Priest who filed defamation lawsuit against Bishop Olson, Fort Worth diocese drops case
A priest who accused Bishop Michael Olson of defamation dropped his lawsuit against Olson and the Diocese of Fort Worth on Monday evening.
The Rev. Richard Kirkham filed the lawsuit in June 2019, exactly a year after Bishop Michael Olson had asked him to resign because Kirkham had knowledge of a sexual affair between a priest and an employee of the Diocese of Dallas that he didn’t report.
The basis of the lawsuit included comments Olson made to parishioners as St. Martin de Porres and to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in the days and weeks following Kirkham’s resignation. Kirkham and his attorney argued that the bishop implied that Kirkham’s removal was because he was dangerous to minors and the vulnerable.
In a August 2018 interview with the newspaper, Olson said his request for Kirkham to resign shows that he’s committed to maintaining a safe environment for minors, the vulnerable, members of the clergy and employees of the church. He later said that he was careful in how he worded his address so that people wouldn’t think the allegations had to do with a crime.
Olson acknowledged in the dismissal that he did not ask Kirkham to resign because of failure to report the sexual abuse of a child or that there were any allegations of abuse against Kirkham.
Kirkham admitted in a Jan. 7 deposition that he recognized the relationship between the Dallas-area priest and a church employee as abuse against a vulnerable person and that he never planned to make an official report.
He left the diocese after writing that he was “reluctantly” resigning. He later retained an attorney and moved to rescind his resignation. Olson declined to reinstate the priest. Kirkham has appealed his resignation with the Vatican.
The Jan. 7 deposition also uncovered an email that Kirkham sent to a parishioner in which he wrote, “call ya brother and have him call out a hit. Easy target.”
Asked what he meant by that comment, Kirkham said it was a joke because the email recipient was supposedly related to someone in the Kansas City mob.
Kirkham said he didn’t know for sure about any mob connections but that it was “always a joke in the family.” He denied that the joke was about killing Olson and said that it was about breaking knees.
“Father Kirkham’s defamation lawsuit was completely baseless, and there was no merit to it whatsoever,” Olson’s attorney, Michael Anderson said in a press release. “It is no surprise that Father Kirkham voluntarily dismissed his defamation lawsuit soon after his deposition and roughly a week before the court was set to hear arguments on why Father Kirkham’s lawsuit should be dismissed. Father Kirkham’s deposition testimony revealed, unequivocally, that there was no basis in law or in fact to his allegations against Bishop Olson and the Diocese.”
A second lawsuit filed by Kirkham in an attempt to maintain residence at the rectory at St. Martin de Porres was also dismissed.
In the year and a half since the resignation, about 1,500 parishioners who represent 20 parishes petitioned to the Vatican to remove Olson. Though Kirkham’s resignation from St. Martin de Porres in Prosper is a small part of the reason they seek Olson’s removal, Kirkham leaving is what sparked the group to step up.
An official petition was sent to the Vatican in November and the group’s Canon lawyer says he is awaiting a response from the Vatican.
This story was originally published January 28, 2020 at 12:17 PM.
