A former Canton and Westland priest’s third-degree criminal sexual conduct trial began Wednesday in downtown Detroit.

Patrick Casey, 56, faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of the felony charge.

“This case turns on one word (and) that is coercion,” prosecuting attorney Danielle Joyce Hagaman-Clark said during opening statements. “You’re going to hear a case about the abuse of power, the abuse of position and the abuse of authority.

Ordained in 1997, Casey is accused of engaging in sexual acts, including oral sex, with a man in his 20s at the former St. Theodore of Canterbury Church in Westland.

Casey’s alleged crimes apparently were committed in January 2013, about five months after he moved to the Westland church from St. Thomas A Becket Catholic parish in Canton.

An affidavit stated that Casey’s victim was a man who sought spiritual guidance from the priest. Their sexual encounter in Casey’s church office followed, by several weeks, the man’s unsuccessful suicide attempt. The man had wrapped a cord around his neck.

“(He) was struggling with a lot of issues,” Hagaman-Clark said. “He had some significant mental health issues, including an obsessive compulsive disorder, and high – very high – anxiety. He will tell you that he was struggling with his own faith and his own reality that he lived in being a gay man.”

Hagaman-Clark said the man was born and raised as a Lutheran but strayed from those religious tenets. Concerned about what would happen to him and his faith, he reached out to Casey.

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They exchanged emails about moral, theological and spiritual issues, and eventually the man wanted to become a Catholic. Simultaneously, he was struggling with Catholic doctrine frowning on same-sex relationships.

He ended a six-year relationship with another man and, telling Casey about the breakup, asked to meet with the priest. The man had been struggling with chastity, lustful thoughts for men and concerns about eternal damnation and wanted to confess to a priest.

Another priest had denied this request because the man was not a full-fledged Catholic. Casey agreed to meet on Jan. 17, 2013.

“What does that defendant do, in that position of authority?” Hagaman-Clark asked. “Does he turn him away? No. He doesn’t. He performs a sex act on this kid who has said ‘I have to live a chaste life.' The defendant uses that to his own advantage by manipulating this young man into a sex act.”

Defense attorney Stephen Rabaut acknowledged the friendship between the priest and young man in early 2012. He said they met about every three weeks, but always because the young man “brought about” the meetings.

Rabaut classified their relationship as more friendly than spiritual; their sexual encounter, consensual.

“Early on in the relationship, (he) told Patrick Casey that he was gay,” Rabaut told the jury. “Eventually, the conversations between the two of them became more sexualized. Ultimately, in January of 2013, they are together. A sexual encounter occurs between the two. Basically, they end up performing oral sex on one another.”

The young man wanted “the sexual relationship to go farther.” The priest refused.

“Please don’t jump to conclusions after the first witness or the second witness,” Rabaut said.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel named Casey as one of five former priests charged with 21 counts of criminal sexual conduct in May.

His jury will be a panel of 14: six men and eight women. Two will be dismissed for the deliberations.

According to the affidavit, Catholic Church officials heard from the young man several years later. The Archdiocese of Detroit conducted a formal investigation and interview with Casey, where Casey admitted to the sexual acts.

Officials recommended Casey’s dismissal from the clerical state, and the Archdiocese agreed on Aug. 1, 2018. They said Casey “took advantage of someone who was vulnerable.”

Contact Susan Vela at svela@hometownlife.com or 248-303-8432. Follow her on Twitter @susanvela.