Warning: Graphic Content – Flint Police Report: Further Developments

        The Birmingham Chancery and National Catholic Register, as well as government officials in Michigan and Alabama, are tracking the Flint Police Department Report we published on January 9, 2024.

        That 2007 report, sent to Birmingham Diocesan Watch in an email, mentioned Bishop Steven J. Raica. According to testimony given to Flint Police Sergeant Ken Engel, a former parish school student reported his forcible assault when he was only an eight-year-old child.  A rag was put in his mouth by the Pastor, the recently convicted and now deceased Fr. Vincent Anthony DeLorenzo, a letter opener was held to his left ear, and he was then anally raped. Similar incidents occurred five or six more times, from April through June of 1978, according to the police report.

        After this series of assaults, the eight-year-old boy “told Father Steven Raica, and the assaults stopped.”  The Birmingham Chancery, which has informed us that they are fully cooperating with investigations by the Michigan Attorney General, but are unable to comment on the document we received until the investigation is completed, has helpfully noted that Father Raica was assigned to Holy Redeemer Parish in Burton, Michigan, as a twenty five-year-old Transitional Deacon in January, 1978, but not ordained as a Priest until October.

        There’s a lot to unpack here, as we shall try to do to the best of our ability in upcoming posts discussing the many questions raised by this leaked police report:  but the key point is that our current bishop was clearly identified as someone with knowledge of the rape.  He received direct testimony from the child victim.  Thus the question arises:  “What steps did he take to ensure that such criminal activity did not occur to future child victims?”  Under common law, failure to report child rape is a crime known as misprision of felony:  defendants in such cases have knowledge of a felony, but fail to notify the authorities, and take steps to conceal it.  They can be charged under current criminal law as accessories after the fact and, if they make any false statements, with obstruction of justice. 

DeLorenzo was convicted of sexually assaulting a five-year-old boy after the 1987 funeral of a relative, and sentenced to one year in jail.  According to DeLorenzo rape victims who have communicated with Birmingham Diocesan Watch, asking for our help, Bishop Raica’s further actions, and inactions, have raised serious questions about the course he pursued after speaking with the eight-year-old victim.  We are currently pursuing further developments to this story.