Toledo priest credibly accused of sexual abuse; diocese removes his name from building

THE BLADE/JEREMY WADSWORTH

The report lists diocesan clerics who have been placed on administrative leave or removed from ministry as a result of an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor, as well as those who have been credibly accused after their deaths.

According to the diocese’s Sunday announcement, the alleged abuse took place more than 65 years ago. Monsignor Doyle died in 1987.

Monsignor Doyle served as an active priest of the diocese from 1925 to 1977. He was associate pastor at St. Ann Parish in Fremont in 1925 and St. Peter Parish in Mansfield from 1925 to 1930. He was assistant director of Catholic Charities from 1932 to 1946. His activity between 1930 and 1932 is not included on a list of his assignments.

The priest served as chaplain of Saint Anthony Villa, a former orphanage in Toledo, from 1935 until his retirement in 1977. He continued to reside at the orphanage until 1980.

The diocesan Pastoral Center in downtown was named for him — Monsignor Doyle Hall — in 2002, according to the diocese. His name has now been removed from the building.

Advocates with the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests had been urging the diocese to remove the sign since a 2002 settlement with a woman who alleged she was abused as a child by Monsignor Doyle.

“While it’s a step in the right direction, getting the sign down, it never should have taken over two decades,” said Claudia Vercellotti, a local leader with SNAP. “It negates the victim they settled with in ’02.”

“When you pay a settlement, it is a passive acknowledgement of wrongdoing,” she said. “And to leave that [sign] up, to walk into that building the entire time and have it adorned ‘Monsignor Doyle’ ... it’s unconscionable.”

The diocese told The Blade in 2020 that “resolution of a civil case does not constitute an admission of liability.”

Despite the 2002 settlement, the diocese’s news release said a first allegation was made against Monsignor Doyle in 2020. The independent diocesan review board had determined there was not enough information to substantiate the allegation.

“At that time Bishop [Daniel] Thomas had insisted upon the additional review even of allegations made against deceased priests who had died prior to an allegation being reported,” according to the release.

Ms. Vercellotti criticized the diocese’s handling of the news about Monsignor Doyle being credibly accused.

Ms. Vercellotti said the victim from the earlier settlement had been at the West Toledo orphanage, which closed in 1984.

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