Prosecutors charged Showers Aug. 27 with attempted second-degree sexual assault of a child, attempted child enticement and attempted use of a computer to facilitate a child sex crime.
The criminal complaint against Showers, 37, says he sent sexually explicit online messages and traveled to Waupaca County to meet someone he believed to be a 14-year-old girl to have sex with her, unaware he was actually corresponding with a Clintonville police officer.
The Diocese of Madison said it learned of the arrest Aug. 25 and restricted Showers from ministry while the investigation is ongoing. The diocese initially said it had not previously received any allegations of misconduct connected to Showers, who was ordained in 2017.
But the diocese then acknowledged on Aug. 27 that Showers had been the subject of a previous complaint.
"I need to share with you that an ongoing review of diocesan files, email messages, and phone records revealed that a complaint about Fr. Showers was made to the diocese by a parent in December 2021," Madison Bishop Donald J. Hying wrote in a letter to members of the diocese. "The parent expressed concern about pastoral questions which were asked of a male middle-school child during the Sacrament of Confession."
A Lodi Police Department incident report shows a father reported Showers for "inappropriate questions the priest asked his son during confession" at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Lodi.
The father said that, during confession, Showers began to ask his son "about masturbation and if he was viewing pornography," and that "his son was very uncomfortable about this and reported it" immediately after leaving the church.
The father also told Lodi police that he had contacted the church and diocese officials, who "explained that many times the Priest will prompt persons during confession about sins that are natural for that age group, and they believed this is what Rev. Showers had done."
Lodi police determined "the incident did not seem to rise to the level of a criminal act but appeared to be more a question of appropriateness."
The incident report said that police would wait to see what the church investigation revealed before interviewing Showers.
Hying's letter noted that police determined "the incident did not rise to the level of a criminal act."
"I apologize that this parental complaint was not included in our initial communication," he wrote.
Hying later added, "I continue to ask for your prayers for everyone involved in this situation."
The Diocese of Madison said allegations of sexual misconduct always should be brought to law enforcement, and allegations involving priests, deacons or other church personnel should also be reported to the diocese's sexual misconduct question and reporting line, at 608-821-3162, regardless of when they are said to have occurred.
Showers had the following assignments, according to the diocese:
Director of diocesan office of worship, 2024 to present.
Parochial vicar for a grouping known as Pastorate 22 or Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, which collectively includes two churches, St. Raphael and Good Shepherd, and one school, St. James, all in Madison, 2023 to present.
Priest in residence at All Saints in Berlin and Our Lady of the Lake in Green Lake, 2022 to 2023.
Provided Spanish Mass assistance at St. John the Baptist in Waunakee, 2022.
Pastor of St. Stephen in Clinton, 2020 to 2022.
Parochial vicar for St. Paul's Catholic Student Center, which serves UW-Madison students, 2018 to 2020.
Parochial vicar of St. Cecilia in Wisconsin Dells, summer of 2017.