PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Review
By Craig Smith
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, June 11, 2005
The Rev. Michael Matusak had a sinking feeling that he was being transferred when he was summoned to a May 13 meeting with Greensburg Bishop Lawrence E. Brandt.
It's the time of year when new assignments are handed out, and the dozen or so priests gathered outside the bishop's office could only mean one thing -- they would all soon be moving to different parishes.
But he was wrong. "This Friday the 13th turned out to be a good day," he said.
The 55-year-old Matusak, who has been a priest for 30 years, will be continuing in the parish ministry that he dearly loves. He is pastor of St. Pius X and administrator of Visitation Parish.
And his parishioners will soon be calling him monsignor.
In all, 13 priests in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Greensburg will be elevated to the title of monsignor, while Monsignor William G. Charnoki, pastor of St. Bernard in Indiana, will be named Protonotary Apostolic Supernumerary, the highest rank of monsignor. ...
As part of the clergy sexual abuse scandal that surfaced three years ago, five priests in the Greensburg diocese were barred from practicing public ministry for life because of allegations against them.
Statnick served as the bishop's delegate for matters of sexual misconduct and was the liaison with the diocesan review board and civil authorities, if they became involved. The five-member review board advised Bishop Anthony G. Bosco on matters of sexual misconduct. Bosco retired in 2004.
"In light of the crisis of 2002 and all that meant for us, I think one of the positive outcomes of these honors is that it reaffirms that there are some dedicated, hard-working priests out there," he said.
Posted by kshaw at June 11, 2005 07:00 AM