36 Parishioners sue diocese claiming funds were diverted: Pilla allowed $2 million diversion

http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/state/11886052.htm ^ | Mon, Jun. 13, 2005 | JOE MILICIA

[Diago]

Parishioners sue diocese claiming funds were diverted

JOE MILICIA

Associated Press

CLEVELAND - A lawsuit filed by 36 members of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cleveland accuses Bishop Anthony M. Pilla of allowing three financial officers to divert about $2 million in diocesan funds to their private businesses.

The parishioners ask for the diocese to be reimbursed by the officers in the lawsuit filed Monday in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court by attorney Santiago Feliciano Jr., the former director of the Cleveland diocese's legal office.

The lawsuit accuses Joseph H. Smith, the former chief financial officer of the diocese, of diverting more than $678,000; Thomas J. Kelley, the director of the Catholic Cemetery Association for the diocese, of improperly taking more than $331,000; and Anton Zgoznik, the assistant treasurer of the diocese, of taking $1 million.

Bob Tayek, spokesman for the Cleveland diocese, said attorneys for the church hadn't seen the lawsuit and there would be no comment.

Kelley and Zgoznik could not be reached for comment. A man answering the phone at the address listed for Kelley on the lawsuit said there was no Thomas Kelley there. No phone listing for Zgoznik could be found.

Messages were left seeking comment with Smith at the Columbus diocese office where he now works and at a possible home number.

Smith was suspended by the Cleveland diocese early last year after The Plain Dealer reported that a church accounting contractor paid more than $750,000 to private companies controlled by Smith, who at the time was the highest-ranking diocesan lay employee.

The diocese referred the matter to civil authorities.

"That's still an open investigation," Tayek said.

Smith, a lawyer and a certified public accountant, worked for the diocese for 21 years, the last 10 as chief financial officer. His duties included overseeing the Catholic Cemeteries Association, the building commission and the offices of pension, finance and insurance.

The lawsuit filed Monday seeks a complete accounting of the diocese's property, disbursements, liabilities and cash balances since Pilla became bishop 24 years ago.

It also calls for Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro to investigate the diocese's financial transactions.

ON THE NET

Cleveland Catholic Diocese: http://www.dioceseofcleveland.org

[Diago]

The following excerpts appeared in the Free Times last year, including an explanation as to why the FBI investigation was not receiving coverage in the Cleveland Plain Dealer - - which happens to share a public relations firm with the Cleveland Diocese.

The FBI investigation into the activities of suspended Cleveland Catholic Diocese CFO Joseph H. Smith … who was put on a leave of absence by Bishop Anthony Pilla for allegedly receiving $750,000 in payments from firms that did business with the church … is also actively questioning how Pilla could not have been aware of Smith's activities, according to a source who has had contact with the federal probe. The Free Times hears that the connection between Smith and a well-known insurance broker, who is close to the bishop, is also under study, as well as other businesses possibly run out of the church. In addition, sources tell the Free Times that at least 40 priests were encouraged to take their automobile business, after the monthly car allowance was increased by the bishop, to a relative of the bishop — and what's more, that the Plain Dealer has sat on this story for way more than a year. Word has it that Cleveland, which once had one of the highest churchgoing rates in the country, has seen it drop nearly in half over the last few years. Could it be because of the priest-pedophile issue and how the local diocese has handled it?

An earlier Free Times Story 3-24-04: Mr. Smith Goes to Church … Word is that suspended Cleveland Catholic Diocese CFO Joseph H. Smith … who was put on leave because of accusations that he allegedly received $750,000 in payment from firms that did business with the diocese… has let it be known to people at St. John's Cathedral that “he's not going to take it alone.” The Nose continues to hear that 60 Minutes II is collecting information about the Smith Affair and has increased interest in doing a follow-up story after Bishop Anthony Pilla's recent comment that he may have transferred “about three” alleged pedophile priests … a statement that was refuted in a Free Times story by former diocese top lawyer Charlie Feliciano … who appeared in a 60 Minutes story in 2002. In regard to Smith, legal sources tell the Free Times that the FBI is looking into self-dealing, as well as expensive, no-bid contracts for services and insurance that were steered to friends and relatives. Feliciano told the FT , “How Smith can avoid being indicted is beyond me.” The Cleveland Diocese ranks with Boston as having one of the biggest pedophile priest problems in the U.S. So why has it been ignored by Cleveland's establishment media ?

Free Times 1-24-04: Is Part 2 in the Works? … Word reaches The Nose that in the aftermath of the Free Times publication on 12/24/03 of the cover story, “ The Bishop's Lawyer: A Question of Faith ,” 60 Minutes II and Ed Bradley are considering doing a follow-up on the Cleveland Catholic Diocese and its treatment of Bishop Pilla's former in-house legal counsel, Santiago “Charlie” Feliciano … What is also sparking renewed interest by 60 Minutes II are the recent reports about the suspension of diocese CFO Joseph H. Smith for questionable business practices, including allegedly receiving $750,000 in payments from firms who do business with the diocese ... In addition to his other “business,” The Nose has been told by several sources connected with the diocese that Smith allegedly ran a for-profit tax preparation service for priests within the diocese and charged them for doing their taxes. This came about, sources tell The Nose, after Smith had the diocese declare its priests “independent contractors” in order to limit liability in the case of lawsuits. Of course, sanity prevailed when the IRS said priests were employees of the diocese. Previously, The Nose has been told that tax assistance was performed as a free service by the diocese legal office.

[Diago]

The official logo for the Diocese of Cleveland Gay and Lesbian Ministry [Warning: This is not a joke]:

Go see for yourself:

http://www.dioceseofcleveland.org/gayandlesbianfamilyministry/mission/index.htm

________________________________________________________________

From previous stories on Bishop Pilla:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1060132/posts

_____________________________________________________________

***More on Charlie Feleciano - - the attorney who filed today's suit***

In March, 2002, about two years after leaving the diocese, Charlie [the bishop's former lawyer] says he met again with Bishop Gries. “I met with Bishop Roger and I told him as a friend that he needed to tell Pilla to step down. That's all I said.”

I prod him to continue. “Because of the manner in which all of this had been handled.”

Charlie later says, “The thing that really fried me was the way the church in Cleveland has agreed to ‘infanticize' Anthony. It's like he's a child. ‘Oh, he didn't know this, he didn't know that.' Wait a minute, oh merciful God. Then what's he in charge of one million Catholics for? Yes, Quinn did crazy stuff, but he was a lieutenant, you are the general. Why didn't you stop it?

_________________________________________________________

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/762432/posts

The following appeared in "The Wanderer's" From the Mail Section.:

In Cleveland, which has been racked with the most damaging sex abuse scandals outside of Boston and Los Angeles, diocesan officials, including Bishop Anthony Pilla, maintain a stiff upper lip as some homosexual activists in the chancery and parishes continue to transform parishes into gay-friendly communities. Consider:

The Diocese of Cleveland's official web site (www.dioceseofcleveland.com) greets the viewer with a rainbow flag, and gay activists at the diocese's Gay and Lesbian Family Ministry (GLFM) office are way out and way proud.

One member of the GLFM recorded his experience on an area gay web site of his participation in the Cleveland Gay Pride Parade, informing, "The catholic group had a very nice sized contingent. There were a whole ton of other religious groups as well...Oh, did I mention that I am in the same video as a pornstar?!...Our table was almost across from The Grid's table, so we got to watch Matt Rush shirtless signing autographs and posing for pictures most of the afternoon. I felt so uncouth ogling a pornstar and trying to be a respectable representative of the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland...

"The Stonewall Democrats had the booth next to The Grid, and they had some mighty fine shirtless guys sitting at their table, too. After we took down our table at the pride festival, seven of us from the Catholic group went out to dinner...We also had the same waiter that we had last time...the cute one with attitude."

The author of that revealing letter is the apparent friend of Brian Halderman, a longtime gay activist of the Diocese of Cleveland who recently announced that he is joining the Society of Mary (Marianists) in Dayton.

In another Internet chat thread sent to FTM by a Cleveland reader, Halderman revealed that while a parishioner at Ascension Church (a church plagued by a number of predator priests), he was a chatechist involved in the sacramental preparation of second graders.

Reader, does all this help you understand what bishops such as Clark and Hubbard and Pilla mean by the "lay-run church."

You can contact the diocese of Cleveland toll free at 1-800-869-6525 or by e-mailing:

info@dioceseofcleveland.org

_________________________________________________________

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The following exchange appeared in an article on a gay convicted priest here in Cleveland. [Note: Burkhart is a gay detective and McBride is the gay priest]:

Burkhart and McBride dined on crab cakes and chatted lightly. After dinner, McBride turned the conversation to the recent Catholic Church scandal. He hoped that, when it was all over, the church would recognize that priests are sexual beings too -- and that some are gay.

"Back in the 1960s, would you have ever come to a place like this?" Burkhart asked. "I mean, in this town, where you were working?"

"Probably not, no," McBride said. "Realistically, in 1960, no."

"And in certain places it looks like the seminary on Saturday night now," Burkhart joked.

"Yeah, that really is how it is," McBride said.

They compared notes on seeing clergy in gay bars. Then Burkhart stammered as he asked McBride a personal question:

"So, whenever you had sex . . . were you bound to go to confession and confess it before you said Mass, or . . .?"

"Well, you were supposed to, yes," McBride said.

"Do you think all these priests do?"

"No," McBride said. "I think they changed their minds and decided it's not a sin."

The full article can be found at this link:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/992919/posts

[Diago]

Statement from Save Our Church

It's been a while since you heard from me but the cause has not at all been forgotten. At about the time of our last meeting it became very apparent to me that FutureChurch was only a symptom of the real problem in this Diocese. It became very apparent that our Bishop was not only the problem but it was time (God's timing!) to expose the incredible evil that had embedded itself at the Cathedral.

Tonight, Monday June 13, on Channel 19 you will hear of this exposure and of the class action lawsuit filed by Charlie Feliciano, former Diocesan legal counsel for many years, but shafted for being too good to abused victims. This lawsuit, filed on behalf of all parishioners in this Diocese will force the Bishop to disclose what has happened to some $3 million now missing. What has been held in darkness for years will now be coming to light. It's not going to be a pretty picture. We need to pray for those many whose souls have been destroyed from so much evil that they will come back to the faith in seeing the Justice of God. We need to pray that the Justice of God will break the pride that has led so many into so much evil. We need to pray for the many whose indifference allowed them to remain silent while so much evil was occurring! These are just as guilty as our Bishop.

We need to pray that the evil axis that extends to Toledo and Detroit and Cincinnati will also be exposed. God is raising up his people and there will be a great renewal during the midst of great turmoil. The Day of the Lord has come for this Diocese.

[old and tired]

Diago, I am so sorry for the troubles in your diocese. You've posted enough of them. I hope it will bring you some small comfort to know that my wife and I have been remembering you and all the Catholics of the Cleveland diocese in a daily Rosary.

[Diago]

ping

Please help spread the news about my disgraced bishop. Send to bloggers and post in other forums. We must get this guy out of here.

A lawsuit filed by 36 members of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cleveland accuses Bishop Anthony M. Pilla of allowing three financial officers to divert about $2 million in diocesan funds to their private businesses.

The parishioners ask for the diocese to be reimbursed by the officers in the lawsuit filed Monday in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court by attorney Santiago Feliciano Jr., the former director of the Cleveland diocese's legal office.

[murphE]

Please help spread the news about my disgraced bishop.

Disgraced, but still in full communion with Rome. PING

[Lilllabettt]

Oh, my poor Anthony Pilla. I can hardly look at him without bursting into tears! He and my Cardinal McCarrick: true heartbreakers extraordinaire. What will they say when the Lord Christ Jesus tells them how many times they made me cry?

[Diago]

Diago, I am so sorry for the troubles in your diocese. You've posted enough of them. I hope it will bring you some small comfort to know that my wife and I have been remembering you and all the Catholics of the Cleveland diocese in a daily Rosary.

Thank you!

[vox_freedom]

BTTT

[Diago]

Rumours continue in Cleveland that Pilla is on his way out. Today, I heard from someone who works at the diocese, that the Vatican was actually going to sweep house and replace every bishop in the diocese. I pray that one is true. The good news is that Pilla and Benedict do not get along and Benedict is well aware that Pilla is untrustworthy.

A couple more interesting stories:

Pilla and Pope Benedict Have Rocky History

How Pilla Conned Pope John Paul II

[Diago]

Oh, and since this comes up in every Pilla discussion:


Born November 12, 1932, unless he retires or is forced out, we are stuck with him until 2007.

[Diago]

One more Bishop Pilla tidbit from a few year's back from Lifesite.com:

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2001/jul/01070501.html


CLEVELAND CATHOLIC DIOCESE DONATED $30,000 TO GROUP WITH TIES TO N.A.R.A.L.

Pro-life U.S. Catholics were distressed on learning that the Cleveland Diocese donated $30,000 last year to an Ohio community organization affiliated with the National Abortion Rights Action League. Several Catholics had contacted the Diocese to protest last year's funding. However, the diocesan newspaper, the Cleveland Catholic Universe Bulletin, reported June 22 that the Cleveland Diocese's Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) grants for this year once again include $30,000 to the same organization - Organize! Ohio - Grassroots Leadership Development Program.

Organize! Ohio's (OO) list of member organizations last year included the National Abortion Rights Action League of Ohio (NARAL). OO's website described NARAL as "the political arm of the pro-choice movement in Ohio. (Whose) mission is to ensure every person's right to make personal decisions regarding the full range of reproductive choices including preventing unintended pregnancies, bearing healthy children, and choosing safe, legal abortion."

[Diago]

OK, one last post.

This was from blogger Jeff Miller in February of 2004 at http://www.exceptionalmarriages.com/weblog/index.asp.

I post it in its entirety because it is so instructive as to the deceptive way in which the Diocese of Cleveland handles everything.

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Please read this narrative, then send the email and make the phone call suggested at the end. The other week, a reader emailed me an item from CWN about the Diocese of Cleveland's respective reactions to Passion and The V Monologues. The reader added some further information about the latter, and suggested emailing various folks at JCU and the Cleveland Diocese to complain. I blogged his note. The first two sentences of the CWN item were as follows: The Diocese of Cleveland issues a warning to Catholic parishes that seeing a movie, The Passion of the Christ, which illustrates the events of the Gospels, may lead to the rise of anti-Semitism in churchgoing Catholics. Meanwhile, a local Catholic university allows the production of the "Monologues" on campus with proceeds going to a pro-abortion group. The other day, I linked back to that earlier post from another one about another apparent abomination at JCU. Enter another reader, a priest from the state of Washington. Yesterday, he emailed the various Cleveland chancery officials noted in the original post, citing the above-quoted sentences, and asking, "is this true?" He received a reply from Father Lawrence Jurcak, who appears from the diocese's web site to be the recently-named Secretary and Vicar for Clergy and Religious. He forwarded the correspondence to me. Fr. Jurcak's reply read: You details are not true at all. There is no "warning issued by the Diocese" about not seeing The Passion of the Christ." My first thought was that this seemed to be somewhat of an evasion. The claim, quoted above, had been that there was a warning not that one shouldn't see the movie but rather that doing so might lead to anti-Semitism - i.e., that one should be cautious about what conclusions one draws from the movie if one does see it. I then followed the links from my original post, as provided by the reader who'd sent it. The CWN item links to a Cleveland newspaper article, "'Passion' movie raises religious fervor, fears," which describes the diocese's warning/"memo." Paragraph 4 of that article reads: "The Diocese of Cleveland sent a February memo to all its parishes asking Catholics to be aware of the potential for anti-Semitism." The CWN item struck me as containing a reasonable paraphrase of that description - a call for awareness for the potential for anti-Semitism surely reflects concern that anti-Semitism might be one of the movie's effects and could therefore reasonably be described as a "warning" that the movie might lead to anti-Semitism. The article goes into somewhat more detail about the memo further down. Of course, a newspaper account may well be inaccurate. So I poked around the diocesean web site a bit more until I found what appears to be the "memo" in question. It's headed, "Movies About the Passion of Jesus Christ." It begins, "In the next few months there are at least two movies to be released about the passion and death of Jesus Christ." Now, those two would be Gibson's Passion and, I gather, The Gospel of John. Since no one that I know of has expressed concerns that the latter might stir up anti-Semitism - presumably at least partly because of the translation it uses - it's obvious, I think, that the warnings about anti-Semitic accounts of responsiblity for Christ's suffering and death that make up the bulk of the memo reflect concern about Passion. In short, I think that the newspaper account of the memo is accurate, and that the CWN description of it is, too. (When I bounced these thoughts off my Washington priest reader, he replied, "Your interpretation seems correct to me.") So, when we've dealt with the diocese's evasion and quibbling, we're left with the question: Why were they more concerned about the effects that Passion might have than about the effects that JCU's presentation of Monologues might have? Why haven't we seen at least a "memo" about the possibly bad effects of the latter? (Never mind whether the warning about Passion is the best way to deal with that movie to begin with.) My Washington reader forwarded my comments to Fr. Jurcak and told me he'd keep me posted if he gets a reply. I suggest you contact Fr. Jurcak also. As well as Bishop Pilla - (216) 696-6525 ext. 2030. Ask them why Fr. Jurcak is being evasive about what the diocese said about Passion - and why they're expressing concerns about it, but not, apparently, about Monologues.
	E-Mail Author

Here's the link

http://www.exceptionalmarriages.com/weblog/BlogDetail.asp?ID=13486

[Las Vegas Dave]

NE Ohio pings!

[netmilsmom]

Pitifully, I think Climaco, Climaco and Salvatore will get the Diocese off again.
(I might have spelled that wrong)
High ranking lawyers with lots of connections (including the Jacobs Brothers, can sweep tons under the rug.

[maryz]

Tonight, Monday June 13, on Channel 19 you will hear of this exposure and of the class action lawsuit filed by Charlie Feliciano, former Diocesan legal counsel for many years, but shafted for being too good to abused victims.

So what happened?

[Buckeyedoc39]

As a former resident of the Diocese of Cleveland, I can tell you from personal experience about my dealings with Bishop Pilla. Although I was never sexually abused, I was treated very shabbily when I voiced a complaint to him about a priest who terminated me as a pastoral minister in a parish! I was forbidden to have access to the Chancery Office, I was forbidden to have admission to the Seminary library...it's terrible!

I for one will be glad when Pilla and Wiatrowski get the boot! It's been too late in coming! I'm starting my own conservative website on Yahoo. Please pass the word!!

[netmilsmom]

What is the Yahoo address?

[letusprey]

Hello all.
This is Chris Kodger, the guy from Alaska who blew the whole abuse issue up in Cleveland on the TV, newspaper, and radio.
I have PM'd as many of you as I think are there in Cleveland, or who may have information for me. I did post my email addy to you. My attorney and I have been after him this whole while for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Last week the Hon. Judge Janet Burnside told Pilla's lawyer that "If (we) require these three gentlemans' depositions, then they will get these three (Pilla, Weist, and Tayek) gentlemens depositions." Also, that if there were motions yet to be ruled on on the table, that she expected the clients to be present at the appointed day and time regardless.
This Judge "gets it."
I would like to get everything you all have regarding the "issues" in Cleveland.
There is more afoot than rumors, as my attorney, Wm Crosby has prepared a subpoena for Anthony Pilla, to be serves ASAP. Bill knows what is going on in Cleveland.
Any and all information anyone has is requested in preparation for the upcoming videotaped deposition.
If I missed you, and you have something I should know about, PM me, and I will reply with an address for you on a very secure server.
Hang in there.
Remember how I called him, publicly, an "Evil, wicked man, and I demand his resignation."?
I have not got it yet, but it may not be too far out on the horizon.
If you are sick of him, now is the time to help me with any and all info.
Thank You!
Christopher D. Kodger