TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade [Toledo OH]
June 15, 2026
By David Clohessy
Our society honors many heroic figures like Mother Theresa and Martin Luther King, Jr. We often dedicate statues, intersections, buildings, and squares to soldiers and police who bravely protected others and were killed in the line of duty.
Why? In large part, because we want to encourage others to emulate their noble, selfless behavior.
So it’s counterproductive — and hurtful — that Toledo officials honor a now-deceased Catholic priest who helped thwart a police investigation into a murder. Later this month, however, those officials can remedy this injustice.
Years ago, Toledo officials posted a street sign to honor a prominent cleric, Msgr. Jerome Schmit, for his fine work with young people. Msgr. Schmit’s name still graces a two block stretch that adjoins Mud Hens stadium in downtown Toledo.
However, it’s become clear that Msgr. Schmit — along with a deputy police chief and an attorney — blocked a police probe into a priest who was later convicted of murdering a nun.
So that street sign is an injustice. It’s a slap in the face to those who investigate crimes or have suffered crimes. For the sake of crime victims and law enforcement, the sign must be removed.
Undisputed courtroom testimony, along with considerable mainstream media coverage, shows that in 1980, Msgr. Schmit walked into a police station, with the aforementioned deputy chief and lawyer, interrupted detectives who were questioning the monsignor’s colleague, Fr. Gerald Robinson, and then took Robinson away. Robinson was being questioned as the sole suspect in the brutal murder of Sr. Margaret Ann Pahl. Because of the three men’s interference, Robinson walked free and the crime remained unsolved for decades.
Eventually, the investigation was reopened and Robinson was convicted of the heinous crime. Yet Msgr. Schmit’s street sign remains in place.
In subsequent years, the same sources — court testimony and mainstream media accounts — also show that Toledo Catholic officials did virtually nothing to help the probe into Sr. Pahl’s murder. And in the decades since Robinson was charged, no one has produced evidence that even a single church employee or member lent a hand to the police in any way.
Remember: this is not an accusation. “Based on trial testimony, police reports, numerous official documents, and interviews with law-enforcement officials, it is clear that Monsignor Schmit and the Toledo Catholic Diocese helped prevent the arrest of Fr. Robinson for the murder of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl.” That’s what former Blade reporter David Yonke, who covered Robinson’s 2006 murder trial and penned a book about the case, wrote in a letter days ago to a city panel.
That panel, called the Toledo Honor Committee, will convene on Thursday to consider whether the street should be renamed. Sr. Pahl’s nephew and closest relative, Lee Pahl, has urged them to do so. To show support for law enforcement and bring some measure of peace to Sr. Pahl’s family, I hope they heed Mr. Pahl’s reasonable request.
It’s counterproductive when officials bestow an honor on a man who thwarted a murder investigation. It basically says that interfering with police is no big deal.
That can’t be the message that Toledo officials intend to send. But it is, in fact, the message that they’re endorsing.
Let’s hope the Honor Committee acts honorably and rescinds this hurtful public recognition.
David Clohessy, of St. Louis, the former national director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the Missouri state director of SNAP.
First Published June 15, 2026, 10:45 p.m.