When asked about the incidents, Gargantiel denied having “any physical sexual contact with [the alleged victim]” and denied making “any homosexual references to [the alleged victim,] but did acknowledge a conversation of a sexual nature” and physical contact of a cultural friendship nature, such as an “embrace.”
Later in 2002, Fr. Gargantiel underwent psychological evaluation per a review board’s recommendation. The psychologist concluded: “Based on his evaluation, combined with the fact that there have been no other allegations over the seventeen-year period, Fr. Gargantiel was not unfit for pastoral ministry.”
A Diocesan Review Board “recommended to the Bishop that this conclusion be accepted and that Fr. Gargantiel continue in ministry, but with the ongoing supervision of the Vicar for Priests.”
Accuser 2
Two years later, in 2004, a second alleged victim came forward with allegations of abuse by Gargantiel in 1978 or 1979.
The alleged victim said he was in sixth or seventh grade at Holy Trinity when the abuse occurred.
The accuser claims that Gargantiel put his arm around him a lot, asked him to hold his hand and said sexually suggestive things to him.
The alleged victim also claims that Gargantiel rubbed his own genitals while he rubbed the alleged victims head.
Gargantiel “acknowledged putting his arm around the children and rubbing their heads[,]” noting that it “was very much a part of his culture.” But, Gargantiel “strongly denied rubbing his own genitals while rubbing [the alleged victim’s] head.”
The mother of the alleged victim told the Diocese that Gargantiel’s words and actions “were highly inappropriate and included innuendo of a sexual nature” and were not the result of “cultural differences.”
Conclusion
The AG work on clergy abuse investigation is continuing, but all paper documents and electronic documents have been reviewed.
This is the fifth of seven separate reports examining Michigan’s Catholic dioceses. Previous reports were released for:
- Diocese of Marquette – October 27, 2022
- Diocese of Gaylord – January 8, 2024
- Diocese of Kalamazoo – May 22, 2024
- Diocese of Lansing – December 16, 2024
To date, 11 cases have been brought by the department between all seven dioceses. Nine have been convicted. Of the 11 cases, none are from the Diocese of Grand Rapids.
Here is the list of cases from the AG:
- People v. Vincent DeLorenzo – He pled guilty to attempted first-degree criminal sexual conduct, and he was sentenced in June 2023 to five years of probation, with the first year in the Genesee County jail, sex-offender counseling and registration. He died on January 24, 2024, midway through his jail sentence.
- People v. Joseph “Jack” Baker – He was found guilty at a jury trial of one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct. He was sentenced in March 2023 to 3-to-15 years in the Michigan Department of Corrections.
- People v. Neil Kalina – He was found guilty at jury trial of two counts of second-degree criminal-sexual conduct in June 2022. He was sentenced to 7- to-15 years in the Michigan Department of Corrections.
- People v. Gary Berthiaume – He pled guilty to two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct and no contest to one count of gross indecency in October 2021. He was sentenced in January 2022 to 17 months-to-15 years and 17 months-to-5 years for each crime, respectively, to be served concurrently in the Michigan Department of Corrections.
- People v. Gary Jacobs – He pled guilty to one count on each of his four Ontonagon County cases, with a total of three counts first-degree criminal sexual conduct, and one count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct in April 2021. He was sentenced on these cases to 8-to-15 years in the Michigan Department of Corrections. In Dickinson County, in May 2021, Jacobs pled guilty to second-degree criminal sexual conduct. He was sentenced on this case in July 2021 to 8-to-15 years in prison to be served concurrently with his other sentence.
- People v. Joseph Comperchio – He pled guilty to one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and three counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct in June 2021. These represented complaints made by four separate victims. He was sentenced to 10-to- 20 years in the Michigan Department of Corrections. He died while serving his prison sentence in 2022.
- People v. Brian Stanley – He pled guilty to attempted false imprisonment, and, in January of 2020, he was sentenced to 60 days in jail and probation.
- People v. Patrick Casey – He was charged with one count of third-degree criminal-sexual conduct. While a jury was deliberating, he pled guilty to aggravated assault. In November 2019, he was sentenced to 45 days in the Wayne County Jail and one year of probation.
- People v. Timothy Crowley – He pled guilty to two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct degree. In November 2023, he was sentenced to five years of probation with the first year in the Washtenaw County jail, sexoffender registration and counseling.
- People v. Roy Joseph – He was charged with one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct in January 2020. He is awaiting extradition from India.
- People v. Jacob Vellian – He was charged with two counts of rape under the old criminal sexual conduct statute in May 2019. He is awaiting extradition from India. It has been reported that Vellian died in December 2022.
The AG stresses that a criminal complaint is an allegation unless the person is found guilty in a court of law.