Five Former Pedophile Priests Charged with Sexual Misconduct Amid Michigan Investigation: ‘This Is Only the Tip of the Iceberg’

The sin nature is that aspect in man that makes him rebellious against God. When we speak of the sin nature, we refer to the fact that we have a natural inclination to sin; given the choice to do God’s will or our own, we will naturally choose to do our own thing.

Five former priests at various dioceses in Michigan have been charged with various criminal offenses related to sexual misconduct, the state’s attorney general announced Friday.

ABC News reports that four of the five clergy members named at a news conference Friday were arrested, while the fifth now lives in India and faces possible extradition to the United States.

Four of the five men named by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel at a Friday news conference have been arrested.

The fifth is now living in India and Nessel said authorities hope to extradite him to the U.S.

Nessel said there were “many other cases” she wanted to prosecute but didn’t because they had reached the statute of limitations, the former priests were deceased or the victims did not want to come forward.

“These were cases that were chargeable cases for us,” Nessel said.

Among those charged are 55-year-old Patrick Casey, 69-year-old Timothy Michael Crowley, 80-year-old Vincent DeLorenzo, 63-year-old Neil Kalina and 84-year-old Jacob Vellian, according to ABC News. Their alleged victims were largely minors, with the exception of Casey, who is charged with performing non-consensual oral sex on a 24-year-old.

Casey, Crowley and DeLorenzo face charges of criminal sexual conduct, according to the report. Kalina faces a charge of criminal sexual contact, ABC reported, while Vellina, now in India, faces two charges of rape.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (D) said that more charges for more clergy members accused of sexual misconduct with minors were on the way.

“This is only the tip of the iceberg,” Nessel said, according to ABC.

LANSING, Mich. (WXYZ) — Five Michigan Catholic priests have been charged with a total of 21 counts of criminal sexual conduct.

Four of the men have been arrested while one awaits extradition in India. A sixth Michigan priest is facing an administrative complaint and his license as a professional educationally limited counselor has been suspended.

“In the last 30 hours, more than a dozen members of our investigative team have been in courtrooms in Washtenaw, Wayne, Genesee, Macomb and Berrien Counties while other members of our team have been working with local law enforcement in Arizona, California, Florida and Michigan – all in a carefully executed plan to take these charged defendants off the streets,” said Nessel. “Almost all of these charges came as a direct result of calls to our tip line but were then corroborated by files seized from the dioceses last fall, followed by multiple interviews with victims.”

Charges were filed as follows:

• Timothy Michael Crowley, 69, Lansing Diocese, was charged in Washtenaw County with four felony counts of Criminal Sexual Conduct (CSC) 1, a maximum sentence of life in prison and a lifetime of electronic monitoring, and four felony counts of CSC 2 – a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. Crowley, who was a priest in various parishes, including St. Thomas Rectory in Ann Arbor, was arrested Thursday in Tempe, Arizona.
• Neil Kalina, 63, Archdiocese of Detroit, was charged in Macomb County with one felony count of CSC 4, a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison and a lifetime of electronic monitoring. Kalina, who was a priest at St. Kiernan Catholic Church in Shelby Township, was arrested Thursday in Littlerock, California.
• Vincent DeLorenzo, 80, Lansing Diocese, was charged in Genesee County with three felony counts of CSC 1, a maximum sentence of life in prison and a lifetime of electronic monitoring, and three felony counts of CSC 2, a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. DeLorenzo, who was a priest at Holy Redeemer Church in Burton, was arrested Thursday in Marion County, Florida.
• Patrick Casey, 55, Archdiocese of Detroit, was charged in Wayne County with one felony count of CSC 3, a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. Casey, who was a priest at St. Theodore of Canterbury Parish in Westland, was arrested Thursday in Oak Park, Michigan.
• Jacob Vellian, 84, Kalamazoo Diocese, was charged with two counts of Rape, a maximum sentence of life in prison. Vellian was a priest at St. John the Evangelist Parish, Benton Harbor, and now lives in Kerala, India.

Some of the clergy arrested were “hiding in plain sight,” Nessel said.

During a news conference, Deputy Solicitor General Ann Sherman shared one instance where a priest was discussing another priest’s abuse of a child and shared his own philosophy on sexual assault. The priest allegedly implied the child teased and enticed the priest for the abuse to occur.

“It is my hope, as a Catholic and a public servant, that we can bring all predators to justice, creating a path toward healing for the victims of the sexual abuse scandal and underscoring the need for the Catholic Church to be transparent and to report sexual abuse to appropriate law enforcement,” Sherman said.

According to the Archdiocese of Detroit, the allegation against Casey was brought to them in 2015 and the complainant was an adult at the time. he was removed from the ministry and entered into the canonical process appropriate for it. While restricted, he is prohibited from representing himself as a priest, wearing clerical attire or exercising any form of church ministry.

The Archdiocese said the allegation against Ventiline was brought to them in 2016, and it was turned over the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office. They were authorized by the prosecutor’s office to move forward with the canonical review and Ventiline was restricted from the public ministry, and prior to that, he had not been assigned to a full-time parish ministry for 20 years.

A statement from the Archdiocese of Detroit reads:

“The Archdiocese of Detroit deeply regrets the pain inflicted upon victim-survivors, and offers continued prayers for their peace, healing and pursuit of justice. We continue to cooperate fully with all civil authorities, in the hope that these partnerships may pave the way toward a future of greater trust and transparency. One sinful, criminal act, especially against God’s most vulnerable and trusting children, is unacceptable and one suffering soul too many. We remain committed to preventing sexual abuse against anyone – especially children and vulnerable adults.”

They went on to issue the following news release:

More than 400 tips were provided from the Attorney General’s Clergy Abuse Hotline. Source

Proof of the sin nature abounds. No one has to teach a child to lie or be selfish; rather, we go to great lengths to teach children to tell the truth and put others first. Sinful behavior comes naturally. The news is filled with tragic examples of mankind acting badly. Wherever people are, there is trouble. Charles Spurgeon said, “As the salt flavors every drop in the Atlantic, so does sin affect every atom of our nature. It is so sadly there, so abundantly there, that if you cannot detect it, you are deceived.”

The Bible explains the reason for the trouble. Humanity is sinful, not just in theory or in practice but by nature. Sin is part of the very fiber of our being. The Bible speaks of “sinful flesh” in Romans 8:3. It’s our “earthly nature” that produces the list of sins in Colossians 3:5. And Romans 6:6 speaks of “the body ruled by sin.” The flesh-and-blood existence we lead on this earth is shaped by our sinful, corrupt nature.

The sin nature is universal in humanity. All of us have a sinful nature, and it affects every part of us. This is the doctrine of total depravity, and it is biblical. All of us have gone astray (Isaiah 53:6). Paul admits that “the trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin” (Romans 7:14). Paul was in his “sinful nature a slave to the law of sin” (Romans 7:25). Solomon concurs: “Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, / no one who does what is right and never sins” (Ecclesiastes 7:20). The apostle John perhaps puts it most bluntly: “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8).

Even children have a sin nature. David rues the fact that he was born with sin already at work within him: “Surely I was sinful at birth, / sinful from the time my mother conceived me” (Psalm 51:5). Elsewhere, David states, “Even from birth the wicked go astray; / from the womb they are wayward, spreading lies” (Psalm 58:3).

    StevieRay Hansen
Editor, HNewsWire.com

It is impossible to find anyone in the Bible who was a power for God who did not have enemies and was not hated.

Like Joseph and Daniel of the Old Testament who served secular kings, we are called to serve everyone and help them fulfill their divine destiny. Jesus made it clear that people who want to lead or be great must be the servants of all. Serving is the way of leadership in the kingdom.

Forcing our way onto the world is not great leadership. Some accuse us of doing this very thing because we speak up on moral issues. It is important that we speak up on issues, but it’s also equally important that we love everyone no matter their persuasions.

Someday Jesus will rule the world; in the meantime, we should just serve well and let our good works speak of our Father who loves everyone.

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