Diocesan Priest Placed on Administrative Leave of Absence

Midland Daily News
July 6, 2015

http://www.ourmidland.com/news/diocesan-priest-placed-on-administrative-leave-of-absence/article_fb0d033a-23ff-11e5-8b96-5f26f85b24b1.html

The Rev. Denis M. Heames, parochial administrator of St. Mary University Parish, Mount Pleasant, has been placed on administrative leave due to boundary violations related to his priestly ministry, Bishop Joseph R. Cistone, of the Saginaw Diocese, announced this weekend. The information was part of a press release released early Monday afternoon.

“Last weekend, it was brought to my attention that Father Heames has been involved in boundary violations related to his priestly conduct, serious enough to require appropriate assessment and treatment,” Cistone shared Sunday night with parishioners at St. Mary University Parish. “It is important to assure you that these actions in no way involved minors. Nonetheless, peoples’ lives have been affected and Father Heames will need to address these matters in a comprehensive way. Consequently, this past week, I placed Father Heames on an administrative leave of absence.”

As of now, the diocese will not address Heames’ future ministry. The diocese is making arrangements to ensure the needs of the parish are met, according to the press release.

“I ask that you keep in your prayers Father Heames and those who have been harmed in any way by his conduct,” Cistone stated in the release. “Pray for St. Mary University Parish that it will remain a place in which the love and mercy of Christ is proclaimed and lived. And, I humbly ask that you pray for me to have the wisdom and grace to be a good shepherd at this time as God would wish.”

Heames was assigned as parochial administrator of St. Mary University Parish in 2012, and also appointed as adjutant judicial vicar for the Diocese of Saginaw. He was ordained to the priesthood in 2008 and his first assignment was as associate pastor at Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Mount Pleasant. The following year, in 2009, he began canon law studies at Gregorian University in Rome. He was a student there for three years, and upon completion of his graduate degree in 2012, he was assigned to St. Mary University Parish.