Diocesan Public Disclosure Lists
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DIOCESAN PUBLIC DISCLOSURE LISTS – PART 1
List of Those Disqualified from Working with Children or Youth
The following is a list of individuals who, in the judgment of the Diocese of Kalamazoo, are credibly accused of any of the following actions that disqualify and prohibit them from working or volunteering with children or youth in any Diocese of Kalamazoo parish, school, agency, institution or any other Catholic entity located within the Diocese of Kalamazoo. Priests included on the list are forbidden from engaging in public ministry. This is a dynamic list and will be updated as new information becomes available.
Disqualifying and prohibiting actions, if done by someone who at the time was employed or volunteering for any parish, school, agency, institution, or any other Catholic entity within the Diocese of Kalamazoo, include:- continued violations of a child-protection policy after warnings,
- failing as a mandated reporter to report allegations of abuse of minors,
- failing to act to prevent abuse that they knew to be happening,
- furnishing pornography to minors,
- the possession/use of child pornography,
- physical abuse of minors,
- direct sexual abuse or sexual assault of minors.
The Diocese of Kalamazoo encourages individuals to report such actions to legal authorities.
The Diocese of Kalamazoo reserves the right to consider other grievous actions as grounds for inclusion in the list.
The Diocese is also aware of certain persons, well-known to the faithful of this Diocese, who are alleged to have committed disqualifying actions in places outside of the Diocese of Kalamazoo and who are therefore on similar public disclosure lists elsewhere. The Diocese calls attention to this fact by identifying those persons at the end of this list.
Determination of credibility: For an individual to be included on this list, the relevant allegation(s) must be established to be credible by at least one of the following:
(1) secular legal proceedings,
(2) canon law proceedings,
(3) self-admission by the individual,
(4) evidence that meets the “clear and convincing” standard (defined as highly probable or reasonably certain).
It is important to remember the accusations, while considered credible in the judgment of the Diocese of Kalamazoo, are not the equivalent of conviction in a court of law.
The Diocese of Kalamazoo welcomes any additional information that may shed light on any past or present cases of disqualifying and prohibiting actions and will update this list in the future as necessary based on any new information or investigations.
I. THOSE WHO ARE LIVING:
The individuals on this list are believed to be alive and living in the locations noted. They are listed with their last known status or employment:
Douglas Alan Butler – Battle Creek, Michigan
Former Cub Scout Committee Member
Fr. Richard Fritz – Lakeport, Michigan
Forbidden to function as a priest.
Joey Gallaway – Battle Creek, Michigan
Former playground supervisor
Nathan John Lavoie – Grand Rapids, Michigan
Former choir director
Fr. Brian Stanley – Coloma, Michigan
Forbidden to function as a priest.
Fr. Leroy White – Davison, Michigan
Forbidden to function as a priest.
II. THOSE WHO ARE DECEASED:
In recognition of the fact that the effects of disqualifying and prohibiting actions remain even after the offender has died, the Diocese of Kalamazoo lists the following individuals who, if still alive, would have been included on the list given above.
Father Dennis Boylan
Dismissed from the clerical state in 2005
Date of Death: January 20, 2018
Father Bernard L. Horst, S.M.
Was restricted in his ministry as a priest.
Date of Death: February 15, 2001
John Charles Pierce
Former Janitor
Date of Death: January 22, 2001
David Redmond
Former Sacristan
Date of Death: November 24, 2012
Calvert Shenk
Former Music Teacher and Choir Director
Date of Death: July 9, 2005
Msgr. Jacob Vellian
Was forbidden to function as a priest in the Diocese of Kalamazoo.
Date of Death: December 22, 2022
III. THOSE DISQUALIFIED BECAUSE OF ACTIONS COMMITTED ELSEWHERE
Msgr. Leonard Bogdan
On the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Credibly Accused List, the Diocese of Phoenix’s Credibly Accused List, and the Bishops’ Accountability Credibly Accused List
Forbidden to function as a priest.
Living in the Diocese of Phoenix
Fr. Thomas DeVita
On the Bishops’ Accountability Credibly Accused List
Forbidden to function as a priest.
Died: December 13, 2013
Fr. Stanley Staniszewski
On the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Credibly Accused List, the Diocese of Gary’s Credibly Accused List, and the Bishops’ Accountability Credibly Accused List
Died: April 2, 2016
Former Fr. Michael Weston
On the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Credibly Accused List
Resigned from active ministry in 1993; Laicized in 2009
Location unknown
Fr. Bogdan Werra
On the Diocese of La Crosse’s Credibly Accused List and Bishops’ Accountability Credibly Accused List
Died: September 9, 2017
PUBLIC DISCLOSURE LISTS – PART 2
Priests listed in the Michigan State Attorney General’s Report
The following is the list of priests compiled in the Attorney General’s report for the Diocese of Kalamazoo as having been the subject of allegations of sexual misconduct with minors or adults. The report makes no determination as to the credibility of those allegations.
No living priest included in the Attorney General’s report is permitted to work with children or youth in the Diocese of Kalamazoo, regardless of whether or not they fit the parameters of the list for those disqualified from working with youth. Only those who do fit the parameters for that list will be included there.
I. BECAME PRIESTS OF THE DIOCESE OF KALAMAZOO AT ITS FOUNDING OR WERE ORDAINED FOR THE DIOCESE.
LIVINGFather Robert Consani (Allegations do not involve minors; only adults. Active 1963 [originally as a priest of Lansing] to 2023; incapable of ministry due to infirmity as of 2023)
Father Francis Marotti (Allegations do not involve minors; only adults. Active 2012 to 2020; removed from ministry 2020)
Father Brian L. Stanley (active 1996 to 2017; removed from ministry 2017)
Father Leroy E. White (active in diocese 1956 [originally as a priest of Lansing] to 2002; removed from ministry 2002)
DECEASED
* Father David Otto (active 1977 to his death; died 2019)
* Father Gary W. Pamment (active in diocese 1963 [originally as a priest of Lansing] to his death; died 2008)
* The Review Board was unable to determine the credibility of the accusations and concluded that additional information is needed to make that determination.
II. TRANSFERRED TO THE DIOCESE OF KALAMAZOO FROM ELSEWHERELIVING
Msgr. Leonard Joachim Adolph Bogdan (present 1998 to 2000, incardinated 1993; removed from ministry in 2002 [Phoenix] and 2003 [Kalamazoo])
Father Richard A. Fritz (present 1975 to 2020; incardinated in 1981; removed from ministry 2020)
DECEASED
Father Dennis A Boylan (incardinated elsewhere as a deacon; conditionally incardinated into Kalamazoo in 1974 and definitively in 1979; removed from ministry in Kalamazoo in 1988; incardinated in Amarillo in 1995; dismissed from the clerical state in 2005; died 2018)
Father Thomas F. DeVita (present in diocese 1995; incardinated in Kalamazoo in 1999; removed from ministry in 2002; died 2013)
** Father Carl F. Peltz (present in diocese 1997 to 2015; incardinated in 2000; died 2015)
Father Bogdan Werra (present in diocese in 1997; incardinated in 2000; died 2017)
** The Review Board concluded that there was insufficient evidence to substantiate the allegation of sexual abuse against Fr. Peltz.
III. PRIESTS NOT OF THE DIOCESE OF KALAMAZOO BUT WHO MINISTERED HERELIVING
Father Robert Gerl (Allegations do not involve minors, only adutls. Active in the diocese 1986 to 2009)
DECEASED
Father Jerome Heyman, OSA (Allegations do not involve minors, only adults. Active in diocese 1991 to 2006; no longer permitted to function in Kalamazoo in 2011; died 2023)
Father Bernard L. Horst, SM (active in diocese 1984 to 1994; restricted in ministry in 1994; died 2001)
Father Thomas A. Lapine, CSC (active in diocese 1969 to 1981; died 1994)
Father Wieslaw Lipka (Allegations do not involve minors, only adults. Present in diocese 2001 to 2016; died 2018)
Father Stanley T. Staniszewski (active in diocese 1994 to 1997; asked to permanently leave diocese in 1997; died 2016)
Msgr. Jacob Vellian (active in diocese in 1971to 1974; died 2022)
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