GRAND RAPIDS, December 18, 2025 – Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Monday the release of a report on clergy abuse in the Diocese of Grand Rapids, the fifth of seven reports released as part of the Michigan’s statewide investigation into abuse and cover-up in Catholic dioceses that began in 2018.

The 335-page report names 51 priests who have been accused of sexual assault of a child or vulnerable adult. The Diocese of Grand Rapids is one of the few Catholic dioceses in the United States that has not published a list of “credibly accused” clergy. 

The horrific assaults described in the report are not isolated crimes committed by individual priests; this is a preventable catastrophe in which diocesan leaders knowingly allowed dangerous men to hold positions of authority over children and vulnerable people, resulting in decades of repeated acts of sexual violence.

In the diocese’s response, Bishop Walkowiak attempted to minimize the findings of the report, claiming that there are no priests accused of abusing minors in active ministry, ignoring the fact that, until very recently, Walkowiak allowed several accused priests to remain in ministry in Grand Rapids: 

• Fr. Rock James Badgerow is listed on the Diocese of Grand Rapids website as “retired” after receiving senior priest status in 2023, despite having been accused of sexually assaulting a high school boy in a 1993 report. The victim alleged that when he reported the abuse to former Bishop Rose, he was told there had been other allegations against Badgerow. In 2004, an adult man reported being inappropriately massaged by Badgerow. In 2018, a witness made a complaint, saying that Badgerow had said of a tenth-grade altar boy, “the older I get, the younger I like them. I can’t help myself.” 
• Rev. Richard J. Host is listed on the Diocese of Grand Rapids website as retired with senior priest status. In 1988, a mother accused Host of abusing her two sons, aged four and six.  
• Fr. Peter Omogo is currently listed as a priest of the Catholic Diocese of Abakaliki in Nigeria despite several reports of sexual assault in Grand Rapids. In 2017, a woman called the diocese to report that she and several other women had been subjected to kissing, groping, fondling, and other unwanted sexual advances. In December 2024, another woman contacted the diocese reporting that Omogo had repeatedly raped her between 2019 and 2024. After the allegations were reported to law enforcement, Omogo fled to Nigeria. In January of this year, there was a large celebration in honor of Omogo’s 20th anniversary as a priest.

Several priests who are now deceased or laicized were permitted to remain in ministry for years after serious allegations of sexual assault: 

• Fr. William Allen Langlois was accused in 2014 of sexual abuse of an adult woman from 2008-2013. The woman had been seeing Langlois and another spiritual director as she disclosed she feared she was struggling with mental illness and experienced the death of family members and several miscarriages. As the woman confided in Langlois, he fondled her and masturbated in the confessional. Langlois admitted to this conduct and was put on a six-month leave of absence in 2014. In 2016, a parish staff member reported that Langlois had touched her inappropriately without her consent on more than one occasion. In 2018, a woman called the diocese to report having been abused by Langlois as a minor, resulting in his restriction from ministry. Langlois was laicized in 2021.
• Fr. Reinhard J. Sternemann died in 2024. In 2007, a man reported having been assaulted by Sternemann while a 15 or 16-year-old student at St. Augustine Seminary in Saugatuck, Michigan. An obituary published in Midwest Augustianian Magazine mentions Sternemann’s assignments at Austin Catholic High School, St. Monica Novitiate, and St. Augustine Seminary. The AG’s report does not include any information about investigations into the allegations or restrictions placed on Sternemann, and there is no available public evidence that suggests Sternemann’s ministry had been restricted in any way.  
• Fr. Don Patrick Tufts was the subject of a 2002 report where a man alleged that he witnessed Tufts share a bed with a teenage boy on a camping trip. In 2003, a man called the diocese to report that in a counseling session where he sought help for trauma related to being a victim of incest and growing up in an alcoholic home, Tufts massaged and sexually assaulted him. Though Tufts apologized to the victim and the diocese paid for the victim’s counseling, Tufts was allowed to remain in ministry under “supervision.” When Tufts died unexpectedly in 2016, his obituary listed a number of assignments to parishes and hospitals in the area. 

SNAP Executive Director Angela Walker said, “It is not enough to list the priests who have been accused. Until the structural mechanisms that shield the church and its leaders from accountability are dismantled, survivors will not see justice.” 

Michigan currently has the strictest statute of limitations for sexual assault victims in the United States. Though most survivors take decades to report child sex abuse, the civil statute of limitations only gives child victims until age 28 to file a claim. There is no criminal statute of limitations for first-degree sexual assault of a child, but child victims of second, third, or fouth-degree criminal sexual assault only have 15 years or up until their 28th birthday, whichever date is later.

Survivors, their friends and family, or anyone who has information about the church’s response to abuse are urged to contact the Michigan AG’s office by calling 1-844-324-3374 or reporting abuse through their website. 

SNAP Survivors Network is the world’s oldest and largest community of survivors of clergy and institutional sexual abuse. Through public action and peer support, SNAP is building a future where no institution is beyond justice and no survivor stands alone. Our global community works to end sexual abuse in faith-based organizations by transforming laws, institutions, and lives.