Fr. John Andrew Blasko

Per the MI Attorney General’s 12.16.2024 Diocese of Lansing report, in 9/2000 a man reported to the Diocese that Blasko sexually abused him when he was age 17 in the early 1960s. The man said the abuse occurred at Blasko’s cabin, that five other youths were with them, and that they “got nude and drank.” While the boys were drunk in the river Blasko allegedly shot a BB gun at them. He confronted Blasko at the rectory a few days later, and Blasko is said to have told him that the real problem was the alcohol, and “never get drunk because you’ll do the same thing.” The man said that Blasko helped him get into a Wauwasee seminary. The man again contacted the Diocese in 2012, alleging the abuse at the camp by Blasko occurred while he was at Holy Redeemer Parish in Flint in 1957 and that Fr. Pat Atkins (a Crosier priest) abused him at the seminary at age 21 in 1961. He told his parents, who told a social worker who referred him to a psychologist and next a psychiatrist. None of them believed him and he was subjected to shock and hydro treatments, which led to cognitive deficits. The man died in July 2014, having been waiting for Bishop Earl Boyea’s availability to meet with him, as promised by the Diocese. The Diocese paid his funeral expenses.