'Credible' Abuse Claim Against Priest Who Served in Royal Oak

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ROYAL OAK, MI - An allegation of sex abuse of a minor by a Roman Catholic priest who served as an associate pastor at a Royal Oak Catholic Church and in various positions in about 20 other southeast Michigan parishes has been “found to be credible,” the Archdiocese of Detroit said more than a decade after the priest’s death.

The Rev. David West, who died in 2004 at age 65, served in parishes before anyone made allegations of abuse by priests in what became a widespread sex scandal, the Detroit Free Press reports.

“It doesn’t matter when it happens or when it’s reported,” Kohn said. “We try to determine if it’s credible and, if it is, we notify every place” the priest may have served because of the “likelihood that this might have occurred elsewhere.

In the case against West, the abuse occurred in the 1970s and involved a male victim, Kohn said. The Archdiocese wants to locate other victims, if there are any, and offer counseling services.

The Archdiocese said West also served as pastor at:

• St James, Ferndale
• Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church, Grosse Pointe Woods
• Louise de Marillac in Warren
• St. Agatha, Redford

He was an associate pastor at:

• Our Lady of Sorrows, Farmington
• Our lady of Queen of Peace, Harper Woods
• St. Anastasia, Troy
• St. Andrew, Rochester
• St. Dennis, Royal Oak
• St. Joan of Arc, St. Clair Shores
• St. Matthew, Detroit

he was an administrator at:

• St. Mel, Dearborn Heights
• Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, Temperance
• St. Aidan, Livonia,
• St. Basil the Great, Eastpointe
• St. Joseph, Maybee
• St. Michael, Livonia
• St. Victor, Rockwood

He was also on the faculty at Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit, was a minister at Wayne State University, and a chaplain at Bishop Gallagher High school in Harper Woods. The Free Press said West was an instructor at St. Mary’s College in Orchard Lake when he was chosen in 1996 to be the parish administrator of Detroit’s Catholic Church of the Madonna.

Reports of abuse by a priest or other Archdiocese of Detroit, living or dead, should be made by email to the the victim assistance coordinator at the Archdiocese of Detroit via vac@aod.org or by calling (866) 343-8055, between 8 a.m.-8 p.m., on any day.