Timeline of defrocked priest Stephen Kiesle
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
1972: Ordained at St. Francis De Sales, Oakland.
1972-1975: Associate pastor at St. Joseph’s Church in Pinole.
1975-1978: Assigned to Our Lady of the Rosary in Union City.
August 1978: Kiesle is arrested and pleads no contest to lewd conduct, a misdemeanor, for tying up and molesting two boys. Sentenced to three years probation, record is later expunged.
1978-1981: Takes extended leave of absence, attends counseling and reports regularly to probation officer.
July 1981: Oakland Bishop John Cummins sends Kiesle’s file to the Vatican in support of the priest’s petition for laicization.
November 1981: Vatican asks for more information.
1982: Kiesle moves to Pinole.
February 1982: Cummins writes to Ratzinger providing additional information and warning of possible scandal if Kiesle is not defrocked.
September 1982: Oakland diocese official writes Ratzinger asking for update.
September 1983: Cummins visits Rome, discusses Kiesle case with Vatican officials.
December 1983: Vatican official writes Oakland to say Kiesle’s file can’t be found and they should resubmit materials.
January 1984: Cummins writes a Vatican official to inquire about status of Kiesle file.
1985: Kiesle volunteers as a youth minister at St. Joseph’s Church in Pinole.
September 1985: Cummins writes Ratzinger asking about status of Kiesle case.
November 1985: Ratzinger writes to Cummins about Kiesle case.
December 1985: A memo from diocese officials discusses writing to Ratzinger again to stress the risk of scandal if Kiesle’s case is delayed.
1987: Kiesle is defrocked.
2002: Kiesle is arrested and charged with 13 counts of child molestation; all but two are thrown out after U.S. Supreme Court ruling invalidates a California law extending statute of limitations.
2004: Kiesle pleads no contest to felony charge of molesting a young girl in 1995 at his Truckee vacation home.
2004: He is sentenced to six years in prison for the 1995 molestation.
2010: Registered as a sex offender living in Walnut Creek.
A 1985 letter signed by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, then-head of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, indicates he resisted defrocking a California priest who had a record of sexually molesting children.
Text of Letter from Future Pope Benedict Resisting Defrocking California Priest
Following is the text of a November 1985 letter in Latin signed by then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to Oakland Bishop John S. Cummins. It was translated for The Associated Press by Thomas Habinek, chairman of the University of Southern California Classics Department.
Most Excellent Bishop
Having received your letter of September 13 of this year, regarding the matter of the removal from all priestly burdens pertaining to Rev. Stephen Miller Kiesle in your diocese, it is my duty to share with you the following:
This court, although it regards the arguments presented in favor of removal in this case to be of grave significance, nevertheless deems it necessary to consider the good of the Universal Church together with that of the petitioner, and it is also unable to make light of the detriment that granting the dispensation can provoke with the community of Christ's faithful, particularly regarding the young age of the petitioner.
It is necessary for this Congregation to submit incidents of this sort to very careful consideration, which necessitates a longer period of time.
In the meantime your Excellency must not fail to provide the petitioner with as much paternal care as possible and in addition to explain to same the rationale of this court, which is accustomed to proceed keeping the common good especially before its eyes.
Let me take this occasion to convey sentiments of the highest regard always to you.
Your most Reverend Excellency
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger