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.
32 Comments
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.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.
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.
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.
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.
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..
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.
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..
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
JohnE67 | Apr 19, 2012, 08:12 AM EDT
Nothing says not guilty like skipping town to avoid your trial...
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.
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.
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?
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 ?
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.
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..
hyperion | Apr 18, 2012, 03:12 PM EDT
Stockton is in the north central part of the state, not Southern California. Get it straight. The reporter's lack of even basic US geography knowledge shows a general disrespect for California and Californians. And it makes me wonder what other facts and information he slacked on.
Mercyneal | Apr 18, 2012, 03:10 PM EDT
Oldboreen: Kelly WAS found guilty by a civil jury on Good Friday, April 6, 2012 and was immediately stripped of his duties.
Mercyneal | Apr 18, 2012, 03:04 PM EDT
HermitTalker: At least six victims have now come forward to the police, and the Sheriff's are investigating in Calaveras County in California as we speak. The story has most certainly NOT gone viral outside the Stockton area in California. No other papers in the rest of California were writing about this case at all until Kelly fled to Ireland. And certainly nowhere else in the US did any stories appear on this. From my own experience, and also law enforcement will tell you, is that media exposure is the best way to get victims to come forward. Dumb move on his part to go to Ireland as now papers like the Los Angeles Times are picking up the story, as well as the Associated Press.
Intercessor | Apr 18, 2012, 02:55 PM EDT
I call this group of Pedophile Priests, who are free to roam from country to country (no pun intended), "Pedophile Priests Without Borders!" To MartInNJ: The ONLY excuse that I can think of that the Church hasn't used in the defense of Pedophile Priests is, "They are ALIENS from outer space!" I hope that your post won't give Rome a new idea!
padraiginrua | Apr 18, 2012, 02:37 PM EDT
And a California jury found O.J. Simpson innocent
OBPiper | Apr 18, 2012, 01:57 PM EDT
I happen to be a California lawyer of 32 years and raised Catholic. I have no respect for the Roman Imperialist Church's celibacy and suspect that it played a role here. But, I am not convinced from the circumstances here that this priest is guilty as convicted.
MARTinNJ | Apr 18, 2012, 01:54 PM EDT
Actually oldboren, the judge and jury were in California and the HAVE FOUND HIM GUILTY. Enough of this fantasy living 'he may be innocent'. Ane he may be an alien from outer space also.
MARTinNJ | Apr 18, 2012, 01:51 PM EDT
The American and Irish church hierarchies must order this priest back to the United States to face both the civil and criminal charges against him. If they fail to follow the law then they will continue to labeled pedeophile protectors. Their sins and crimes will be as great as his. It is shameless for this priest called Michael Kelly thinks he is above the law and above justice. It is the same mentality that child abusers have. That justice does not apply to them. Shame on the churches that have allowed this.
hermitTalker | Apr 18, 2012, 01:40 PM EDT
As this appears to me: this allegation is dated approx. 27 years ago, only brought forward in 2007 when the lid had already blown on this epidemic several years before. IF there were others, then the publicity in 2002 which was viral and this allegation would have given others opportunity to come forward. I have seen and heard enough of this topic that the accused priests have no chance of a fair trial- the publicity worldwide has made it so difficult. I also worked enough with the law to know that juries are not all prone to give "liberty and justice for all", nor are elected prosecutors in the USA above a little grand-standing, to put it mildly. The bishops went back over 50 years to report all allegations, many of which were never examined with civil and church lawyers and never went beyond that. There are "Statistics, stastitics and damned lies" as Twain put it. There are a lot of axe grinders for this topic. I am always on the side of those who do not know the facts, so I brake for caution.
citizen69 | Apr 18, 2012, 11:26 AM EDT
@oldboreen: He HAS been found guilty, read the first line of the article.
Nicoletta | Apr 18, 2012, 11:01 AM EDT
A priest in England was recently woken in the middle of the night by police, arrested and taken to a police station, where he was held for some time before being released because of a flimsy, false accusation. Another priest told me this story. He said that good priests (let's not forget the overwhelming majority - is it 98%? - are good priests), live in fear of these accusations - there's big money to be made. It is a tragedy that priests betrayed their vocation and destroyed the lives of innocent children but let us Catholics not forget (because the media, Irish Central included will keep on reminding us, making us think that it's only Catholic priests who've abused children) that it was a small (though treacherous) minority of them.
MCCOLGAN1492 | Apr 18, 2012, 10:48 AM EDT
Not saying he isn't guilty however, as another reader stated, one case from 30yrs ago? Rapists rarely stop at one, they have no control over the evil within and tend to commit multiple offences. If he really is innocent, you couldn't blame him for fleeing to the safety of family.
jamieLM | Apr 18, 2012, 10:46 AM EDT
If kids and their parents had felt they could have taken their accusations to the RCC hierarchy and received a proper inquiry and justice at the time of the offense, this all could have been avoided. This is what happens when the climate is "how dare you accuse a PRIEST?" and "go away and keep your mouth shut or we'll punish you." Sweeping everything under the rug makes it difficult years later to always know what the truth is and for a priest to defend himself. I don't know know if he's guilty or not, but I know he'd have had an easier time in proving his innocence earlier then he does now, so many years later. Unfortunately, priests today are paying for the practices of the RCC hierarchy of the past who had the idea that they could not and would not ever be held accountable for their actions - no matter how many children they abused and how they covered it up.
CelticQueenUSA | Apr 18, 2012, 10:34 AM EDT
Fleeing the scene usually points to involvement in a crime. If he was innocent he should have stood his ground and gone through the trial. Cowarldy action I'd say.
oldboreen | Apr 18, 2012, 10:20 AM EDT
Hey hold on estatdigiwank!-he has hasn't been found guilty! He may well have commited the offence of which he is accused-on the other hand, he may not be guilty! So you are judge and jury?? So much for 'innocent until proven guilty'.Unless of course, you WANT him to be guilty whether guilty or not!
JimmieM | Apr 18, 2012, 09:47 AM EDT
One guy from 30 years ago? 4 1/2 years?....I don't see much in the way of justice?....lots of pay for lawyers and the "guy" will eventually get some money but everyone else looses.
esatdigiwank | Apr 18, 2012, 08:25 AM EDT
Do we really want another one here?