Fr. John Edward Martin

Ordained for the Detroit archdiocese in 1918, became a priest of the Diocese of Lansing when it was created in 1937. In 6/2010 two men separately reported to the Diocese that Martin sexually abused them as boys. Notices were placed in two church bulletins; multiple accusers came forward. Most alleged abuse in the 1950s-early 1960s, one in the 1940s. Martin’s victims were ages 10-17. One man told the Diocese in 8/2010 that in the late 1950s he told then-Bishop Albers of his and another boy’s abuse by Martin and that Albers made the boys “swear on the Bible that they would never speak of it again.” Martin allegedly would sexually abuse boys, then hear their confessions and forgive them. Martin was pastor of St. Mary’s in Morrice, then St. Isidore’s in Laingsburg 1941-1966. He retired in 1966 when the church burned down, and died in 1968. Included on the diocese’s list of credibly accused clerics 9/27/2019. On the Detroit archdiocese’s list 6/10/2019, which notes that he had been removed from public ministry. Included in the MI Attorney General’s 12/16/2024 Diocese of Lansing Report.