LANSING, Mich — On Monday, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced the release of a report by the Department of Attorney General concerning allegations of sexual abuse and other sexual misconduct that allegedly took place in the Diocese of Lansing.
According to the Attorney General, the report was released to acknowledge the reports of abuse from victims and to report the Department’s findings. The document is a compilation of excerpts from the information obtained from the tip line, victim interviews, police investigations, open-source media, paper documents seized from the Diocese of Lansing, and the electronic documents found on the diocesan computers, as well as reports of allegations disclosed by the Diocese.
The list of priests for which there were allegations of sexual misconduct against either children or adults since January 1, 1950, for the Diocese of Lansing that was established in 1937, is derived from information gleaned from a search warrant that was executed against the Diocese of Lansing on October 3, 2018, and from the tipline operated by the Department of Attorney General since 2018. There are 56 entries on this list, which includes 48 priests, three religious brothers and an apparent former religious brother, and four deacons; 42 were ordained or incardinated by the Diocese of Lansing.
“These reports are important, not just because we made a promise to the survivors years ago, but because victims, especially in cases like these where the assaults were perpetrated by entrusted members of a community, are often silenced – in some cases for decades or a lifetime,” Nessel said. “By publishing these reports, we are sharing their stories and validating their experiences. Criminal prosecutions are just one accountability metric. Ensuring each victim is heard, regardless of how long ago the sexual abuse and misconduct may have been, is important in acknowledging their pain and fostering a culture that prioritizes these victims over their silence.”
The Diocese of Lansing agreed to provide reports of abuse to the Department of Attorney General. Victims often reach out to their faith leaders to share stories of alleged abuse. The willingness of the Diocese to provide information was instrumental in the compilation of the report.
The information is being released to the public as an acknowledgment to the victims of these alleged crimes and as a public accounting of the resources allocated to the Department of Attorney General to investigate and prosecute clergy abuse. It is important to note that a criminal charge is merely an allegation, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. It is also important to note that the inclusion in this report does not reflect a determination by the Department that the allegations are credible or otherwise substantiated or indicative of a crime.
For Lansing, the investigation yielded 161 tips to the AG tipline; 44 those were provided directly from the Diocese of Lansing. Of the 220 boxes of paper documents that were seized from the Archdiocese and the six Dioceses, 24 boxes containing approximately 60,000 documents were reviewed related to the Diocese of Lansing. Of the 3.5 million electronic documents seized, 767,583 documents were reviewed related to the Diocese of Lansing.
The Diocese responded after the reporter was released, and said the following:
“Six years ago, the Attorney General raided our offices expecting to find ongoing crimes and a coverup but, instead, they found a partner equally committed to eradicating abuse and files showing diocesan cooperation with law enforcement for over twenty years," said the Diocese of Lansing’s General Counsel, Will Bloomfield, who was an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Michigan for seven years before joining the diocese in 2019.
"Tragically, there have been awful instances of abuse, nearly all predating the 2002 Bishop’s Charter, but it’s encouraging that the Church’s zero tolerance policy towards sexual abuse of minors has been working as most accounts of abuse predate the Charter. And since at least 2002, the Diocese has been referring all allegations to law enforcement and removing any clerics credibly accused of abuse of a minor."
"Additionally, since 2019 we have made further reforms to ensure that all allegations of grave clerical misconduct, including those involving adult victims, are professionally investigated and reviewed by a body of lay professionals called the Code of Conduct Advisory Council.”
The Diocese of Lansing also said it is committed to cooperating with law enforcement and supporting victims of abuse. If anyone has reason to suspect physical, sexual or emotional abuse of any person of any age, please contact Protective Services or the police, as appropriate. If clerical abuse is suspected, contact the office of the Michigan Attorney General Investigation hotline at 844-324-3374. For healing and support, please also contact the Diocesan Victim Assistance Coordinator at (888) 308-6252 or email: vac@dioceseoflansing.org.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
Attorney General Dana Nessel has released a report of alleged abuse within the Catholic Diocese of Lansing.
I'm your neighborhood reporter Asya Lawrence - and that report is the result of a years long investigation and details accusations against dozens of people involved with the Diocese over the past several decades.
The work from the Attorney General's office spanned the course of several years and nearly 830,000 documents.
The results?
Nessel says that between 1950 and 2024, there were 55 clerics, 48 of them being priests, subject to an allegation of sexual misconduct.
"By publishing these reports we are sharing their stories and validating their experiences " AG Dana Nessel said.
The report noted that there has been a decline in sexual abuse allegations within the past 20 years and an increase in cooperation between law enforcement and churches to address the issue.
After Monday's report was released, the Diocese quickly responded, citing cooperation with the investigation, and an effort to change the culture of the church.
"The details are awful and I read the entire thing so I know but I pray for them I really hope that they're going to be okay because this is going to be out in the public and again I just apologize to them for all the evil that's been inflicted on them" said Earl Boyea, Diocese of Lansing priest.
This is one of several such reports that Nessel's office has or plans to release and Nessel said she hopes it will provide a voice to those impacted.
"These dioceses don't want to see these offenses continue to occur either and they want to make sure that there's some accountability so we've been very happy and we feel like things are going to really change, I hope" Nessel said.
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