Dale Joseph Melczek

Dale Joseph Melczek (November 9, 1938 – August 25, 2022) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit in Michigan from 1982 to 1992 and as bishop of the Diocese of Gary in Indiana from 1996 until 2014.

Biography

Early years Dale Melczek was born on November 9, 1938, in Detroit, Michigan. He first studied at St. Mary's College in Orchard Lake Village, Michigan. He then attended St. John's Provincial Seminary in Plymouth, Michigan, where he received a Master of Divinity degree. Melczek earned a Master of Education degree from the University of Detroit, and did his postgraduate work at the University of Notre Dame n Indiana After his ordination, the archdiocese assigned Melczek as associate pastor at St. Sylvester Parish in Warren, Michigan, serving there for the next six years. In 1970, he was named as co-pastor of St. Christine Parish in Detroit, becoming pastor in 1972. He also started serving as vicar of the West Detroit Vicariate in 1973. Also in 2003, Melczek removed Monsignor Don Grass from ministry after he admitted sexually abusing a minor. It happened while Grass was assigned to Cathedral of the Holy Angels Parish in Gary during the late 1960s.

In 2005, Melczek and the Diocese of Gary were named in a lawsuit by an Orlando man. The plaintiff stated that Emerson had sexually abused him as a minor during the late 1980s and early 1990s when Emerson was posted at St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Orlando. The lawsuit claimed that the diocese and Melczek ignored earlier sexual abuse allegations against Emerson during his first stay in Indiana. At his request, Emerson was removed from the priesthood in 2006.

Retirement On November 9, 2013, Melczek turned 75, the age at which bishops must submit their resignations to the pope. On November 24, 2014, Pope Francis accepted Melczek's resignation, replacing him with Auxiliary Bishop Donald J. Hying. He died in Crown Point, Indiana, on August 25, 2022.