BishopAccountability.org
	Priest Speaks out Former Tracy Priest Vows to Fight Claim of Sexual Abuse By Ross Farrow Tracy Press April 9, 2008 http://tracypress.com/content/view/14213/2242/ A popular Lockeford priest who spent many years at St. Bernard's Catholic Church in Tracy vehemently denies allegations that he sexually abused a boy in the 1980s. Father Michael Kelly says he underwent a lengthy polygraph test and an in-depth investigation by a former FBI agent. Now he is stepping forward to strongly reject the accusations of abuse. "With every fiber in my body, with every breath left in me, I'm going to fight these vicious lies," Kelly told the San Joaquin News Service. Kelly and the Stockton Diocese were sued by the young man, whose name was not disclosed by Manly and Stewart law firm, which represents the alleged victim. The lawsuit was filed on March 26 in San Joaquin County Superior Court, shortly after the diocese cleared Kelly of any sexual misconduct. Walnut Creek attorney Thomas Beatty, who represents Kelly, said he hasn't been served with the lawsuit, but he expects to be shortly. The diocese put Kelly on leave in September after the alleged victim's father told the Stockton Diocese that Kelly had sexually abused his son between 1982 and 1985, when Kelly was a priest at Cathedral of the Annunciation in Stockton. Kelly gave his first Mass on Easter Sunday since he was reinstated. Kelly said he received a standing ovation by parishioners the first two Sundays he was back. "He's a very good man," Beatty said. "The bishop did the appropriate thing under the circumstances (putting Kelly on leave)." Beatty added, "The investigation by the church and bishop was extraordinarily thorough. There was nothing to support such claims. We vigorously deny it." The unnamed plaintiff said he was abused from around 1982 through about 1985, when he was 7 through 11 years old, according to the lawsuit. He has been on active duty in the armed forces since 1997. It was only during the spring of 2006 that he began to recall the abuse, the suit reads. The statute of limitations for abuse cases has expired in the case against Kelly, but the alleged victim's attorneys say their client can still file a lawsuit for two reasons — "repressed memory" and a legal provision where military personnel aren't subject to the statute of limitations. Beatty questions the "repressed memory," where the plaintiff claims to have forgotten all about the abuse, but then it comes back years later. The Manly and Stewart law firm also cites the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act, which states that statutes of limitations are waived while military personnel are on active duty. Beatty, who said he's represented many pastors and teachers accused of misconduct, said he has prevailed numerous times against plaintiffs who have claimed repressed memory. Beatty said that many lawsuits against Catholic priests have been filed since former Lodi Priest Oliver O'Grady admitted to sexually abusing children many times in the 1970s in Lodi and in later years at other parishes in the diocese. "Father Kelly is so distant from the O'Grady debacle it isn't funny," said Beatty, who attended a deposition taken of O'Grady several years ago in Ireland. "So I know the difference between Father Kelly, who is wonderful, and Father O'Grady," Beatty said. "They are not in the same universe."
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