By Ashley Hassebroek and John Keenan
World-Herald [Omaha NE]
February 3, 2007
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=2324379
To some parishioners, the Rev. Stephen J. Gutgsell seemed like the kind of man who would spend money on St. Patrick Church rather than take money away.
| Church financial troubles The Rev. Stephen J. Gutgsell has resigned as the pastor of St. Patrick's Church, 1412 Castelar St., after a financial review by the Archdiocese of Omaha found parish funds in excess of $100,000 were missing. June 2006: Sister Barbara Markey is accused in a warrant of using $300,000 in funds from the Omaha Archdiocese at casinos and for gifts, clothing and travel. June 2006: Cory Pelnar, former St. Bernadette Catholic Church business manager, was sentenced to five years? probation after paying back $180,000 she stole. Pelnar was convicted of felony theft after she pleaded no contest. As a condition of probation, she must attend Gamblers Anonymous meetings once a week for 18 months. September 2006: Mark A. Mehner is ordered to repay Zion Lutheran Church a sum total of $367,899.84, that includes interest and legal fees. Mehner used $291,515.74 of Zion Lutheran Church funds for his own use. November 2006: Cindy Mann, 51, of Council Bluffs, pleaded no contest to theft by deception for stealing from Christ the King Catholic Church in Omaha. She was given a three-year probation term and ordered to meet her "financial obligations" to the church. Leaders alleged that she had stolen $166,683. Source: World-Herald archives |
He made sure tablecloths were new for every season, as well as the scarves that hang on statues in the south Omaha parish. Once, organist Rita Carbonell watched him pay for Christmas flowers with his own credit card.
"He liked to make it so the parishioners could do what we're here for - come to God," said Carbonell, a lifelong member.
 |
| The Rev. Stephen J. Gutgsell resigned from St. Patrick parish after being accused of theft. Photo by JEFFREY Z. CARNEY/THE WORLD-HERALD |
But that image was marred Friday when Omaha Archdiocese officials accused Gutgsell, 48, of embezzling more than $100,000 from the church.
The archdiocese contacted the Omaha Police Department Friday, and Gutgsell resigned his position as pastor.
"At least for the time being, he's not going to have a pastoral assignment," said the Rev. Joe Taphorn, chancellor of the archdiocese.
Taphorn said there are no indications that anyone else was involved in the theft. The archdiocese started a financial review in early January after parish lay leaders raised concerns.
Gutgsell could not be reached for comment Friday.
St. Patrick, at 1412 Castelar St., stands in the middle of a neighborhood with brick streets, large trees and old houses with chain-link fences. The church, like the neighborhood, is a place where people make their home for generations.
The parish - Gutgsell's home since June 2001 - has about 320 households and 680 parishioners, small when compared to other Omaha parishes. The Rev. James M. Buckley, an associate pastor at Holy Cross Church, has been transferred to St. Patrick as the parish administrator.
Gutgsell grew up in Blessed Sacrament parish in north Omaha in a devoted Catholic family. His brother, the Rev. Michael Gutgsell, is a former chancellor of the archdiocese and is pastor at St. Cecilia Cathedral.
Stephen Gutgsell studied for the priesthood in Minnesota at St. Paul Seminary. He was ordained in 1984 and became associate pastor at St. Bernard Church in Omaha later that year. He also served as associate pastor at Christ the King Church and at parishes in O'Neill and West Point, Neb.
In addition to his regular church work, Gutgsell said Mass at other places in the neighborhood, including the Women's Care Center of the Heartland, St. Joseph Villa and St. Joseph Tower. He even led a regular Mass for home-schooled children.
He oversaw the opening of the Women's Care Center, a residential crisis pregnancy center housed in a former convent adjacent to the church.
"He was always hustling and bustling, said Fran Rieschl, who lives across the street from St. Patrick and attends morning Mass. "I've never seen anybody who is as busy as he is."
Rieschl said she refused to believe he would do anything wrong.
"He is a nice guy," she said.
Not everyone was shocked, though.
When 84-year-old Jennie Grazziano died in September, her son contacted Gutgsell to arrange the funeral.
Tony Grazziano, 58, whose mother was a St. Patrick member for more than 60 years, said he recorded his phone conversation with Gutgsell because he "didn't have a good feeling" about the priest.
In the recording, Grazziano and a man identifying himself as Father Gutgsell discuss conflicts about the funeral date. After declining to change the date, Grazziano has Gutgsell talk to funeral director Patrick Henry of Council Bluffs.
"I expect to charge this fellow (Grazziano) a huge amount of money for this," Gutgsell tells Henry. "That's what I'm expecting to do. Don't tell him this at this point."
Priests typically receive about $150 for officiating at funerals. When Grazziano later confronted Gutgsell about the "huge amount" comment, the priest said the funeral director misunderstood him.
Grazziano said he was so incensed that he moved his mother's funeral to another church.
Monsignor Edgar Wortmann of Blessed Sacrament Church knew Gutgsell as a teen. Michael and Stephen served as altar boys. Their mother attended daily Mass and cared for the altar and the vigil candles.
Wortmann said he didn't talk much about a vocation with the young Stephen Gutgsell.
"But he was certainly thinking of it," he said. "(He was) very devoted, very - I hate to use this word, but a very straitlaced person. There was absolutely no indication that anything like that was there."
Gutgsell is not the first Omaha priest accused of financial impropriety. The archdiocese sued the Rev. Walter Wancewicz in 2003 after money was missing from two of his former parishes, St. Joseph Church, 17th and Center Streets, and Immaculate Conception Church, 24th and Bancroft Streets. He was never charged with a crime.
An Omaha police spokesman said action on the Gutgsell case was unlikely until next week.
World-Herald staff writer Todd Cooper contributed to this report.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.