Fr. Anthony J. Polakowski

Included in the MI Attorney General’s 10/2022 report. In 1/2004 a woman told the diocese that Polakowski sexually abused her for a year when she was in 6th grade. She said he would host parties in the rectory basement and supply youth with marijuana and alcohol. There was also a “hidden” room made into a “firepit” and another with a mattress, found by Chancellor Fr. Alexander Sample after he met with the woman. Polakowski had a “playboy” reputation with such “toys” as a Corvette, snowmobile and horses. A police report in 1976 alleges that Polakowski gave alcohol to minors, and mentions rumors of parties in the rectory. He died in 1978 after crashing his car into another, killing two women and critically injuring a 16-year-old boy, who was in his car. In 4/2018 a man reported that a priest sexually abused him as a teenager in the mid-1970s. Based on the man’s description, the Vicar for Clergy stated the priest was likely Polakowski. In 3/2006 a woman claimed Polakowski abused her in 1976-1977 at ages 15-16, and that he also abused her brother. She told a teacher about her brother’s abuse, and Polakowski was transferred.