Rev. Alfred J. Kunz

by Leon J. Podles

Published by the Crossland Foundation, September 1, 2008
© Copyright, Crossland Foundation, 2008

The Rev. Alfred J. Kunz, from a Swiss and German background, was born in Dodgeville in
rural Wisconsin in 1930. He grew up in Fennimore and his family owned a nearby cheese factory. He attended seminary at Pontifical College Josephinum in Ohio and received a doctorate in canon law. After assisting in parishes in Waunakee, Cassville, and Monroe, he became pastor of the tiny St. Michael’s Church (149 families) in Dane, Wisconsin, in 1967 and remained there for thirty-one years before his death at age 67. He kept the tiny parish going. After the church burned he rebuilt it. He held fish fries to support the tiny school. He took no salary, drove an ancient car, and owned almost nothing.1Jim Stingl, “Uncompromising Priest Held Fast to Tradition,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 8, 1998. He ran a one-man show; he kept no records of parish membership, he had no daily planner, and rarely kept notes on counseling sessions.2Peter Maller, “Slain Priest Continues to Stir Emotions,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, February 28, 1999.

As a canon lawyer, Kunz served as Judicial Vicar and worked on the Marriage Tribunal in the Madison diocese under Bishop Cletus O’Donnell. Kunz’s expertise in canon law also enabled him to continue the traditional practices he liked while still remaining a priest in good standing. He advised other conservative Catholics on canon law matters. He said a “traditional” Latin Mass at 8 a.m. three times a week for the school children, and his Sunday Latin mass attracted people from great distances. He had a radio show. He and the Rev. Charles Fiore taped a show on the Eucharist in Madison on March 3. Fiore dropped him off at the school, where Kunz had a small apartment, about 10 p.m. Someone spoke to Kunz on the phone about 10:30 p.m.

Somewhere between then and the early hours of the next morning Kunz and an assailant fought, and the assailant cut Kunz’s throat. Kunz bled to death, lying at the foot of a statue of St. Michael the Archangel. A teacher at the parish school, a graduate of the conservative Magdalen College, found his body at 7 a.m. on March 4, 1998.

Because Kunz had some unusual interests and contacts, both ordinary and extraordinary motives have been ascribed to the murderer.

A drifter was ruled out: Dane is too far off the beaten track, and the mode of the killing evidenced deep personal animosity. Burglary and robbery were also ruled out.

In March 2000 police claimed that Kunz had “intimate” relationships with females and that jealousy may have been a motive for the murder.3Rob Zaleski, “Is the Killer’s Trail Cold?” Capital Times, July 3, 2000. The Rev. Lawrence Brey was recovering
from quadruple by-pass surgery and lived with Kunz for six months before Kunz’s death.
Brey saw nothing suspect in Kunz’s relationships with women, and Kunz was 67 years old.4Rob Zaleski, “Is the Killer’s Trail Cold?” Capital Times, July 3, 2000.

Then there are the unusual theories.

Footnotes

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