The priest of the Archdiocese of Vilnius, accused of eight years of rape, denies his guilt

“This case is about a priest who currently lives and serves in the Archdiocese of Vilnius, is a priest in the Diocese of Telšiai, and a possible crime took place in Detroit, Michigan, United States,” said Vilnius Archbishop Gintaras Grušas, at the press conference.

According to him, no police action has been taken against the priest, but his service in the archdiocese has been suspended. The last appointment of A. Volskis to the Archdiocese of Vilnius ended on February 14, 2019. Recently, a priest was allowed to serve at the Sanctuary of God’s Mercy without an official appointment.

According to G. Grušas, the first “tip” about a possible crime in the United States was received by the Archdiocese of Vilnius on Thursday, and was announced in the press on Friday.

“This is a trial that began these days in Michigan, Detroit, the defendants are a parish, a Catholic school, the Archdiocese of Detroit and the Archbishop of Detroit, but in the record that charge is for a possible crime of Father Aloyz Volski, when he served there, “before a minor,” the archbishop said.

He explained that the incident, in which an eight-year-old boy could have been affected, occurred in 2010.

“The charge is drug suppression rape, and until yesterday we had no knowledge of this possible crime. It is alleged that the incident occurred in 2010, the first report that the Archdiocese of Detroit had about a possible crime was in 2018, “said G. Grušas.

According to the Archbishop of Vilnius, the accusation was made by the young man himself. The case was referred to US law enforcement for investigation. Information is available that in 2019 information on the case was passed to the state prosecutor’s office. According to G. Grušas, the Archdiocese of Vilnius has no information about the investigation or its subsequent course.

The archbishop claims that after meeting with A. Volskis, the latter is now abstaining from active duty.

“Today I met with the priest A. Volskis. He denies that this happened and affirms that never in his life have there been such crimes with minors. He is currently retired from all active priestly ministry until all investigations and trials are completed. This is purely our procedure, “said G. Grušas.

He said the archdiocese had no information in either Vilnius or the Telšiai diocese that there had been charges against priest A. Volskis for such crimes. Mr. Gruš reiterated that the priest did not even participate in the trial as a defendant: “the family process is against the archdiocese (Detroit – BNS)”.

According to the archbishop, A. Volskis has worked in Lithuanian parishes in Los Angeles, USA, Detroit and Montreal, Canada. In 2014, he returned to Lithuania, served in two parishes in Vilnius and was fired as of February 2019: he had “health problems” and continued to live in Vilnius.