Fr. Robert R. Gerl

In 2020 a man reported to the Diocese that Gerl sexually abused him at age 14 in 1985 at St. Gerard Parish in Lansing MI. The alleged victim said that, with his mother’s permission, he spent a night in the rectory, having been invited by Gerl. He said that Gerl gave him something to drink after which he felt paralyzed. He remembered, among other things, being naked in the bathtub with Gerl and another man, and waking up the next morning naked. He said Gerl told him not to tell his mother. Gerl had been arrested in 1977 for solicitation in a public park; he pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct. He was a seminarian in Milwaukee at the time. When the Milwaukee archdiocese refused his ordination, he was accepted into the Diocese of Lansing, where he was ordained in 1979. Gerl was again arrested, in 1985, for solicitation at a highway rest stop. He pleaded no contest to disorderly conduct. Placed on leave, sent to the House of Affirmation in Whitinsville MA for treatment. He was released to the Diocese of Kalamazoo, assigned as chaplain to the Sisters of St. Joseph in Nazareth MI and was allowed a position at Nazareth College. When the college closed in 1991 he transferred to St. Catharine College in St. Catharine KY, Archdiocese of Louisville. Gerl was investigated in 1995 for sexual harrassment and intimidation at St. Catharine’s. He resigned with the agreement that the College would drop its investigation. In 1997 Gerl was assigned to St. Thomas More Student Parish in the Kalamazoo diocese and worked part-time at St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Rapids. There were indications that Gerl abused students at St. Thomas More, an accuser saying in 2002 “He used lies, and false information to manipulate and abuse…. .” “He is a very sick man with sadistic fetishes.” Gerl retired in 2016. His faculties in the Lansing diocese were removed in 10/2018 due to a credible allegation of sexual assault of an adult male decades prior. He had been a member of the Diocesan Tribunal since 2014.