Catholic Bishop of Saginaw responds to the MI AG’s Report on Abuse in the Diocese: Abuse Survivors Coalition Weighs in

For Immediate Release: June 26, 2026

Yesterday, Michigan Attorney General (AG) Dana Nessel released a report detailing accusations of sexual abuse and misconduct within the Catholic Diocese of Saginaw. Bishop Robert D. Gruss held a press conference in response to the report. After watching this press conference and reading the Bishop’s letter, the Abuse Survivors Coalition (ASC) weighed in on his comments.

Bishop Gruss opined, “It's clear that the Catholic Church in the United States has made significant progress over the last 20-plus years in putting safeguards in place to protect children, young people, and vulnerable adults." However, as ASC MI contact, Terry Steubenville, pointed out, “There is a difference between ‘feeling’ that the Church has become safer since 2002, and the Church actually being safer.”

To bolster his position, the Bishop noted that most of the cases in the AG’s report were old, primarily from the 1970s and the 1980s. However, the ASC countered with the fact that delayed disclosure of childhood sexual abuse is the rule, rather than the exception. In fact, studies suggest that more survivors first disclose between the ages of 50-70 than at any other age. What that means in practical terms is that it may well take another 40-50 years for boys and girls sexually assaulted since 2002 to come forward and report. Until then, it cannot be confirmed that the incidence of clergy assaulting children has actually decreased, and the ASC doubted that it was.

The survivors' group conceded that reforms have been instituted in Catholic dioceses across the United States, and that these changes may be helpful. However, the advocates also noted that very little has been done to address the systemic problem of bishops and other Church officials covering up the sexual abuse of boys and girls. The ASC believes that until powerful prelates are prosecuted by law enforcement or disciplined by the Vatican, true change is not possible.

The Bishop’s words ignored the systemic problem and minimized what occurred during the time period covered in the report. For example, Bishop Gruss apologized for the trust that has been broken by the “misconduct of a few.” But childhood sexual abuse by clergy is not “misconduct.” It is serious criminal behavior resulting in life-long damage to the victims. Moreover, the Bishop completely ignored the issue of highly placed Catholic officials who allowed identified abusers to remain in ministry and harm additional young lives.

Bishop Gruss emphasized that the report only identified 38 clerics out of 680 in total as perpetrators. This would yield a rate of abuse of only 5.6%. Yet, researcher and psychotherapist A.W. Richard Sipe, a former Benedictine priest who became a leading expert on sexual abuse among the clergy, concluded in his research that the rate was closer to 9%.

The Bishop provided no explanation as to why his Diocese would have such a small percentage of clergymen who sexually abused boys and girls. Instead, he attempted to whittle the 5.6% down, mentioning “that not all allegations written into the AG report could be established as credible because they could not be fully investigated.” Yet even the 2004 John Jay study of the sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy found only 1.5 of the accusations to be false.

Bishop Gruss also took issue with the inclusion of “information about scandalous behavior between consenting adults.” Yet researchers stress that “any sexual contact between a clergy member and a congregant is inherently abusive due to the immense power differential.”

Despite Bishop Gruss attempts to ignore the systemic problem and to minimize what he was willing to admit, ASC contacts and advocates like Terry Steubenville recognized that 30% of childhood sexual abuse victims never come forward. Moreover, since false accusations of childhood sexual abuse are extremely rare, the ASC maintained that when survivors speak up, the sensible presumption is that they are telling the truth.

The ASC urged anyone who experienced abuse in the Diocese of Saginaw to speak up. It is not too late! Information can be shared with the AG's office by calling the investigation hotline at 844-324-3374 or by emailing aginvestigations@michigan.gov.

Do not suffer alone and in silence! Not ready to talk to the AG? Tell trusted family and friends, a trained therapist, or groups that provide trauma-informed support, like the ASC. There are people who will believe and support you.

CONTACT: Terry Steubenville, ASC MI Contact (survivorsmidwest@gmail.com, 574-360-8003), Susan Vance, ASC Operations Team, ASC TN Contact(Susan8324@gmail.com, 865-748-3518)

(The Abuse Survivors Coalition is a survivor-led, peer-run organization dedicated to supporting individuals affected by abuse and advocating for accountability within institutions where abuse has occurred. ASC is informed by decades of collective experience in survivor support, advocacy, and public education. The organization focuses on facilitating peer support, sharing information about available survivor resources, and engaging in advocacy efforts centered on survivor-led principles. Survivors remain the central priority of the ASC’s work. Our website is: www.ascoalition.org)