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	Diocese Ousts St. Teresa’s Priest and Finance Chief By Jay Tokasz The Buffalo News August 27, 2009 http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/776150.html Both had aired concerns about irregularities Officials for the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo have removed a priest and business manager from a South Buffalo parish, after the two men expressed concerns about missing financial records and other financial irregularities. The sudden—and highly irregular— removals Friday of Monsignor Fred R. Voorhes and Marc J. Pasquale followed a recent telephone call Pasquale made to the Erie County district attorney’s office regarding possible financial improprieties at St. Teresa Parish and South Buffalo Catholic Schools. Voorhes was summoned to the chancery Friday and removed as parish administrator. Monsignor W. Jerome Sullivan, the new temporary administrator, and Larry Vilardo, a lawyer for the diocese, went to the church at the same time to fire Pasquale, the business manager. “Why there is such a huge coverup going on, I don’t know,” Pasquale said in an interview with The Buffalo News. Pasquale, who also was parish director of religious education, said he had been trying for months to point out “questionable financial practices” at St. Teresa that occurred prior to his hiring as business manager in September 2008. The questionable practices, he said, included missing invoices, shredded documents and unexplained charges on a parish credit card during the pastorate of the Rev. Robert M. Mock, who now teaches at Trocaire College. Mock could not be reached to comment, but a diocesan spokesman said that the diocese has no reason to believe there were any financial irregularities at that time. Diocesan officials did not provide a reason for the dismissals of Pasquale and Voorhes, citing personnel issues. The decision to fire Pasquale had been made long before Friday and was unrelated to his expressing concern about possible financial improprieties in the parish, they said. “There were good reasons to terminate his employment, and those reasons had nothing at all to do with any complaints made by Marc to anybody,” Vilardo said. Nonetheless, the diocese has been reeling from a series of financial scandals in recent years. In July, for example, the Rev. F. Norman Sullivan, former pastor of Most Holy Redeemer Church in Cheektowaga, which closed in 2007, admitted stealing $213,000 from the parish over the course of several years. And since 2004, the Erie County district attorney’s office has prosecuted at least five other embezzlements from Catholic parishes and schools, ranging from $230,000 to $488,000. Voorhes was replaced during Masses on Saturday and Sunday by Monsignor W. Jerome Sullivan, the diocese’s coordinator of priest personnel. Voorhes’ departure “is not, and I want to emphasize is not, a reflection on his service here at St. Teresa’s and St. John the Evangelist. He has been a dedicated servant and did everything that was asked of him,” Sullivan said in a statement from the pulpit. Sullivan also said Voorhes will soon get another assignment in the diocese. Some parishioners walked out of Masses last weekend when Sullivan read his statement. “We’re all devastated. The best thing that ever happened to St. Teresa’s was when Monsignor Voorhes came in,” said Janet Strachan, a parishioner for 52 years. “I’m shocked.” Strachan, who sits on the parish’s finance council, said that Pasquale and Voorhees discovered information that was potentially embarrassing to the diocese. “I think the diocese is afraid of them. I think they want to squash this, and it shouldn’t be squashed at all,” she said. “Monsignor Voorhes was a wonderful man to work with. He came in here and worked his butt off for the church, and so did Marc.” Voorhes could not be reached to comment, but sources said he had anticipated becoming pastor of St. Teresa’s and was stung by the move. Diocesan officials wanted Voorhes to fire Pasquale, but the priest told them he couldn’t run the parish without a business manager, sources said. Voorhes and the previous pastor, the Rev. James T. Bartnik, had tried to communicate concerns to the diocese about financial irregularities, as well, according to Pasquale. Bartnik suffered a stroke last fall during a meeting with Bishop Edward U. Kmiec over the matter. Voorhes was brought in as temporary administrator of St. Teresa’s following Bartnik’s stroke. He was asked to smooth out what had been a rocky merger process with St. John the Evangelist. The merged parish had been operating smoothly in recent months, Pasquale maintained. “The parish has never done so well,” he said. The diocese changed the locks at the parish, but a greeting from Voorhes remained on the church’s voice mail late Tuesday afternoon. Contact: jtokasz@buffnews.com
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