Tahoe Daily Tribune
October 15, 2009
http://www.tahoedailytribune.com/article/20091015/NEWS/910159999/1056/NONE&parentprofile=1056
ZEPHYR COVE (NV) — A Catholic priest from Zephyr Cove is suing the Diocese of Reno and Bishop Randolf Calvo for wrongful termination after he was fired for seeking a protection order against a deacon after receiving an anonymous death threat.
The Rev. Richard DeMolen, former pastor of Our Lady of Tahoe Church, filed a civil complaint against the diocese and Calvo on Sept. 30 in Washoe County. The suit, filed by Reno employment lawyer Jeffrey Dickerson, seeks to reinstate DeMolen's current six-year appointment.
DeMolen was stripped of his title as pastor on July 1, six months after DeMolen and Calvo had a verbal agreement that his appointment would be renewed, Dickerson said. DeMolen was then renamed parish administrator. On Aug. 26, that title was removed, too.
"I think (DeMolen) is more comfortable knowing he has an avenue through the legal process that may accomplish some good," Dickerson said. "He's had to become proactive like this because of the inability to get any sensible resolution from the bishop."
Diocese chancellor Brother Matthew Cunningham said the diocese does not comment on pending litigation. Cunningham said DeMolen is still a priest in good standing, despite being removed from the position.
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| Rev. Richard DeMolen |
The suit states that DeMolen sought a protection order in El Dorado County after receiving an anonymous death threat, believed to be from a parish employee, and that Calvo told DeMolen to have the order reversed.
Dickerson said the priest received an unsigned, hand-written letter that talked about "how easy it is for elderly people and their dogs to drown in the lake." DeMolen then filed the protection order against the deacon, but revoked it at Calvo's request. Calvo told DeMolen the diocese would investigate the threat instead.
"The bishop wrote to the father and said, 'We're the employer, not you. We as the employer can seek that order and you can't,'" Dickerson said.
The suit alleges that the threat was never investigated.
"It ends up leaving him in the cold," Dickerson said. "Thank goodness three other people stepped up and filed a restraining order on his behalf."
Three parishioners filed protection orders against the deacon on their own behalf, and one filed a order on the priest's behalf. During an Oct. 22 hearing in Tahoe Justice Court, the parishioners will request that the protection order be extended for one year.
DeMolen's departure left some members of the small congregation reeling, including pastoral council member Don Dornan, who commutes from his home in Gardnerville to attend Mass every Sunday. Dornan was in Los Angeles undergoing open-heart surgery and returned to learn the news that DeMolen was gone.
"The parish couldn't have been more content and more effective than when it was when I left (for surgery)," he said.
Dornan said he still speaks with the priest.
"To say he's extremely hurt is a misnomer," Dornan said. "How can you come home and suddenly the church is torn in half and the priest is thrown out on the street? He's damn well hurt. I can't blame him.
"Christ says forgive your enemies," Dornan added, "and you try and you should, but boy, you're going to have to take a lot of time to love the guy that did this."
Pastoral council chair Curt Emire, a 20-year parishioner, said DeMolen was instrumental in building the new rectory, selling the former building and cleaning up the church grounds.
"He was well liked and he was a great homilist and everything," Emire said. "We were really pretty amazed (at his departure)."
Parishioner Dana Novotny has a different view. She and her family left the parish long before the recent firing because "there was no family atmosphere whatsoever," she said.
"Father Richard did not want children participating in the Mass at all," said Novotny, adding that DeMolen eliminated the children's liturgy Mass, reduced religious education programs and stopped a long-standing tradition of serving coffee and doughnuts after Mass.
Novotny does not support the priest's reinstatement, but regrets the circumstances surrounding his departure.
"It's sad that it happened that way," Novotny said.
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