TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade [Toledo OH]
November 6, 2024
By Sarah Readdean
The Catholic Diocese of Toledo has announced the credible allegation of sexual abuse of a minor against deceased priest Msgr. Michael J. Doyle and has placed him on its clergy status report.
The report lists diocesan clerics who have been placed on administrative leave or removed from ministry as a result of an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor, as well as those who have been credibly accused after their deaths.
According to the diocese’s Sunday announcement, the alleged abuse took place more than 65 years ago. Monsignor Doyle died in 1987.
Monsignor Doyle served as an active priest of the diocese from 1925 to 1977. He was associate pastor at St. Ann Parish in Fremont in 1925 and St. Peter Parish in Mansfield from 1925 to 1930. He was assistant director of Catholic Charities from 1932 to 1946. His activity between 1930 and 1932 is not included on a list of his assignments.
The priest served as chaplain of Saint Anthony Villa, a former orphanage in Toledo, from 1935 until his retirement in 1977. He continued to reside at the orphanage until 1980.
The diocesan Pastoral Center in downtown was named for him — Monsignor Doyle Hall — in 2002, according to the diocese. His name has now been removed from the building.
Advocates with the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests had been urging the diocese to remove the sign since a 2002 settlement with a woman who alleged she was abused as a child by Monsignor Doyle.
“While it’s a step in the right direction, getting the sign down, it never should have taken over two decades,” said Claudia Vercellotti, a local leader with SNAP. “It negates the victim they settled with in ’02.”
Ms. Vercellotti said the victim from the earlier settlement had been at the West Toledo orphanage, which closed in 1984.