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Home Page > Blogs > News blogs > People and Politics > A priest accused - but is he innocent of the sexual abuse charges against him? 'Repressed memories' is only direct evidence against Father Michael Kelly

People and Politics by Patrick Roberts

A priest accused - but is he innocent of the sexual abuse charges against him? 'Repressed memories' is only direct evidence against Father Michael Kelly

Posted on Thursday, April 19, 2012 at 08:15 AM

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Former San Joachim's Church Priest Michael Kelly (CLIFFORD OTO/The Record)

The case of Father Michael Kelly who fled to Ireland from California this week after a successful civil suit against him for molesting a child is more complicated than it may seem.

Kelly passed two lie detector tests, and the diocese of Stockton in California believed him not guilty after an intensive inquiry.

Hundreds of his parishioners still stand with him and he was clearly a very popular priest. The pages of local newspapers are filled with testimonials to his work by former parishioners.

Even after the verdict, and before he fled to Ireland, hundreds of parishioners showed up in the parish hall to support him.

Many believe he has been unfairly targeted because of the activities of a colleague, Father Oliver Grady, a notorious pedophile who was defrocked.

Worse, the accusation against him by a 37-year-old man was based on “repressed memories” a notoriously suspect form of evidence rife with problems.

Many of the scandalous accusations of recent years, the McMartin preschool case for instance, have come about through the “repressed memories” or “false memories” route, which are notoriously unreliable and dismissed in many psychiatric quarters.
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The accuser was forced to admit in court that testimony which he gave earlier was completely inconsistent with his latest evidence.

A jury did find for the accuser last week and Kelly fled to Ireland, to his family in Tipperary, soon after. He told his bishop he was in ill health and needed to be with his Irish family.

He has proclaimed his innocence very loudly and continuously and many clearly still believe him. By all accounts he was an outstanding priest.

Reading the reporting of the trial, the corroborating witnesses called mainly accused Kelly of “horseplay” with their children, bouncing them up and down and playing roughly with them.

That is hardly the stuff of rampant abuse and could well be seen as belonging to another time when priests and parish kids and families interacted much more with each other.

Kelly was one of dozens of Irish priests who came to the diocese of Sacramento from the seminary in Thurles, County Tipperary.

The vast majority did sterling work and have rightfully earned enormous respect and support as a result.
There was the horrific abuse of Oliver Grady at the other extreme.

Quite where Father Kelly fits is a lot harder to say. There are clearly unanswered questions but the possibility remains clear in my mind that he is an innocent man.

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KatieMurphy | Apr 19, 2012, 09:47 AM EDT

Who knows but the real issue is still how the hierarchy hid these creeps instead of dragging them to the police in chains............There are also several news items on the web that say the vatican explicitly told their people to hide these vile crimes.......................Also, religious extremists arer the prime type of people who can beat lie detector tests. Pathological liars, they so believe what they say that there is zero emotion when lieing.............My commnent on the viciouss hiding and even moving of known molester priests by the hierarchy - its not just keeping the collection plate full. Its that most likely the hierarchy are guilty of the same offenses against children in their past.

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hermitTalker | Apr 19, 2012, 09:36 AM EDT

See my comments yesterday on this. The Grady horror story as noted would be the possible spook for finding him guilty. He passed two detector tests, his bishop backed him after investigating. Surely some parents would have come forward to offer serious evidence from their perspective. The repressed memory syndrone is as noted bunk, totally discredited. I say, they have ruined his life, so extradition from his family where he is going through this trauma is the best for all of them now. It is so easy for an outsider who has never been in such a situation to lecture or give advice. Suicide has sadly been the solution for too many embrarrassed by the vultures.

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eiriamach | Apr 19, 2012, 09:22 AM EDT

Whether he is innocent or guilty, he was wrong to flee the jurisdiction of law-- there's no question, no room for doubt about that. The US legal system provides convicted criminals with multiple appeals processes. He did his case no good by escaping the reach of the court.

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Mercyneal | Apr 19, 2012, 08:40 AM EDT

Mr. Martin: Your article fails to include that a second, much younger victim came forward in 2011 to say that he had been raped by Kelly at St. Andrew's Church in San Andreas, California in 2002. This was NOT a case of repressed memory. Additionally a number of other victims have come forward to the Calaveras County Sheriff's office recently. The Sheriff is investigating. Indeed the Modesto Bee reported on April 18, 2012 that the District Attorney and Sheriff's office are weighing extradition for Kelly. I repeat- none of the new cases involve repressed memory. Hope you will catch up on your reading on this case!! Thanks

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