Fr. Martin Ignatius Kalahar

Ordained in 1916 for the Grand Rapids diocese. Died 4/13/1966. Named publicly as accused by the Saginaw diocese on its list 4/10/2019. Noted to have been accused after his death. Included in the MI Attorney General’s 6/25/2026 Attorney General’s Report, which shows that in 2014 a 63-year-old woman reported allegations to the Diocese that Kalahar sexually abused  her when she was about age 10 in 1961. Kalahar was pastor of Sacred Heart in Birch Run during the time in question and, on his invitation, the girl worked in the church cleaning vigil lights. She said that Kalahar “would touch her all over in the sacristy and in church” and French kissed her. She said she told her mother, who told her not to tell anyone. Further, she said Kalaher once led her to his bedroom and showed her his bed; his housekeeper suddenly returned from being out, so the priest went downstairs. Kalaher’s accuser said she felt that the housekeeper saved her. The woman also said that, per her cousin, a Fr. Lamar told her that Kalahar had molested children at St. Vincent’s Orphanage in Saginaw.