SHOHOLA (PA)
The River Reporter
By TOM KANE
SHOHOLA, PA — The Vatican has ruled in support of the Bishop of Scranton’s condemnation of the Society of St. John, located in Shohola.
The Vatican’s Congregation of the Clergy ruled on May 3, 2005 that the society be subject to the decree of suppression issued by Most Rev. Joseph F. Marino, Bishop of Scranton, according to an account in The Scranton Times on June 9. Last fall, the bishop cited a lingering sexual abuse lawsuit and mounting financial problems among his reasons for cutting off the embattled society.
The Vatican congregation stated that the society “has repeatedly refused to fully cooperate with the bishop in the execution of his responsibilities regarding the oversight of the financial situation of the society.”
Rev. Daniel Fullerton, the chancellor general of the society, and other members of the society did not return phone calls.
Subsequent to the Vatican ruling, the Diocese of Scranton had issued a new set of directives to the society that prevents priests of the society from celebrating Holy Communion at their private residence and society members from participating in fundraising activities. It also orders that the society’s website, www.ssjohn.org, must carry a prominent notice that the society is no longer a recognized ecclesiastical entity in the Catholic Church.