Michigan Diocese Settles, Denies Priest Sex Abuse Case

The Catholic Diocese of Lansing has paid $225,000 to a man who says he was molested by a priest in the 1950s but says the accusation can’t be substantiated.

The Lansing State Journal reported that the man’s attorney, David Mittleman, said the man was molested at St. Vincent home in Lansing in 1955 by Monsignor John Slowey.

Slowey died in 1983.

Diocese spokesman Michael Diebold confirmed the payment but says the case differs from another one announced Monday.

The diocese said the Rev. John Martin molested at least a half-dozen boys in the 1950s and ’60s. He was pastor of St. Isidore Church in Laingsburg and died in 1968.

Diebold said in that case several victims told similar stories independently.