KENOSHA COUNTY, Wis. — I was born and raised Catholic. I went to Catholic school from kindergarten through 12th grade. I chose to raise my children in the Church too. When I moved to Kenosha in 2006, I became a parishioner at St. Therese. I trusted my kids’ spiritual lives to that parish—until the priest who baptized them was arrested for sexually harassing at least two teenage girls.
His name was Father Michael Nowak. He called a 17-year-old girl, a parishioner, and told her to wear a “low-cut shirt to show off your cha-chas” for a Valentine’s dinner. To a 14-year-old girl, he said—twice—that he wanted to perform a graphic sex act. That’s not hearsay—it’s in a sworn criminal complaint. He pleaded no contest and served just 60 days in jail. Two months. That’s all.
Now, more than a decade later, some Kenosha priests are back in the headlines—not for abuse, but for defending it.
St. Mary’s and St. Mark’s parishes were publicly rebuked in 2023 by the Milwaukee Archdiocese for supporting the far-left political group C.U.S.H., which champions causes like abortion and gender ideology—issues wholly incompatible with Catholic teaching. That story sparked national outrage.
Now Father Sean Granger has joined the list, bringing his parishes—St. James and St. Elizabeth—with him. He, along with other local clergy and staff, wrote letters asking a judge for leniency for Christian Enwright, a convicted child-groomer who used his role as a teacher to manipulate and abuse a young student.
Once again, the Archdiocese had to step in and issue a rebuke.
This isn’t complicated. The Church should be the loudest voice in the room when a child is harmed—especially when the harm is committed by someone in power. But instead, the response from Kenosha County’s Catholic clergy has been cowardly silence.
Last week, I reached out to every Catholic church in the county. I gave each pastor and deacon the opportunity to speak up, to make clear whether they stood with the victim or with their rogue colleagues. I explained the situation clearly and cited scripture:
“Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.” — Ephesians 5:11
“If anyone causes one of these little ones… to stumble, it would be better for them to have a millstone hung around their neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea.” — Matthew 18:6
“Whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” — James 4:17
I told them my deadline was Thursday, yesterday.
Meanwhile, a 15-year-old girl—someone who was in Enwright’s class and was close to the victim—did find the courage to speak up. She wrote a powerful letter to the court. A hand-written letter on a page from her school notebook. The contents of which were shared with KCE from the family. Here’s just part of what she said:
“What happened to my friend was not an accident. It was something Mr. Enwright built up to carefully… He used trust as a weapon and his position as a teacher to trap a kid in something they were too young to understand… I’ve seen the damage up close. My friend isn’t the same person anymore… What he did was evil, and it should be treated that way.”
That young woman showed more strength, more clarity, and more moral leadership than all the clergy in Kenosha County.
Here are the churches we contacted—and their responses:
– St. Mary’s – No comment
– St. James – No comment
– St. Elizabeth – No comment
– St. Peter – No comment
– Our Lady of the Holy Rosary – No comment
– St. Therese – No comment
– Our Lady of Mount Carmel – No comment
– St. Anne (my parish) – No comment
– St. Francis Xavier – No comment
– St. John the Baptist – No comment
– St. Mary of the Assumption – No comment
– St. Robert Bellarmine – No comment
– St. John’s – No comment
Even my own priest, Father Bob—who I’ve always known as a conservative and principled leader—remained silent. Why? Are they not allowed to speak? Are they afraid? Or do they secretly agree with what these rogue priests are doing?
That’s the most troubling possibility of all.
The Church is at a crossroads. Again. But this time, it’s not just the abusers—it’s the silence. The silence that lets evil thrive. The silence that once shuffled predators from parish to parish. The silence that once shattered thousands of lives.
And now, here in Kenosha County, that same silence has returned.
The next time a Catholic priest tells you the Church has changed, ask them why a teenage girl had to be the only one to speak up.
17 Responses
I was also born & raised a Catholic. My family still belongs to the same parish we have attended for 5 generations, although it is in Racine County. I don’t attend any of these parishes (aside from homeschooling events at one of them), so I don’t really have a horse in this race.
As much as I would like to read that the priests from the parishes above (many are combined, so there aren’t as many priests as there are parishes listed above) would be willing to publicly speak out against the situation, if they haven’t dug deep into the situation; if they don’t feel well-informed, it’s better that they remain silent about it than speak out one way or the other and have their words potentially misconstrued by their parishioners, or even worse, by area prots who are looking for any reason to attack Catholics.
There’s also the possibility that the Archdiocese has told them to remain silent, since Fr. Reesman made a public statement.
Exactly!!
None of this is new. Have we forgotten about Geoghan?
There isn’t an abundance of Catholic priests, which is why so many parishes are merging and closing, and why the Milwaukee Archdiocese is implementing the Pastorate setup like Madison has. There are more good priests than bad, but if we villainize them for their silence, when silence is likely the best move (at this point), we may have no Priests.
St. Anne’s has been fortunate to have a good and holy priest, Fr. Bob, for a very long time. Articles such as this can inadvertently make things like that change.
That young girl is an amazing person and a wonderful friend. She is brave and courageous. The world needs more people like her. May God bless her, her friend and their families.
I don’t understand why you bring 2 parishes into the subject matter in your article regarding priests/teachers sexual abuse when they were not involved at all, but seems that you want to give more credence to your attempt to “rally the troops!” Everyone is horrified by the victimization of a child!!! All Catholic Churches teach the Ten Commandments whether their pastors, Deacons and other representatives of the Church and Schools uphold them so why do they need to sign a document that states that they don’t approve? Yes the 15 year old is a terrific role model!! I am just not sure why you need to call out and somehow connect all the Churches to the sins of a few. BTW I went to catholic schools, my kids also did for the majority of their education and I worked in a Milwaukee Parish School so am well versed on Catholic teachings.
Because they defended Enright, you dolt!
I respectfully disagree. Any letter written is assumed to be a letter asking for leniency. What else would he write the letter for?
The reason being is because of the past years and all of the sexual predators of priests that never spent any prison time. They Just get shipped across the country to a different church and guess what They’re going to do there? Once you are a child molester, you cannot be fixed! It’s a proven fact. So that means the catholic church is full of hypocrisy. I myself went to a catholic church and was friends with more than one victim. At that time, there were more than one victims and more than one church. People have a hard time forgetting especially when it involves children
and the lifetime effects it has.
I LIKE IT! That Mathew verse ! We have a sea here in Ktown — “lake” Michigan ….. and we can make some millstones I guess , right!? Wouldn’t wanna waste some nice antique ones
This is incredibly disheartening. It seems as if this young lady is being repeatedly abused because the very people who are supposed to defend her, support her and comfort her are strangely silent, with some defending the criminal. Enright needs a LONG sentence, not another little slap on the wrist.
We have many good priests in the Kenosha area. It’s very possible that the Archdiocese has told the Kenosha priests to remain silent, since Fr. Reesman made a public statement. Thank you Archdiocese for speaking out.
Kind of disappointed, kind of understand… A priests job is to teach about God’s mercy, among many other things. No one said they are defending or condoning what Enwright did, no one is hiding him like the Catholic scandals in the past. Fr Sean is my priest and I trust him very much. I believe that asking for leniency (or mercy) is *exactly what a priest would/should do. We do not know what all these priests are thinking, but asking for mercy is a very common thing from priests and has happened as far back as I can remember. But I also get the disappointment.
Kevin can I ask if the letters were made public, did you get this info from a source or can anyone read these letters sent by the priests.
SORRY, lol I found the letters, I don’t know how I missed them, I get your emails every day. Wish we could edit these comments.
That letter from Fr Sean is not at all what some of you make it out to be…now that I have read it, (as mentioned above, I didn’t know where to find them at first) I would like to rephrase what I said above. He doesn’t even ask for leniency!
What are you people talking about? It’s a character reference., like you ask for when you get a new job. Here I thought I was disappointed in my own priest, and now I see, I’m the one with the problem. Should have never trusted what I read, and found out for myself before commenting…lesson learned.
I respectfully disagree. Any letter written is assumed to be a letter asking for leniency. What else would he write the letter for?
I understand what you are saying, I’m saying some people here are saying these letters were defending what he did. I guess what I am saying is, that that specific letter, to me, was not what I thought it was going to be after I read some of the comments. I think letters are written in favor to someone that has asked for the letter.
Sadly I have had relatives that have been in jail and there’s always people that will write letters. I don’t even think judges pay much attention to them, lol. Unless like someone else said, there was pertinent information.
But also, we can just agree to disagree, I don’t see some of the letters as asking for leniency. Fr Sean’s letter actually said no such thing. I will say I think there is a blurry line when it comes to a priest making a decision on whether or not to write a letter for leniency, like I said, it is their job, after all. But here, I don’t see that as the request. That’s just my opinion though, I understand the disappointment from some.