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	Priest Accused of Misconduct Offered State Job Associated Press, carried in CBS 3 November 19, 2009 http://cbs3.com/wireapnewsde/Episcopal.priest.accused.2.1323056.html WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) ¯ An Episcopal priest who was relieved of his duties because of alleged misconduct with a female parishioner has been offered a state government job. The Rev. Robert Broesler, pastor of St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Wilmington, is scheduled to start working Monday for the Department of Health and Social Services. Meanwhile, a hearing is scheduled Wednesday in a lawsuit in which Broesler, who denies any misconduct, claims church officials have wrongfully denied him pay and benefits and have indirectly tried to dissolve his pastoral relationship without following the required process. Broesler, 54, is asking a Chancery Court judge for a restraining order to prevent church officials from taking further steps to jeopardize his position as a tenured pastor pending the outcome of church proceedings, or using his acceptance of the state job against him. According to the lawsuit, Broesler was forced to seek other employment after the vestry at St. Barnabas voted in June to stop paying him. He was last paid in mid-August, and his home is subject to foreclosure, according to court records. "Reverend Broesler is in dire financial straights (sic) because his contract has been breached and his compensation has been wrongfully terminated," his lawsuit reads. DHSS spokesman Carl Kanefsky said Broesler has been offered a job with the Division of State Services, which provides individuals and families access to a variety of DHSS programs and services. Kanefsky did not have specifics of the job description but said the position was posted, and that Broesler emerged as a top candidate after his application was vetted and references checked. But under church law, a priest may lose his benefits if he resigns or obtains secular employment without the consent of the bishop. "He was between a rock and a hard place," said Broesler's lawyer, Richard Weir. According to court records, Broesler asked Rt. Rev. Wayne Wright, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Delaware, to consent to temporary secular employment, but received what Broesler believes to be an ambiguous response that leaves his future as a priest at risk if he takes the state job. Last week, Wright informed the vestry that Broesler was no longer acting in a clerical capacity, and that his name should be removed from publications and documents. "That raises a question, 'Is he going to get sandbagged?'" said Weir, who is seeking expedited handling of the lawsuit but was told by Vice-Chancellor J. Travis Laster that the first hearing would be held Tuesday or Wednesday, after the scheduled start of Broesler's state job. "I recognize this approach forces Rev. Broesler to decide whether to start his secular employment on November 23, 2009. If he does, and if the defendants wrongfully impose consequences on him, I believe I can address and remedy the situation at a later date," wrote Laster, adding that responses from the bishop and St. Barnabas were due Monday. Anne Foster, an attorney for Wright, declined immediate comment Thursday, saying she would need to speak first with the bishop. An attorney representing St. Barnabas and its vestry did not immediately return a telephone message. Weir said the next step in the church proceeding is an ecclesiastical trial on the allegations of misconduct, which Weir blamed on the disgruntled ex-husband of a St. Barnabas parishioner who alleged that Broesler had an inappropriate relationship with his wife that destroyed their marriage. "That's just not true," said Weir, adding that the ex-wife and priest have filed affidavits denying any such relationship.
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