June 07, 2005

Letter tells why pastor resigned

TILTON (NH)
Concord Monitor

From staff and wire reports

June 07. 2005 8:00AM

TILTON - A letter to congregation members sheds more light on the reasons that the pastor of the Trinity Episcopal Church resigned.

The Rev. Janet Lombardo resigned in April from her position at the church because of her problems addressing issues involving authority, collaboration, commitment, dissemination of information and judgment, Paul Leary, the church's senior warden, wrote in a letter to parishioners dated May 19.

The resignation came two months after Scott Nash, a youth pastor and church volunteer, was charged with molesting two 4-year-old girls and stealing money from the church-run food bank. At the time he was being allowed to work with children and control the food bank's finances, he was already a felon, having been convicted of stealing nearly $29,000 from Littleton Hospital in the 1980s.

Lombardo did not resign because of the Nash situation, but "the handling of Nash's role is reflected in those five (concerns),"the Rev. Tim Rich, the diocese's Canon to the Ordinary, said yesterday. "The Nash situation was a working example of the themes she wrestled with."

Posted by kshaw at June 7, 2005 04:33 PM