Rebuilding Trust: A Pastoral Message on Abuse, Reform, and Hope

March 11, 2026

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

When I was installed as your archbishop one year ago, I accepted not only many joyful responsibilities, but also a most solemn one. Among the more serious obligations entrusted to me is addressing the wounds caused by clergy sexual abuse, along with strengthening the Church’s commitment to accountability and protection. Even as we walk through a broader restructuring of our archdiocese, I remain firmly committed to ensuring that the protection of children and vulnerable adults is upheld as a central and enduring priority of my pastoral leadership.

While my predecessors worked toward those same goals, I know there is progress still to be made to fully renew your confidence in the Church and to rebuild your trust in her bishops, priests, and deacons. I offer this letter to you, the faithful, as an important step in that journey.

The history of abuse must not be minimized, explained away, or forgotten. This is a cross that we must be willing to bear for the sake of victims and for the healing of all who have been harmed. However painful it may be to revisit these chapters of our history, we cannot distance ourselves from them. We must commit ourselves to ongoing accountability, transparency, and the unwavering protection of those entrusted to our care—especially God’s beloved little ones.

Before I go any further, I wish to pause and offer my most sincere and heartfelt apology to those who have been abused or harmed in any way by bishops, priests, and deacons we thought could be trusted with the children and vulnerable adults we cherish. Taking seriously Jesus’ teaching that whatever we do to the least among us, we do to Him, I can only conclude that the crimes and misconduct you suffered were nothing short of an attack on Christ Himself. I pray that the wounds you have endured will be healed and that you will be comforted by the grace and love of Jesus.

I know that words alone cannot heal the harm inflicted. With humility, I offer this pastoral message to express my heartfelt sorrow for the evil of abuse and the profound suffering it has caused. While words cannot undo the damage, please know they are offered in a spirit of repentance, compassion, and a continued commitment to healing.

In keeping with that commitment, this letter also outlines the significant actions implemented since my installation as your Archbishop last March to advance safeguarding, accountability, and healing.

A History of Failure and Reform

Clergy sexual abuse has been nothing short of a horrific scourge on the Church. These crimes have caused immeasurable harm—devastating child victims and their families and wounding the faith of an entire generation of Catholics. In response to these painful revelations, the Catholic Bishops of the United States took significant steps in 2002 to address the issue of sexual abuse of minors by clergy, lay employees, and volunteers in the Catholic Church. They approved the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People (also known as the Dallas Charter), which established guidelines for reconciliation, healing, accountability, and prevention of future abuse. Since its adoption, the Bishops have revised the Charter twice and remain committed to strengthening it as necessary.

In the years since those revelations, the Archdiocese of Detroit has worked diligently to bring criminals to justice for harming those they were ordained to serve, particularly children. This effort has required strategic improvements in how the Church engages with state and federal law enforcement, as well as significant reforms to the Church’s own legal and disciplinary procedures under Roman Catholic Canon Law. Under the leadership of Pope Francis, the Church’s penal laws were substantially streamlined and strengthened, making the prosecution of offenders more effective and ensuring greater accountability within the Church.

Unprecedented Review

Shortly after assuming pastoral care for our archdiocese, I appointed Fr. John Maksym to serve in the senior role of Episcopal Vicar for Clergy Discipline. Fr. Maksym is a licensed attorney and retired appellate and trial court judge with decades of criminal litigation experience. He is likewise a canon lawyer within the Church. Together, we assembled a team charged with conducting a comprehensive and unprecedented review of the personnel records of our bishops, priests and deacons, as well as the archdiocese’s processes for investigating allegations of clergy sexual abuse, prosecuting offenders under Church law, cooperating with civil authorities, and promoting safe environments in our parishes, schools and communities. This dedicated team of professionals brings expertise in law and criminal justice, enriched by their invaluable perspectives as parents and grandparents. I believe the inclusion of parents, alongside clergy, underscores the importance of a diverse, collaborative, and credible approach to effective safeguarding efforts.

For the first known time in the history of our archdiocese, this team reviewed and evaluated every known case involving clergy misconduct—not only those involving allegations of sexual abuse — dating back to the early 1920s. Each case was carefully examined in order to clearly identify those that involved credible allegations of sexual abuse of minors or vulnerable adults, ensuring that no allegation was overlooked and no victim deprived of justice or an opportunity for care.

This strategic review was facilitated, in part, by the return of files held by the Michigan Attorney General’s Office amid its ongoing investigation, initiated in 2018, into clergy abuse in all seven Catholic dioceses of Michigan. I greatly appreciate that office for granting my request, shortly after my arrival here in Detroit, to return our personnel files which had been in their custody for approximately seven years. As we continue to cooperate fully with the Attorney General’s Task Force, it is my hope that our own careful review of these files will allow us to respond with transparency and justice when the Attorney General’s report is published. I want to assure you that whenever we receive an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor or vulnerable adult by a cleric, we report the matter to the Attorney General immediately as a matter of practice and policy. Moreover, we do not pursue an investigation under Church law until we have received permission from the Attorney General to do so, to ensure that we never interfere with the criminal justice process.

Strengthening Our Safeguards

While acknowledging the horrors of the past can serve as a powerful measure of accountability and healing, these gestures are only partial without action taken to ensure such crimes are never repeated. To that end, while the Archdiocese of Detroit’s Safe Environments protocols are consistent with national standards, we are nevertheless implementing a number of enhanced safeguards and reforms, all designed to strengthen our efforts to ensure the safety of every child and vulnerable adult entrusted to our care:

• New archdiocesan-wide fingerprinting:
  Earlier this year, the Archdiocese of Detroit launched a new, diocesan-wide fingerprinting policy that applies to all clergy, educators, and employees, as well as volunteers who work directly with children and vulnerable adults. I was first in line to be fingerprinted, followed by my Vicar General and the Episcopal Vicar for Clergy Discipline, and around 225 other diocesan priests to date. This initiative will continue to be implemented in phases over the coming months.
  
  While background screening has long been a critical part of our safe environment effort, fingerprinting is widely recognized as the “gold standard” and most reliable method in the security field. Advances in technology now allow these screenings to be conducted quickly and securely using portable devices. Fingerprinting serves not only as a thorough prescreening measure but also as an ongoing safeguard. Through participation in state and federal databases, we will receive notification of subsequent arrests of anyone in our system who has been fingerprinted, enabling timely and appropriate action when necessary. In many settings, particularly schools and childcare facilities, this standard is already required by law. Our new policy extends this same level of scrutiny, care and protection across the entire Archdiocese.

• Accompanying victims:
  The Archdiocese continues to reserve funds for psychiatric and psychological care for victims, and I have expanded that reserve to ensure that no one is denied access to needed support. Along with therapeutic means for healing, we also offer pastoral care and accompaniment for victims. To further strengthen this commitment, the roles of investigation and victim assistance have been separated, with Catholic Charities of Southeast Michigan, the charitable extension of the Archdiocese of Detroit, now entrusted with responsibility for victim assistance. Victims carry wounds that safe environment policies alone cannot heal, and it is the Church’s responsibility to walk with them patiently, compassionately, and faithfully on the path toward healing.

• Seminar on clergy abuse:
  The topic of clerical misconduct has long been addressed at Detroit’s Sacred Heart Major Seminary. However, I have directed that a formal curriculum be developed for an annual seminar, where seminarians will confront the painful history of the clergy abuse crisis in the United States, review the mandates governing clerical conduct, and deepen their understanding of what it means to create and maintain a safe environment. I want all future priests and deacons to have this at the forefront of their minds when they carry out their ministry. This enhanced formation for our future priests and deacons will include a comprehensive review of reports issued by the Michigan Attorney General and other law enforcement agencies around the United States, any report I might later publish, and the more recent changes to the penal section of the Code of Canon Law.

• Continuing responsibility for removed clergy:
  I have directed that a Supervisor be appointed to monitor priests or deacons who have been removed from ministry and, as needed, to coordinate with local and federal law enforcement authorities. While the Church has made clear her commitment to act swiftly and decisively when allegations of misconduct are received, our responsibility does not end when a cleric is removed from active ministry. Any restrictions placed on a cleric who has been removed from ministry must be monitored carefully and consistently. I am entrusting compliance with these directives to the Department of Clergy Discipline and continue to rely upon the Archdiocesan Review Board in its advisory and oversight role. Comprised primarily of lay men and women with expertise in law, psychology, social work, education, medicine, and canon law, the Review Board remains an essential source of guidance and accountability in fulfilling this responsibility.

Reporting Abuse

The actions we take today were made possible by the victims who bravely came forward to share their stories, seek justice, and demand change. With gratitude to them, I continue to urge anyone with knowledge of clergy sexual abuse of minors and others to report directly to law enforcement, no matter when the abuse occurred. The Attorney General’s Office accepts reports at its toll-free reporting hotline (844) 324-3374 or aginvestigations@michigan.gov. Individuals also may contact their local police department. Those who wish to contact the Archdiocese of Detroit may do so through our abuse reporting Intake Coordinator, Tony Latarski, who can be reached at (313) 237-6060, toll-free at (866) 343-8055, or via email to reportabuse@aod.org. Every complaint received by the Archdiocese of Detroit is shared with appropriate civil authorities.

Please join me in praying for the victims of clergy sexual abuse. Together, let us ensure that the crimes of the past are not repeated.

Finally, I wish to conclude by sharing this reflection: In my decades of service as a member of the clergy, having ministered in several dioceses across our country, I know this to be true: the overwhelming majority of clergy and religious serve faithfully and with integrity, offering dedicated service to God and the Church. This statement is offered as a factual observation and is not intended as a defense or an attempt to diminish the seriousness of harm and suffering caused. I wish to thank them for their faithful witness, generous service, and quiet perseverance amid the pain and betrayal brought about by the sins of others.

Entrusting this work to the providential assistance of God and to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, I remain,

Sincerely Yours in Christ Jesus,

Most Reverend Edward J. Weisenburger

Archbishop of Detroit