Former Shelby Township priest resentenced to 7-15 years in prison

By: Kara Szymanski | Shelby-Utica News | Published February 3, 2025

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SHELBY TOWNSHIP — Neil Kalina, 69, formerly of Shelby Township, was recently resentenced to seven to 15 years of incarceration for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old child in 1984.

His sentence includes an order for lifetime registration with Michigan’s Public Sex Offender Registry.

Kalina was a priest at St. Kiernan Catholic Church in Shelby Township from 1982 to 1985 and is currently incarcerated at the Cooper Street Correctional Facility in Jackson.

Kalina was convicted of two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct by a Macomb County jury in 2022 and sentenced to seven to 15 years in prison. The Michigan Court of Appeals affirmed his conviction last year, but it ordered resentencing due to an error during the initial sentencing. The Michigan Department of Attorney General said in a press release that the court determined that improper consideration had been given to acquitted conduct and that it affected how Kalina’s prison term was calculated.

After a four-day trial in Macomb County Circuit Court, a jury convicted Kalina of two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct for fondling a 14-year-old boy and having the boy fondle him in the rectory at St. Kieran in 1984.

Second-degree criminal sexual conduct carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.

Macomb County Circuit Court Judge Diane Druzinski in 2022 sentenced Kalina to seven to 15 years in prison with credit for 215 days served. The most serious charge against Kalina, first-degree criminal sexual conduct, involved a repressed memory of the victim, who is now in his 50s. The jury found Kalina not guilty of the charge.

Kalina was originally charged in 2019 and arrested in Littlerock, California. A complaint to the Archdiocese of Detroit in 2017 stated that, when he was pastor at St. Kieran in the mid-1980s, Kalina gave a 14-year-old boy alcohol, cocaine and marijuana and fondled him during sleepovers in the rectory. Kalina was convicted in 1986 on drug offenses and sentenced to six months in jail and two years of probation.

He then moved to California in 1986. He left active ministry in 1993 and then ran a faith-based service program for at-risk young men.

He was investigated in 2018 by the Michigan Department of Attorney General.

During the resentencing Jan. 9, Druzinski sentenced Kalina to seven to 15 years in prison with credit for 1,113 days served.

“While this case has been prolonged, I hope that after 40 years, the victim can find some solace knowing Mr. Kalina will continue to spend years behind bars for this heinous assault,” Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said in the press release. “My office remains committed to supporting sexual assault survivors and victims of clergy abuse and ensuring their perpetrators are held accountable.”

Kalina was one of 11 clergymen charged by the Michigan Department of Attorney General’s clergy abuse investigation team.

Kalina’s attorney, Zachary R. Glaza, declined to comment.

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