This article is an effort to fill in some of the background of the news that one of the archdiocese of Detroit’s (AOD) most well-known priests, Fr. Lawrence Ventline, is among the priests named in the May 24 press conference by Michigan’s attorney general, Dana Nessel, who announced five Michigan priests have been arrested on sex abuse charges.
Ventline has not been arrested, but Nessel said he is accused of sexual assault of an adult and “is facing an administrative complaint and his license as a professional educationally limited counselor has been summarily suspended by the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA).”
The complaint against Fr. Ventline includes the allegation that Fr. Ventline raped an 11-year-old boy on at least three occasions in 1989–1990.
The complaint states that Ventline called the student to the church’s sacristy under the guise of needing to assist him with cleaning and moving things. Instead, on each occasion, Fr. Ventline reportedly assaulted the child.
The complaint states:
Specifically, the first time he called Student 1 to the Sacristy, Respondent (Fr. Ventline) pulled [down] his own pants and asked Student 1 to touch his penis. Respondent then pulled down Student 1’s pants, and Respondent touched Student 1’s penis. Respondent then “threw (Student 1) around” so he was facing the countertop and penetrated Student 1’s anus with Respondent’s penis.
The AG report also cites seven counts of allegations that Ventline was mentally unstable and was deceptive in his descriptions of his license, including calling himself “Dr. Ventline.”
Read more at Church Militant