Darien Times
March 30, 2008
http://www.acorn-online.com/news/publish/darien/31223.shtml
Claiming an environment of harassment, verbal abuse, innuendo, and intimidation, former St. John's Parish bookkeeper Bethany D'Erario filed a civil lawsuit against the church and the Diocese of Bridgeport Friday, citing whistleblower retaliation.
In court documents obtained this weekend by The Darien Times, D'Erario also describes a life of excess and overt homosexuality led by former St. John pastor, the Rev. Michael Jude Fay. The lawsuit says that Fay had a formal commitment ceremony while pastor and among other things, used church money to buy Burberry outfits for his dog.
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| The Rev. Michael Jude Fay |
In the 22-page complaint, D'Erario recalls events surrounding the discovery of Fay's financial wrongdoing.
In December, a federal judge in New Haven sentenced the former pastor to 37 months in prison for stealing parishioners' money while serving as pastor of St. John Church.
Fay pleaded guilty in September to one count of interstate transportation of money obtained by fraud. He was facing up to 10 years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines. He was scheduled to report to federal prison this week, but was granted a delay to undergo an experimental cancer treatment.
Pierre Hotel party
D'Erario said she first suspected "massive and flagrant embezzlement" due to incurring personal expenses with Fay's "longtime lover," according to the lawsuit documents. That increased spending began around the same time that the church honored the pastor with a party held at New York's Pierre Hotel to honor the priest's 25th year of priesthood.
D'Erario said that Fay was especially excited about the event and referred to it as a " 'wedding' to Fay's lover.' " The lawsuit does not name the "lover," but in 2006, a private investigator, Vito Colluci of Stamford, revealed Fay's partner to be Philadelphia event planner Clifford Fantini.
According to D'Erario's complaint, Fay and Fantini participated in a commitment ceremony — officiated by a Philadelphia priest — at the Pierre Hotel that same evening.
Following that party, D'Erario said Fay ordered her to pay all of his credit cards with church money, which made her "extremely uncomfortable." She describes the personal expenses as "extraordinarily lavish" and averaged about $30,000 per month.
D'Erario provided examples of those expenditures, including first class airline and limousine travel for Fay and his loved ones, numerous gifts for Fay's "lover," personal catering and entertainment expenses, Ritz Carlton hotel stays around the world, extravagant clothing for his pet shih tzu, Maddy, and expensive furniture and crystal.
Collections set aside
D'Erario said that every Monday, between 2003 and 2006, she would count parishioner collections which averaged $12,000 to $15,000 per week. Most Mondays, D'Erario said that Fay would instruct her to set aside $4,000 to $5,000 to be given directly to him, which she would do, but had no idea what he did with this money.
D'Erario described the personal accounts Fay set up, and checks he wrote to cash for himself. She kept copies of these activities, she said, and showed them later to the diocese, church and law enforcement.
She questioned Fay regularly, she said, and was told to either mind her own business or was completely ignored.
D'Erario said that the theft finally came to a head in April or May 2006, when Fay was vacationing in Florida and asked her to transfer $34,000 out of the $40,000 remaining in the church's bank account to his personal account. D'Erario found out it was for a down payment on a condominium in Philadelphia for Fay and Fantini.
D'Erario said she reported this payment to parochial vicar, the Rev. Michael Madden, and accountant John Culhane.
D'Erario said she had reported her suspicions monthly to the two men during 2004 and 2005, who in turn reported these issues to Bishop William Lori, head of the diocese.
D'Erario said it was not until this last incident that she was called to Bridgeport in early May 2006, nearly three years after she initially began reporting suspicious activity.
She said she brought a box of documents which proved Fay's "chronic embezzlement schemes." D'Erario said that church officials assured her the problems would be resolved.
However, D'Erario said that following that meeting, "the diocese and church orchestrated a campaign of intimidation, investigation and interrogation against herself and Madden."
D'Erario said that Fay was only suspended for two business days, and all of his financial privileges were restored by the Wednesday following the meeting. Instead, D'Erario said she and Madden felt that they were being targeted by the diocese and church, suspected of wrongdoing and would be subject of an investigation.
Afraid of being framed
In mid-May of that year, afraid the diocese was going to "frame" her for the crimes, she and Madden hired a private investigator to assist D'Erario with reporting Fay's crimes to the proper authorities.
On May 16, the private investigator, Colluci, reported the financial misconduct to the Darien Police Department, which referred him to the FBI.
On May 19, the diocese called an emergency meeting with Madden, and told — after "viciously reprimanding" him for hiring the investigator — that he would be fired unless he wrote an apology letter to the parish, according to D'Erario's complaint.
After reporting the Fay issues to the FBI, D'Erario said both she and Madden were subjected to "frequent retaliatory action" for publicly exposing the "Fay scandal."
This retaliation, which D'Erario describes as "whistleblower retaliatory conduct," included:
• Auditors hired by the diocese asking D'Erario about her own personal spending and finances;
• Diocese vicar general Peter Cullen threatening Madden to stop talking to D'Erario, saying that Fay has "friends in high places" and that Cullen and Bishop Lori "would not want to see bad things happen to him (Madden);"
• The church put pressure on D'Erario to take a leave of absence;
• New pastor, the Rev. Frank McGrath, made comments to church staff and parishioners, according to D'Erario, implying that she and Madden were "responsible for the 'Fay scandal;'"
• Father McGrath made "intimidating, sarcastic and hostile comments" to D'Erario such as "Think you are a celebrity now?" and "Shall I get your autograph?";
• Father McGrath "maliciously spread" a rumor about an inappropriate relationship between D'Erario and Madden;
• And the church and diocese refused to renew D'Erario's' contract, refused her annual raise, and told her medical benefits would be taken away.
As a result of the above and additional retaliatory actions, D'Erario said she could no longer perform her job duties effectively, feared losing her family's health benefits, and finally resigned in August 2006 — three months after the scandal first broke.
Madden left the church and the priesthood during that same month. In an interview with The Darien Times in September 2006, he backed up some of the facts listed in D'Erario's complaint. He said that lack of action on the diocese's part and protection for themselves prompted him and D'Erario to go to the private investigator.
"We were concerned about what Father Fay might say that would implicate us in his activities, and our hiring of the private investigator was a prudent safety precaution on our part to insure we would be protected from such implications," he told The Darien Times that September.
D'Erario is seeking compensatory damages, general and consequential damages, punitive damages, as well as all costs related to filing the civil actions and medical benefits. The suit is seeking greater than $15,000 in damages, the highest level in a civil suit. Her lawyer said Sunday that they are requesting a jury trial.
Diocese disputes lawsuit
Daniel Schwartz, of Day Pitney, the attorney representing the Bridgeprot Diocese, said that D'Erario is not a "whistleblower" by law, and that only those who report wrongdoing to a public office can be considered a whistleblower. D'Erario reporting the crime to a private investigator, or even the diocese, doesn't count.
"From a legal perspective, she is not really a whistleblower," Schwartz told The Times on Sunday.
"It was the diocese that reported concerns about Father Fay to the U.S. Attorney's office and it was the U.S. Attorney's office who brought it to the FBI," he said.
Schwartz also said that despite D'Erario's complaint, she waited three years before bringing her suspicions to the diocese.
"At that point, she had been aware of what Fay was doing for a number of years," he said.
Schwartz also said he did not believe Monsignor Cullen had ever threatened anyone and said that D'Erario resigned of her own free will, and cited a good-bye letter she wrote the parish that wished everyone well that was published in the church bulletin.
Schwartz said that D'Erario also included a lot of extra, unnecessary information.
"It seems to me that a number of her allegations attempt to embarrass others and have nothing to do with her legal claims," he said.
A public statement on the Diocese of Bridgeport's Web site outlined the inaccurate facts in D'Erario's lawsuit, including contradicting the timeline of events and the response time of the diocese to suspicions about Fay's conduct.
"Unfortunately, Ms. D'Erario has decided to file a lawsuit against the parish and the diocese in an apparent effort to seek money to which she is not entitled," the statement reads.
St. John's Parish's pastor Father Frank McGrath also made a public statement on the Web site in response to the claims D'Erario made about his conduct in her complaint.
"I was surprised by her decision to resign and I always did my best to treat her fairly and professionally. I do not know why she has chosen to attack me in her complaint, but I do know that I never acted improperly or unfairly toward her and her claims regarding my actions and statements are not accurate," he wrote.
Schwartz said that the diocese will fight the suit.
***Read the diocese's response***
"We intend to vigorously defend against her allegations, which are without merit," he said.
Attorney Mark Sherman, who is representing D'Erario, said that she reported Fay's financial abuses, directly to the diocese, church finance board, church accountant and to her bosses, for over two years.
"When her complaints fell on deaf ears, she used her own money, not to file a lawsuit, but to hire a detective to help her inform the police and FBI who prosecuted Father Fay," Sherman told The Times on Sunday.
"How did the church show their appreciation? She was demoted and they tried to take away her medical benefits," he said.
As far as D'Erario not being a whistleblower, Sherman said it was a "textbook case."
"This is a textbook whistleblowing retaliation case. Beth blew the whistle on the Father Fay scandal, and the church and diocese then threw Beth under the bus," he said.
E-mail Darien Times reporter Susan Shultz at sshultz@darientimes.com
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