Trial Against Stockton Diocese Continues After Priest Flees Country

STOCKTON (AP) -- The civil lawsuit accusing a Central Valley priest of child abuse is continuing despite the fact that the priest has fled to his native Ireland.

The Diocese of Stockton learned this week that Michael Kelly left the country. A civil jury had found Kelly, a former priest in the diocese who had been the pastor at St. Joachim's Catholic Church in Lockeford since 2004, liable for the molestation of an altar boy who said he was abused by Kelly in the 1980s.

Kelly fled just as he was set to testify in the second phase of the trial to determine whether the diocese was also at fault.

The presiding judge told jurors on Wednesday that they would have to decide whether Kelly's absence was an attempt to limit evidence against the diocese.

The Record of Stockton reports that attorneys in the case have been allowed to present Kelly's deposition.

Kelly joined the Stockton Diocese in 1973 after coming to the United States from Ireland. He sent a letter to Bishop Bishop Stephen E. Blaire dated April 15 stating that the stress of the case had taken a massive toll on his health, forcing him to return to Ireland to be with family.