LINCOLN, Nebraska — The longtime pastor of the Newman Center on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln made “occasional” sexual advances to students and seminarians, the Catholic Diocese of Lincoln announced Wednesday.
Monsignor Leonard Kalin, who died in 2008, led the Newman Center from 1970 to 1998.
The report said the leadership of the diocese was aware of the socializing, frequent trips to casinos, alcohol and cigarette use by Kalin but said evidence did not support allegations that church leaders knew of sexual impropriety by the priest, The Omaha World-Herald reported.
The diocese began investigating Kalin’s conduct in April 2018 after two former seminarians alleged in that he had made sexual advances toward them in 1998.
In a letter to church members Wednesday, Archbishop George Lucas of Omaha — Bishop James Conley of Lincoln is on medical leave — said the investigation by an independent private investigator focused on Kalin’s leadership style and the culture he promoted at the Newman Center.
“The investigation did not find there was a culture of homosexuality at the Newman Center,” Lucas’s letter said. “The investigation did reveal that Msgr. Kalin did on occasion make sexual advances toward some seminarians and college students.”
In April 2019, the diocese released names of nine former priests — three of them now dead — facing substantiated allegations that they sexually abused minors.
