#Accountability – In an open letter titled “We Followed the System — An Open Letter to Archbishop Edward Weisenburger”, published on March 31, 2026, the Archdiocese of Detroit (under then-Archbishop Allen Vigneron) was accused of improperly investigating and resolving a complaint in which pornography and hookup sites were found on multiple parish computers in 2019-2020.
Melissa and Justin Enfield wrote the letter to the archbishop after previously sending the letter privately, but received no response. Justin served as Youth Minister and Web Coordinator at St. Joseph Parish in South Lyon, Michigan in the diocese. The letter responds directly to the Archbishop’s March 11, 2026, pastoral message titled “Rebuilding Trust,” which emphasized transparency, accountability, and reform regarding clergy abuse and safeguarding.
In 2019, while working at the parish, Justin discovered explicit sexual material on multiple parish-owned computers. This included pornographic images and stored credentials for sexual “hookup” websites. He immediately documented the findings and reported them to parish leadership. However, when human resources contacted Justin, he was advised to delete the evidence before it could be further investigated. Monsignor Michael Bugarin (Delegate for Clergy Misconduct) handled the investigation. However, after a year long delay, once the computers were accessed again for evidence collection, they were found to have been wiped. Despite providing witnesses for the archdiocese to interview, no witnesses were interviewed. Justin was also cut-off from both his work e-mails and files during the investigation process, limiting his access to documentation. At the end of the investigation, no conclusion was provided nor clarity on the investigation process and results.
In February 2025, Archbishop Allen Vigneron retired from the diocese and Archbishop Edward Joseph Weisenburger was appointed to replace him. Although the issue that Justin Enfield had discovered in 2019 had occurred almost five years ago, when the new archbishop released a pastoral message on March 11, 2026, titled “Rebuilding Trust”, the Enfields saw this as a potential new opportunity under fresh leadership, and so they privately reached out for that accountability, but were ignored. After two weeks, the Enfields then decided to publish their open letter in hopes of finally seeing justice.
As of early April 2026, the Archdiocese has not issued a public statement specifically addressing this letter or the 2019–2020 complaint. This controversy marks the second for the Archdiocese of Detroit in the current calendar year as earlier in February 2026, the archdiocese was under scrutiny for dismissing a manager due to their expression of anti-Zionist beliefs. White Wolf has reached out to the archdiocese for further comment, but have not received a response as of yet.
The letter by Melissa and Justin Enfield can be found here.
Image: The Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament, the seat of the Archbishop of Detroit.
