Rev. Michael Charland, O.M.I. - Assignment Record

Assignment Record– Rev. Michael Charland, O.M.I.

Summary of Case: Michael Charland was a priest of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, ordained in 1971. He was assigned to parish work, was an assistant principal and counselor at a preparatory seminary, and he was involved in campus ministry and Teens Encounter Christ. He worked in the the dioceses of Belleville IL, La Crosse WI, New Ulm MN and the archdioceses of San Antonio TX, Milwaukee WI, St. Paul and Minneaopolis MN and Ontario, Canada. Charland left the Order in 1984, and was laicized in 1989. In 2002 a man reported to the St. Paul and Minneapolis archdiocese that Charland sexually assaulted him in 1981 during a retreat, when the man was a 17-year-old boy. Charland's accuser said the priest kissed him then ground his pelvis against him. In October 2014 Ramsey County Attorney John Choi announced that Charland's case could not be prosecuted due to the statute of limitations. As part of an April 2015 settlement with the Oblates, a law firm announced publicly in July 2015 that Charland was one of seven credibly accused O.M.I. priests. Charland was working as a therapist in a Woodbury MN counseling center at the time of the announcement. By September 2015 his name was no longer on the center's website.

Born: June 22, 1945
Ordained: August 21, 1971
Laicized: November 5, 1989

Start	Stop	Assignment	Town/Accusations	State	Position	Notes
1971 San Antonio archbishop was Francis James Furey (1969-1979).	1973	Oblate College of the Southwest	San Antonio	TX
1/1/73 Milwaukee archbishop was William Edward Cousins (1958-1977).	8/73	St. Louis	Fond du Lac	WI	associate pastor	This assignment is per news reports.
1973 Belleville bishop was Albert Rudolph Zuroweste (1947-1976), followed by William Michael Cosgrove (1976-1981).	1977	St. Henry's Preparatory Seminary	Belleville	IL	assistant principal; staff counselor	This high school seminary had 98-101 students.
1977 St. Paul and Minneapolis archbishop was John Robert Roach (1975-1995).	1983	College of St. Thomas	St. Paul • In 2002 a man reported to the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese that Charland sexually assaulted him in 1981 when the man was a 17-year-old boy. He said the assault occurred at a retreat at St. Mary's parish in St. Paul when Charland kissed him and ground his pelvis against him during confession.	MN	Charland was a spiritual director for Teens Encounter Christ in the archdiocese. He also staffed weekends as Spiritual Director for TEC in Sparta IL (Lacrosse diocese), Rainy River in International Falls MN (Duluth diocese River Bend (New Ulm diocese), Agape WI (Superior diocese) and Fort Frances in Ontario, Canada (Ontario archdiocese).	Charland is not indexed beyond the 1983 Directory.
1983 La Crosse bishop was John Joseph Paul (1983-1994).	1984	University of Wisconsin- River FallsNativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary	River Falls	WI	Newman Center pastor; Campus Ministry director.	This assignment is per news reports.
1983	1984	Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary	Big River	WI		This assignment is per news reports.
1984				WI		Charland left the Oblates in 1984 and was laicized in 1989. Ramsey County Attorney John Choi announced in October 2014 that Charland's case could not be prosecuted due to the statute of limitations. As part of an April 2015 settlement agreement, in July 2015 Charland was named publicly as "credibly accused" for by his former Order; Charland was at the time a practicing therapist at a Woodbury MN counseling center. In September 2015 his name was no longer on the center's website.

Sources: Official Catholic Directory (New York: P.J. Kenedy and Sons, 1972-1984)

• Ramsey County won't prosecute in 7 priest cases; 4 remain open, By Emily Gurnon, Pioneer Press, October 17, 2014
• Four Priests Who Served Locally Named by Settlement, International Falls Journal, July 7, 2015
• Three Priests Accused of Sex Abuse Served in LA Crosse Diocese Decades Ago, La Crosse Tribune, July 7, 2015
• Religious order releases names of 7 'credibly accused' priests, By Chao Xiong, Star Tribune, July 07, 2015
• Religious order's list of accused priests includes chaplain who served in Grand Forks, By Tom Olsen, WDAZ, July 8, 2015
• List of 7 Credibly Accused Oblate Priests Released, By Mike Bryant, Legal Examiner, July 7, 2015
• Predator Priests, Berger's Beat, January 11, 2016

Priests in a Parish: We use the following convention to show a priest's place among the clergy of a parish: 1/2 means that he is the first priest listed in the Official Catholic Directory (usually the pastor) and that there is a total of two priests at the parish. The shorthand 3/4 means that the priest is listed third on a four-priest roster. See our sample page from the Directory.

Note: The Official Catholic Directory aims to report the whereabouts of Catholic priests in the United States on January 1 of the Directory's publication year. Our working assumption is that a priest listed in the Directory for a given year was at the same assignment for part of the previous year as well. However, Kenedy and Sons will sometimes accept updates well into the year of publication. Diocesan clergy records are rarely available to correct this information. The Directory is also sometimes misleading or wrong. We have tried to create an accurate assignment record, given the source materials and their limitations. Assignment records are a work in progress and we are always improving the records that we post. Please email us with new information and corrections.

This assignment record collates Charland's career history as it is represented in the Official Catholic Directory with allegations as reported in the media. We make no representation regarding the truth of the allegation we report, and we remind our readers that the U.S. legal system presumes that a person accused of or charged with a crime is innocent until proven guilty. Similarly, individuals who may be defendants in civil actions are presumed not to be liable for such claims unless a plaintiff proves otherwise. Admissions of guilt or liability are not typically a part of civil or private settlements. For more information, see our posting policy.

This assignment record was last updated on January 14, 2016.