“Deeply Disturbing”
Says a diocese to describe the allegations made against Father David Rosenberg
In my many years of ministry, I’ve encountered many vulnerable adults.
Their vulnerability is not always apparent, and is more obvious in some than others.
In the last six years I have been entrusted with the care of legally vulnerable adults unlike any other time in my career. Some will speak nonsensically and others not at all. Their dignity as persons is not diminished by an advanced age or disease.
Recently I had the privilege of praying with a priest before he died. I would kneel at his side as he sat leaned over in his recliner. One day in a moment of lucidity and after showing him a picture of me in his Church he said my name. It was a touching moment for me.
My own father could be vulnerable at times.
In a July 14, 2021 article, I write:
…since he only had a fifth grade education, people would sometimes take advantage of his gullibility. He did not always understand more complicated forms or contracts. Once as a teen I looked over a contract of a new car he was buying and noticed it had some math errors. The manager came in and said to the dealer, “the kid is right, these numbers need to be corrected.” This happened more than once. I would see someone trying to take advantage of them and I would step forward to speak out.
From that formative moment in the dealership at the age of sixteen to today, “speaking” out has been a recurring pattern in my life.
Pick any random article of the one hundred and twenty-five I have on Substack to see how this has unfolded.
When I learned that Fr. David Rosenberg was indicted in December of 2022 by the Attorney General of Michigan, my heart sank upon learning that the allegations allegedly targeted vulnerable adult priests, souls especially dear to my heart.
Per the Michigan Attorney General, Fr. Rosenberg:
…stands accused of embezzling or stealing approximately $772,824 from three priests and giving the stolen funds to his charitable foundation, FaithFirst, formerly the Rosenberg Family Corporation.
I certainly hope that none of this is true. Could it be a misunderstanding or worse yet a “rogue” prosecutor with a “passion” to protect?
Fr Rosenberg has plead not guilty and is presumed innocent. He will have ample opportunity to explain himself and defend his innocence if that is the case.
Yet I applaud the Attorney General for looking out for the vulnerable citizens of this State.
In her words:
Those entrusted with the care of vulnerable adults must be held accountable when they put their own interests above those of the individuals they are supposed to protect.
This is true whether it’s people with an official relationship, say a Vocation director and a seminarian, or unofficial, say a priest in relation to any Catholic or any brother priest.
We are all at minimum morally obligated never to harm anyone and to stand up and protect and speak up when circumstances demand it.
I did that.
In one article, dated December 2, 2022, and written by Lauren Shields of FOX 47, the attorney for the Diocese is quoted as saying.
We will be, over the next couple of days, discussing and deciding whether there’s anything further from the Diocesan end that we need to do, anything that we missed over the past few years.
This leads me to some questions. Those pesky questions that often draw irritation.
What was the result of this assessment?
Is there anything further the Diocese will be doing?
And more importantly, was anything “missed?”
These are critically important questions to ask.
When telling the public and thus the Church via a journalist that the diocese will be looking into it and seeing if anything was “missed,” the public will naturally and by right ask, what if anything has come of your self imposed assessment.
I don’t expect any answers. Their language is often silence when it comes to me. No follow up, no questions, no sought after information.
Perhaps others the Church takes seriously could make it a point to ask.
I would certainly be interested in their response.
Vulnerable and wounded souls whoever they are must be protected from any who may wish to do them harm.
I cannot think of a more pressing issue facing the Church today.
I will pray for the Church of Lansing, the families the priests left behind, Fr. Rosenberg and his family, and all those impacted.
May God have mercy on all of us.
(edited September 18, 2023)