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Home Page > News > Priest flees to Ireland after civil jury finds him guilty of child sex abuse- VIDEO

Priest flees to Ireland after civil jury finds him guilty of child sex abuse- VIDEO

California Bishop pleads with Fr Michael Kelly to return to face justice

PATRICK COUNIHAN,

IrishCentral Staff Writer

Published Wednesday, April 18, 2012, 7:22 AM

Updated Tuesday, April 24, 2012, 9:38 AM

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Father Kelly

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An Irish priest found guilty of child abuse in California has fled home to his family in Ireland – and continued to plead his innocence.

Fr Michael Kelly has absconded after a civil jury in Stockton, Southern California, ruled that he had molested a young boy.

Bishop of Stockton, Stephen Blaire, has now appealed to the Tipperary native to return to America and ‘see his trial through’.

The Stockton jury ruled unanimously that an unnamed man was molested by Fr Kelly when he was a boy.

The 62-year-old priest was immediately removed from his ministry but denied the allegations while admitting that the jury verdict had to be ‘respected’.

Bishop Blaire has now confirmed that Kelly had written to him after fleeing to Ireland ahead of sentencing.

Media reports quote the letter as saying: “By the time you read this letter I will be in Ireland with my family. I am sorry for any difficulty this may cause the Diocese, but my health can’t take it anymore.

“I have sat back and listened to the vicious false allegations that have been spread about me for the past 4 ½ years, and my health has suffered greatly because of it.

“I have spent the last 39 years of my life serving God and the people of the various parishes of the Diocese of Stockton. Now I have not only lost my ministry, but this whole thing has taken its toll on my very being."

“I have lost everything I have worked for because of these false allegations.”

Fr Kelly joined the Stockton diocese in 1973 after completing his seminary studies in Thurles, Co. Tipperary.

He has served as pastor of St. Joachim’s Catholic Church in Lockeford since 2004 but was removed after the civil verdict last April when he was sued by a now 37-year-old man for sexually assaulting him when the plaintiff was an altar boy in the mid-1980s at the Cathedral of the Annunciation in Stockton.

Reports say that the second phase of the civil trial - to determine if the Diocese of Stockton took appropriate action with Kelly when it learned about allegations against him - is still ongoing.

Bishop Blaire replied to media enquiries in a statement. It read: “This afternoon, I was stunned to receive a letter from Fr. Michael Kelly informing me he had returned to Ireland in the midst of the civil trial in which he is a defendant.

“I have tried to reach Fr Kelly by email and by phone to implore him to return and see the trial through to its completion.

“We notified opposing counsel in the civil trial as well as law enforcement authorities in Calaveras County, where a criminal investigation has been underway since September.”

The survivors group SNAP has called on every bishop in Ireland to use all of the resources available to them to warn their flocks and communities about Fr Kelly.

Nster.com

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32 Comments

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billyjustin | Apr 22, 2012, 05:29 PM EDT

to aoibhinn, dont try to make excuses for the pigs who lived their dirty fantasy on young innocents, the church has ruled our country for centrurys and still is and our politicians still do their bidding, its just they know how to cover up their evil deeds after all this time, get the dvd magdelina laundry and have a good evening.

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aoibhinn | Apr 22, 2012, 08:01 AM EDT

billyjustin, the perversion is also the way priests live. Celibacy is not natural and is unhealthy. Despite the way the church acts, as though priests have always lived like this, it is only a recent phenomenon, priests used to have the option of marrying, as they do in eastern orthodox catholocism.

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jamthecat | Apr 20, 2012, 12:02 AM EDT

I love how stories like this reveal the true nature of so many "Christians." Packs of wild dogs are less threatening and a hundred times more honest.

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fatherelijah | Apr 19, 2012, 06:15 PM EDT

EamonnDublin, Bravo! It takes a lot of mental energy and resistance to not believe in God. Yet once the concept is blocked from the intellect, the enemy turns the mind to hate any idea of God. It is not that men are not too bright, it is more that the enemy is too crafty for them.

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EamonnDublin | Apr 19, 2012, 06:04 PM EDT

Hey there "Ballylanger"! I trust you are feeling good! Would you like me to introduce you to a list of people who believe in God, who are very far removed from the "not too bright" you suggest they are? Relative to the ones I have in mind, I consider your own intelligence would be at about the Tyrannosaurus Rex level - although even that is probably a bit too ambitious for you. Have a great day. One of us is in for a bit of a shock when we die! Éamonn, Dublin, Ireland..

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fatherelijah | Apr 19, 2012, 06:04 PM EDT

Fr. Kelly is a compulsive liar and always acts innocent in whatever he does. He lies so pervasively that he often forgets what he lied about. He is a backstabber and is guilty as charged. Don’t believe this man for he has never served God, but rather he has always served himself. No innocent man runs from his verdict only a guilty man. He is scared beyond belief and does not want to be exposed any further, that is why his anxiety is so high. He has no concerned for his victims. I hope he reads these comments and makes his first act of courage in his life and come back to face justice.

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billyjustin | Apr 19, 2012, 02:45 PM EDT

Hi rory, you are probably one of the sort that say, ptsd or post traumatic stress disorder is all in the head and those who claim to have it are out to get compensation, your young soldiers coming back from combat zones are not pretending to having ptsd they are really traumatized and should be taken care of, just like the survivors from sexual abuse cases perpetrated by the ( few clergy ) who run when they are found..

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billyjustin | Apr 19, 2012, 10:25 AM EDT

to irelandnorth,just for your info, the archbishop of ireland who knew the priests and brothers who were abusing young children, was responsible for moving them from parish to paris, once a complaint came up that pervert was moved to another location, these facts were proven in the murphy and ryan report, and then to prevent investigation, that same archbishop was moved to northern ireland to avoid been questioned by the irish authorities,his post in the north was sanctioned by the vatican, so yes they are still around

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JohnE67 | Apr 19, 2012, 08:12 AM EDT

Nothing says not guilty like skipping town to avoid your trial...

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IrelandNorth | Apr 19, 2012, 05:46 AM EDT

How can a civil jury determine guilt or innoncence in a criminal offence. Is he fleeing the charge, or concerns about impartiality. If the former, he needs to be disabused of his perception of Ireland as some sort of safe haven. If the latter, they need to overhaul the system over there. No one is above the law, even if they consider their law superior. Bythebay! I suspect your logic is to justify the plantation of Ulster. billyjustin! What other paedophiles? And where? If you know who and where they are, bring them to justice, rather than engaging in unfounded hypotheses. misneac! Maybe someone in IC has an axe to grind through personal experience, which wouuld only question the objectivity rather than justification. The HRC&AC appears to be reaping a karmic harvest for past misdeeds. Trouble is, there may be an inverted inquisition being conducted by a new Church of Political Correctness.

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sirpeter | Apr 18, 2012, 10:43 PM EDT

What is it about IC and adult and child sex.They have never ending adult and child sex stories.I never fancied reading about child sex with anybody.I consider child sex really wrong.Any sex stories on woman on woman? That really does it for me.That means over 18 like.Don't leave out detail.Put your own angle on it.Ye are great at that.

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ballylanger | Apr 18, 2012, 07:00 PM EDT

The 'elephant in the room': People who 'believe' in god are not too bright. Should such stupid people be allowed to produce, on an industrial scale, victims for the entertainment of those who are, basically, perpetrating a scam?

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misneac | Apr 18, 2012, 06:40 PM EDT

You must devote a lot of time to find a child sex abuse story for every issue of Irish Central . I accept of course that it is all part of the agenda ! Question in your opinion what percent of sexual abuse of minors worldwide has been perpetrated by Catholic priests ?

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fscarlson | Apr 18, 2012, 04:27 PM EDT

If he is, as he says, innocent of any wrongdoing, and we all know how lawyers can manipulate the truth, his running away does not look good. I would implore him to return and face our judicial system, which for the most part is usually just. If he's guilty, no punishment on earth will compare to meeting his maker on judgment day.

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billyjustin | Apr 18, 2012, 03:46 PM EDT

dont worry , the rest of the pedophiles here in ireland will hide this pervert, he has probley been given another orphanage to hide in and continue his dream of wrecking young lives, from a survivor from artane..

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