Posted on 06/13/2005 8:45:54 PM EDT by 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
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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.
Go see for yourself:
http://www.dioceseofcleveland.org/gayandlesbianfamilyministry/mission/index.htm
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From previous stories on Bishop Pilla:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1060132/posts
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***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?
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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
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.