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	Challenge Is Expected to Dismissal from Parish Whistle-Blower at Odds with Diocese over Pact By Jay Tokasz Buffalo News October 12, 2009 http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/story/825433.html A parish business manager fired in August by the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo after he reported financial irregularities to the Erie County district attorney's office expects to challenge his dismissal in court. Marc J. Pasquale said diocesan officials broke the terms of a five-year contract he had with St. Teresa of Avila Church when they removed him as business manager. Pasquale, who spent less than a year as business manager, has consulted with attorney Thomas C. D'Agostino for legal representation. "There's still four years left in the contract," Pasquale said. D'Agostino confirmed that he has had discussions with Pasquale but declined to elaborate. "We're just in the very early stages," D'Agostino said. "I can just say we're looking into everything." District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III would not comment on any investigation in connection with Pasquale's complaint, but sources said investigators from the district attorney's office already have interviewed Monsignor Fred R. Voorhes, the former temporary administrator of St. Teresa's, as well as other potential witnesses. Voorhes, too, was dismissed from his post at St. Teresa's after he refused to fire Pasquale. Voorhes, Pasquale and the previous pastor, the Rev. James T. Bartnik, had asked diocesan officials to examine whether there had been any financial irregularities at the South Buffalo parish when it was overseen by a different priest and bookkeeper, the Rev. Robert M. Mock and Dawn M. Lustan. Questionable practices included missing invoices, shredded documents, missing computer records and unexplained charges on a parish credit card, according to Pasquale and other sources. Mock is now an associate dean at Trocaire College. Through diocesan spokesman Kevin A. Keenan, Mock declined to comment. Lustan said in a brief telephone interview that the reports of irregularities or questionable practices were "all a bunch of lies." "Everything was fine," Lustan said. "Father Mock was a great accountant, and nothing would get past anybody." Lustan referred further questions to Keenan before ending the interview. Keenan maintained that diocesan officials looked into the complaints and found no financial irregularities. The firing of Pasquale had nothing to do with his complaints to the diocese or the district attorney, Keenan said. The diocese is conducting its own audit of the parish finances while Pasquale was business manager, Keenan added. The diocese, citing personnel issues, has not elaborated on why Voorhes and Pasquale were removed — although Monsignor W. Jerome Sullivan, a temporary replacement for Voorhes until a new pastor is named, told members of the parish council that Pasquale had "too much control" in the parish, according to minutes of the council's Sept. 1 meeting. Sullivan also has said from the pulpit that Voorhes was a "dedicated servant" and that his sudden departure from the parish was not a reflection of his work there. Voorhes has declined to comment. Pasquale contended that he did nothing wrong and was fired for sticking up for parishioners at St. Teresa's. The district attorney's office has hired the same forensic accountant that it used to help unravel the extent of theft at the former Most Holy Redeemer Church in Cheektowaga. The Rev. F. Norman Sullivan, the longtime pastor, was convicted in July of stealing $213,000 in parish funds prior to the closing of the church in 2008. Sullivan repaid the money and last week was sentenced to community service. In that case, diocesan auditors found about $100,000 in stolen funds. Further investigation by the district attorney's office, with assistance from forensic accountant Timothy J. McPoland, determined that the total amount lost was double what the diocese had found. Embezzlement of parish and parochial school funds has become costly and embarrassing for the diocese in the last several years. Since 2005, the district attorney's office has prosecuted at least six cases of white-collar theft in Catholic parishes and schools, with the stolen funds totaling nearly $2 million. At St. Teresa's, Bartnik, who hired Pasquale, had tried to communicate concerns to the diocese about possible financial irregularities in the parish after he was appointed to succeed Mock in September 2008 and complete the merger of St. Teresa's with nearby St. John the Evangelist Church. Bartnik suffered a stroke last fall during a meeting with Bishop Edward U. Kmiec over the matter. He is now in a Hamburg nursing home and has declined to comment. Pasquale continues to be employed at another Catholic parish, St. Aloysius in Springville, where he serves as director of religious education. Voorhes has yet to be assigned to a new parish. Sullivan announced in the parish bulletin that a new permanent pastor for St. Teresa's should be in place by November. "Bishop Kmiec will be making an appointment within the next several weeks," Keenan said. Meanwhile, some parishioners have sent letters to Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the Vatican's apostolic nuncio to the United States, asking that Voorhes and Pasquale be reinstated. A two-page petition being circulated by some parishioners also labeled the removal of Voorhes and Pasquale "a hostile takeover" by the diocese. The petition, which is addressed to Sambi and Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York City, contains several errors about what has happened at St. Teresa's, Keenan said. "It's making some false assumptions," he said, "and there are a number of incorrect facts contained in this petition." An e-mail request Friday by The Buffalo News for comment from the nuncio's office has not been returned. Contact: jtokasz@buffnews.com
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