A Wisconsin priest arrested last year for child enticement and attempted sexual assault is facing new charges of possessing child sex abuse material.
Father Andrew J. Showers of the Diocese of Madison was charged March 27 with two felony counts of possession of child pornography. The Waupaca County Jail confirmed to OSV News that Father Showers is not currently incarcerated there. According to court records, Father Showers is scheduled for an initial court appearance on the charges on April 14.
OSV News is awaiting a response from both the Waupaca County district attorney’s office and the priest’s attorney, named in court documents as Christopher Van Wagner, as to whether Father Showers is currently under any restrictions or monitoring pending his upcoming hearing.
The latest charges emerged from an investigation of the 38-year-old priest’s digital devices, which had been seized during his August 2025 arrest for attempting to meet up with a person he believed to be a 14-year-old girl named “Abby” — in reality, an undercover sergeant — following sexually explicit message and image exchanges on Reddit and Telegram.
In that incident, Father Showers — who had been director of the diocese’s Office of Worship and parochial vicar for Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Madison — was charged with child enticement, use of a computer to facilitate a child sex crime, and attempted second degree sexual assault of a child.
The charges, all felonies, carry maximum sentences of anywhere from 20 to 40 years, and fines ranging from $50,000 to $100,000. Court records show that Father Showers entered a plea of “not guilty” in that case on Sept. 30, 2025.
Currently, the 2025 charges and the newest charges are being prosecuted as separate cases, both of which are ongoing, according to court records.
The Waupaca County district attorney’s office advised OSV News at the time that a $10,000 bond “was posted right away,” and that Father Showers was free on bond until his initial court appearance Sept. 30.
In a March 27 statement, Bishop Donald J. Hying of Madison expressed his “profound sorrow” over the “deeply troubling” news of the additional charges, saying the diocese is “cooperating fully with the civil authorities.”
The bishop affirmed that “the restrictions placed on Fr. Showers last year remain in effect while the legal proceedings are ongoing.”
Bishop Hying stressed his “commitment to transparent and timely communication” about the case, noting that “the diocese is not involved in the proceedings or Fr. Showers’ legal defense.”
Last year, Bishop Hying and the diocese had clarified their responses to 2021 and 2024 complaints about Father Showers, which respectively involved a penitent-clergy exchange with a minor during confession and the alleged groping of an adult woman at a public event.
In an Aug. 27, 2025, message to the faithful, Bishop Hying noted that “a complaint about Fr. Showers was made to the diocese by a parent in December 2021,” in which “the parent expressed concern about pastoral questions which were asked of a male middle-school child during the Sacrament of Confession.”
Bishop Hying said the parent had reported those concerns to the Lodi, Wisconsin, police department, which determined after interviewing the father and child that “the incident did not rise to the level of a criminal act” and did therefore “not refer the matter further or pursue it with the diocese.”
Both the diocese and Bishop Hying had released respective statements on Sept. 5 and 6, 2025, regarding the alleged 2024 incident, which involved a young woman named Patricia Moriarty, who publicly identified herself as the victim during a Sept. 4, 2025, press conference.
Bishop Hying said in his statement at that time that it was “false to state that I or diocesan staff knew of abuse allegations against Fr. Showers and failed to act on information which had been received about him.”
The diocese said in its statement then that while he and the diocese had been in communication, Moriarty’s father John “would not share essential information with diocesan staff designated to handle allegations, including the name of the priest, the location where the alleged incident occurred, and/or which police department was investigating.
“Had we known that Fr. Showers was the priest in question behind the 2024 allegation, immediate action could and would have been taken,” said the diocese at the time.
In his most recent statement, Bishop Hying said that “any allegations of sexual misconduct against minors by priests, deacons, or other church personnel should immediately be brought to the attention of law enforcement officials, as well as the Diocese of Madison’s Sexual Misconduct Question and Reporting Line.”
He concluded by calling for prayer for “all those affected by this painful situation.
“May the Lord bring light, healing, and justice in the midst of this sorrow,” he said.
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