MICHIGAN
The Macomb Daily
By Mitch Hotts, The Macomb Daily
POSTED: 09/01/14
A Mount Clemens priest was “negligent” when he failed to promptly report a sex assault on church property to the police, according to a report by the Archdiocese of Detroit.
The archdiocese on Saturday published the findings of its investigation into the 2011 incident where the Rev. Michael Cooney of St. Peter Catholic Church did not vontact police when he learned a 19-year-old usher had sexually abused a 14-year-old female at a church event.
According to the report, a panel of three canonical, or church law, judges concluded Cooney was “negligent in performing his duties as pastor” at St. Peter “by failing to property report the suspected abuse of a minor in a timely manner” and failing to take measures to protect the teen.
Cooney did advise the girl’s family to report the incident to civil authorities, but he also had the responsibility to notify the authorities once he learned of the suspected abuse, the church panel concluded.
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