Rev. Dennis T. Wirks
Summary of Case: Wirks' name was on a list released by the Cleveland Diocese in April 2002 of priests no longer in active ministry because of allegations in the past of abuse of minors. He was on sick leave 1989-1993, after which he is no longer indexed in the Official Catholic Directory. Per the diocese in June 2019, Wirks had been laicized.
Ordained: 1969
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| Start | Stop | Assignment | Town/Accusations | State | Position | Notes |
1969 Cleveland bishop was Clarence George Issenmann (1966-1974) |
1970 | St. John's | Lorain | OH |
|
St. John's had a school with 426 students. |
| 1970 | 1974 | St. Joseph's | Avon Lake | OH | 2/2 | St. Joseph's had a school with 509-399 students. |
1974 James Aloysius Hickey was Issenmann's successor (1974-1980) |
1980 | St. Barnabas | Northfield | OH | 3/4, 2/3, 2/4, 3/4 | St. Barnabas had a school with 619-562 students. |
1980 Replacing Hickey as bishop was Anthony Michael Pilla (1980-2006) |
1981 | St. Columbkille | Parma | OH | 4/4 | St. Columbkille had a school with 889 students. |
| 1981 | 1989 | Sacred Heart | Elyria | OH | 1/1
|
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| 1989 | 1993 | Sick Leave |
• Wirks name was released by the Cleveland diocese in 2002 as a former or retired priest who had allegations of sexual abuse of minors against him. . (Plain Dealer [Cleveland, Ohio] April 9, 2002) |
The 1993 Directory is the last in which Wirks is indexed. | ||
| 1993 | 2019 | Per the diocese on its list June 21, 2019, Wirks was laicized at some point. |
Source: Official Catholic Directory (New York: P.J. Kenedy and Sons, 1970-1993)
Priests in a Parish: We use the following
convention to show a priest's place among the clergy of a parish: 1/2 means
that he is the first priest listed in the Official Catholic Directory (usually
the pastor) and that there is a total of two priests at the parish. The shorthand
3/4 means that the priest is listed third on a four-priest roster. See our sample
page from the Directory.
Note: The Official Catholic Directory aims to report
the whereabouts of Catholic priests in the United States on January 1 of the
Directory's publication year. Our working assumption is that a priest
listed in the Directory for a given year was at the same assignment
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This assignment record collates Wirks' career history as it is represented
in the Official Catholic Directory with allegations as reported in the
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This assignment record was last updated on July 10, 2019.