A Catholic priest who was removed Thursday from his Kansas parishes during an investigation of alleged sexual misconduct served in Lawrence until last year.

The Rev. Dennis Schmitz, who helped recruit college-age men as candidates for the priesthood for at least six years in Lawrence, was placed on indefinite leave, according to a statement from the Catholic Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kan.

“Issues of possible sexual impropriety have been raised in regard to Father Schmitz, and we believe that it is best for all parties that he be with his family,” Archbishop James Keleher said. “The archdiocese has reported the matter to the proper authorities at the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services in Topeka, which will be investigating. Until the SRS investigation is complete, we will not be able to comment further.”

Schmitz, 41, is pastor of St. Gregory’s Parish in Marysville and St. Malachy’s Parish in Beattie. In Lawrence from the mid-1990s until July 2001, he was the archdiocese’s vocation director, identifying and recruiting candidates for Catholic seminary.

“That’s one of the reasons (he) was located there. In recent years, most of our young men who go into the seminary are … in college. We find a lot of our vocations among college-age men,” said the Rev. Charles McGlinn, the archdiocese’s vicar general for priest personnel.

Campus residence

In Lawrence, McGlinn said, Schmitz lived in a house across the street from the St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center.

“The investigation may prove that that was where something possibly happened. We just don’t know,” he said. “We didn’t have any particular suspicions about where (misconduct) might have happened. That’s why we had to act, and let (SRS) conduct the investigation. We don’t have any hard-and-fast knowledge.”

St. Lawrence, located at 1631 Crescent Road, is the Catholic Church’s ministry to Kansas University. The Rev. Vince Krische is the center’s longtime director. He was unavailable for comment Thursday.

The SRS on Thursday morning took a report on Schmitz but turned the case over to law enforcement officers. That is typical when an alleged abuse case does not involve a child’s caretaker or relative, said spokeswoman Stacey Herman.

McGlinn said the case had been referred to the state because minors may have been involved.

“Because of our suspicions, we felt that we had to act immediately,” he said.

McGlinn said he did not know when the alleged incidents had occurred but said they were the first ever received against Schmitz.

Schmitz’s attorney, Stephen Mirakian, said he could not comment until he could review investigative findings. He said Schmitz had called him Wednesday night after finding out that a report had been made against him.

“Contacting an attorney in such cases is a prudent thing to do, regardless of the merits of the allegations,” Mirakian said.

‘A great guy’

Meanwhile, the archdiocese has named the Rev. Ray Burger pastor of Eudora’s Holy Family Parish to lead a special response, evaluation and review team to look at allegations of sexual misconduct that may have taken place within the archdiocese decades ago.

Burger, also vice chancellor of the archdiocese, said he was disturbed by the allegations against Schmitz.

“I’m sick. The phone’s been ringing; other priests have been calling. We’re all devastated by it,” Burger said. He said he doubted the Schmitz case would be handled by the new team because it already has been referred to SRS.

The Rev. Charles Polifka, pastor of St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, 1234 Ky., spoke highly of Schmitz.

“He’s energetic, a great guy. I have the highest regard for him,” Polifka said. “Dennis lived there (near St. Lawrence), and we had meetings, gatherings for priests of the region. They basically were to recruit and interview prospects who were interested in (the) priesthood.”

A native of Axtell, Schmitz attended Benedictine College in Atchison and was ordained in 1989. Other parishes where he has served include St. Ann’s in Prairie Village and Queen of the Holy Rosary in Overland Park.

In August 2000, Schmitz led a pilgrimage of 100 youths from the archdiocese to World Youth Day in Rome. He also founded The Runnin’ Revs, a basketball team consisting of archdiocesan priests that plays games against area youth teams.

The archdiocese also is investigating complaints about four other priests. McGlinn said two of the priests were dead and one was retired with no assignment in the diocese. All the allegations against the four date back from 30 to 40 years, McGlinn said.

The fourth priest being investigated is the Rev. Donald Redmond, a monk at St. Benedictine’s Abbey, who was removed about March 1 from Sacred Heart parish in Sabetha. One man alleged sexual misconduct by Redmond in Iowa, where Redmond served in the mid-1960s.

Other allegations were made by parishioners at Sts. Peter and Paul parish in Seneca, where Redmond was pastor from 1961 to 1964.