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Father Jerome Kaywell, pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Punta Gorda, Florida, has been restored to his ministry after his accuser retracted the allegation of sexual misconduct (2013-4). Bishop Frank J. Dewane of Venice, Florida, wrote a letter to parishioners.
The bishop explained that Fr. Kaywell “has been returned to ministry, effective immediately” and his “good name … restored,” said Bishop Frank J. Dewane of Venice, Florida, in a March 14th letter to parishioners.
Father Kaywell was placed on administrative leave in January following reception of a notice to the diocese from a law firm that the popular priest had allegedly engaged in misconduct “with someone who was a minor at the time … in the Winter of 2013/2014.”
Father Kaywell had maintained his innocence, and in accord with diocesan safe environment policy there was a notification of the State Attorney’s office and the involvement of an independent investigator.
On February 13th the diocese was contacted by the accuser’s attorneys that “the alleged victim withdrew his allegation, and an apology was written by the accuser declaring it was a false memory,” according to Bishop Dewane's letter.
The diocesan review board, examined the investigatory report and all the evidence and unanimously decided that there was no evidence to support the allegation, noted the bishop. “The Diocesan Review Board recommended that Father Kaywell be returned to ministry. I have accepted their recommendation.”
At 17, Kaywell joined a Franciscan monastery. Five years later, he left the religious environment and spent 12 years experiencing pursuing a musical career. It was after releasing his first album in 1975 while he was still a seminary musical director, that he left religious life to perform in a band with his brother and later moved to California, where he was involved in youth ministry and professional songwriting for advertising and television for more than a decade.
"I had always intended to return" to the religious life, Kaywell said. In 1984, Kaywell left Hollywood. After five months of soul-searching, he knew God was calling him to the priesthood. A life-threatening battle with stage four lymphoma prevented him twice. In 1985 he was involved in the Grammy-winning gospel album “Let My People Go” with The Winans. When all treatment options were exhausted and he was given three months to live, Kaywell became a protocol patient at Stanford University. With his cancer in remission, he resumed his priesthood studies in 1989 and was ordained in 1991. In 1991, after earning a master's degree in theology and another in divinity, he was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest. Two years later, Father Kaywell began producing benefit concerts and touring with his music. He served as an associate priest at churches in Fort Myers and Naples before being assigned, in January 2004, to Sacred Heart in Punta Gorda -- a church of about 2,400 families.
https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/2007/11/10/music-and-faith-drive-life-of-priest/28589751007/ and OSV News
Image Youtube Screenshot of album cover titled "Very Jerry: Intimate self-revealing songs" by Father Jerome Kaywell, pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Punta Gorda, Florida.
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