The Archdiocese of Detroit has investigated up to 18 priests for sexual misconduct since 1988 and removed "three-fourths" of them from active ministry because of credible allegations, spokesman Ned McGrath said Tuesday.
"We're not aware of any priest in parish ministry now that has a credible allegation against them," McGrath said.
The acknowledgement that roughly a dozen priests have been removed from Metro Detroit parishes is the most detailed statement yet from the Archdiocese of Detroit as the nationwide sex scandal involving priests continues to unfold.
Local prosecutors said Tuesday's revelation intensified the need to review church files on priests, even though the Archdiocese of Detroit hasn't had a legal obligation to release the records.
"I'm surprised they haven't come forward with this news before now," Macomb County Prosecutor Carl Marlinga said. "And I'm anxious to hear their explanation for not explaining these to civil authorities before now."
Wayne County Prosecutor Michael Duggan said he expects to have an answer this week to his request for archdiocesan sex-abuse records.
"They've been cooperative so far," Duggan said. "We intend to review all of the files independently."
And Oakland County Prosecutor David Gorcyca said he's requesting a meeting of all three prosecutors and Cardinal Adam Maida to discuss the records.
Prosecutors "have a valid point, especially in the current climate," for wanting to review files, McGrath said, and the archdiocese is considering granting that request.
The archdiocese internally handled the investigations of the 15 to 18 priests accused of sex abuse and did not report them to authorities -- and wasn't required to do so under state law.
But those making the complaints "were told it was within their rights" to go to police, McGrath said.
Reporting abuse
State law requires some professionals, including doctors and educators, to report to authorities all allegations of abuse. The Michigan Legislature will soon consider adding priests and other clergy to that list.
"We haven't come to a final conclusion on it yet," McGrath said of prosecutors' requests. "It's not in our policy now, but that doesn't mean it couldn't happen."
The "current climate" to which McGrath referred is one of new, almost daily disclosures of sex abuse by priests. Dozens of priests nationwide have stepped down or been removed this year because of allegations.
In Michigan, allegations against priests have been raised in Alpena, Flint, Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo.
Three priests in Metro Detroit have left their parishes, including Komlan Dem Houndjame, an African priest who had assisted at Assumption Grotto in Detroit.
Houndjame, also known as Father Felician, was arraigned Tuesday on felony charges of criminal sexual conduct toward a female parishioner during a visit to her Harper Woods home.
Accompanied to his arraignment by two priests, Houndjame stood silently as 32nd District Judge Roger J. Larose entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf.
Houndjame requested a court-appointed attorney, claimed no income or assets and did not immediately provide the $5,000 required for bail. He could remain in the Wayne County Jail at least until his preliminary examination on April 17.
No new announcements
In seeking to calm local parishioners and priests, McGrath said the Archdiocese of Detroit doesn't expect to announce widespread clergy resignations or new abuse cases, as branches of the Catholic Church elsewhere have done. In Cleveland, for example, the archdiocese announced nine priest suspensions Monday -- including the diocese's vicar of justice -- and gave prosecutors the names of a dozen additional priests previously removed from duty because of sex allegations.
But in Metro Detroit, all abuse cases "have been dealt with," McGrath said.
"We really don't have other shoes that are waiting to drop" -- unless more people come forward with new allegations, he said.
Those priests who have left because of sex allegations represent the equivalent of 2 percent of the roughly 800 priests currently in the Archdiocese of Detroit, McGrath said.
No further details
McGrath declined to further detail the 15 to 18 cases he mentioned, saying only that they were handled according to archdiocesan policy.
That policy, one of the first of its kind when established in 1988, calls on church officials to resolve all reports of sexual harassment, sexual exploitation and sexual abuse.
It's unclear how many of the cases may have involved activity prosecutors would have considered criminal.
"That's why they need to be reviewed by independent authorities," Gorcyca said.
Under the archdiocese's policy, priests against whom credible complaints are leveled must leave their parishes and "participate in a treatment plan as outlined by medical authorities."
In each case, church officials also address "civil and canonical issues."
Of the priests who left parishes under sex-abuse allegations some are retired and some remain in archdiocesan work but "do not have active ministries," McGrath said. A couple of them "might say a mass on a fill-in basis," he said, adding that in such cases the priests are monitored and kept from children.
"The places they are in know the history," he said. "Everybody's informed."
Maida requested an internal review of the archdiocese's files several weeks ago.
"We're going over all our information and making sure we didn't miss anything," McGrath said.