By Mary Wozniak
News-Press
December 6, 2011
http://www.news-press.com/article/20111206/NEWS0102/312060002/1115/news0119/Exclusive-my-heart-ll-always-priest-?odyssey=nav|head
[with video]
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| The Rev. Stan Strycharz has been removed as pastor at the St. Leo Catholic Church by Bishop Frank Dewane. / Andrew West/news-press.com |
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| Father Stan Strycharz, the former pastor at the St. Leo Catholic Church talked to the News-Press about the last 16 months after being relieved of his duties as administrator of the Bonita Springs church. He says he is ready to move on with a new chapter his life. / Andrew West/news-press.com |
The Rev. Stan Strycharz now walks with a lighter step, like a man who has just let a heavy burden slip from his shoulders.
The former pastor of St. Leo Catholic Church in Bonita Springs said he is starting a new life and no longer fears the future.
"Father Stan" may soon be just plain "Stan." The priest has been put on trial by the Diocese of Venice under canon law, the governing law of the church.
The remainder of the trial will last about six months, Billy Atwell, diocese spokesman, said in an emailed response to News-Press questions.
The outcome could be acquittal, varying degrees of suspension, or defrocking, he said.
But the verdict may not matter.
"In my heart I'll always be a priest, but I don't see how trust can be restored after it is broken," Strycharz said.
Strycharz spoke with The News-Press in his first one-on-one interview since being put on forced leave July 23, 2010, by Bishop Frank Dewane, head of the diocese.
Strycharz's words provide a glimpse behind the secrecy that shrouds a diocese that operates as much like a mega-corporation as it does a spiritual organization.
In that scenario, the CEO would be the bishop, whose word is considered law.
Documents and emails exchanged between Dewane and Strycharz and his representatives depict a rigid hierarchy.
They also highlight the yawning chasm between those members who push for the church to allow priests' marriage, the ordination of women, promotion of dialogue and academic freedom, and the opening of finances against those who fight to maintain tradition.
The diocese says the reasons Strycharz is on trial are that he broke the priestly vow of celibacy by fathering a child, broke the vow of obedience and breached his financial responsibility to his parish.
So why did Strycharz break his vow of celibacy?
"I fell in love," Strycharz said.
He met his daughter's mother while attended graduate school to earn a doctorate in psychology.
Their daughter is now 6½ years old.
"She is the light of my life," Strycharz said.
And his relationship with her mother?
"We are trying to be friends, and be parents," Strycharz said.
Mother and daughter live out of state. He declined to give their names.
"I am asking everyone for privacy, because I do want to protect my daughter," he said. "Any dad understands."
Strycharz does not financially support his daughter. He is lucky, he said.
"Her mother is a well-respected, professional woman" who can provide financial support, he said. Meanwhile, the diocese has cut Strycharz's salary to $500 per month.
He told the story of how Bishop John Nevins, who was Dewane's predecessor and considered a father figure by Strycharz, came to know of his daughter's existence.
"Bishop Nevins called me on the phone in 2006 and he said, 'We have received an anonymous letter that you have a child.' and before I could say anything, he said, 'You know there is a policy in the diocese that we do not investigate anonymous letters.'"
Not another word was said, Strycharz said.
In 2008, Strycharz was called to a meeting with Dewane, who said he had received an anonymous letter saying Strycharz had a child.
"He confronted me," Strycharz said. "He did show me a baptismal certificate with my daughter's name. First I said, 'You know, I don't know what that is about.'"
The bishop left the room, Strycharz said. The priest turned to the Msgr. Edward Moretti, who was also in the room.
"I told him the whole story," Strycharz said. Moretti has since died.
When the bishop returned, Strycharz says he repeated the story and gave the bishop his keys to the church, thinking that was his last day at St. Leo. He asked the bishop to be good to the employees and parishioners.
Strycharz said Dewane asked him, "Did God forgive you?" Strycharz responded, "I know in my heart that God forgave me. I am a much better man and priest."
He says Dewane replied, "Well, if God forgave you, I forgive you too."
Atwell, the diocese spokesman, wrote in response to that assertion: "If Father Strycharz is standing by the position that he is guilty of no wrongdoing, then I do not know what he would want forgiveness for. Let us recall, all actions bear responsibility — and forgiveness is certainly a constituent part of faith — but the consequences of action is not canceled when forgiven."
Strycharz said Dewane promised to keep the child's existence confidential, then blurted out the news two years later at a Sunday Mass just after the priest was put on leave — with Strycharz sitting in the congregation. Strycharz considers that a breach of trust.
"The information regarding Father's child was made known through the parishioners and was already in the public arena, so there should have never been an expectation of confidentiality on the part of Father Strycharz," Atwell wrote. "It was that type of activity that concerned Bishop, in light of Father's priestly commitments."
The priest and his supporters believe the downward spiral in his relationship with the bishop began when Strycharz defied the bishop when he refused to fire the church music director and the religious education director.
Strycharz said he refused because they had done nothing wrong.
He and his supporters, a group called Save the Southwest Florida Diocese, believe the bishop's subsequent actions are in retaliation.
The diocese also alleges that the priest misused almost $1 million in church funds.
Strycharz held a press conference Tuesday to declare his innocence, his first public statement in almost 17 months.
His supporters hired the Financial Valuation Group, a nationally known forensic auditor from Fort Lauderdale, to conduct their own audit and examine the diocese's audit done by Larson Allen.
Michael Crain, a principal with FVG, said its report and Larson Allen's report came to the same conclusion: There was no fraud or misappropriation of funds, but there was poor bookkeeping. That is, there was not adequate documentation or receipts for many of the charges listed on credit card statements the church reimbursed the priest for.
An example is a $548 charge at Sunshine Ace Hardware in August 2009, Crain said. The statement does not say what the money was spent on, so they had to rely on Strycharz's memory and written explanation. The priest said the money was for faucets and plumbing supplies, filters, locks and building maintenance items at the time of church renovation, Crain said. Strycharz also provided a list of 90 names that could help corroborate some of the charges, Crain said.
Moreover, the diocese had known about the poor bookkeeping since 2003, the year before Strycharz came to St. Leo, Crain said.
Atwell rebutted: "The Financial Valuation Group's 'findings' that Father Stan is not guilty of misappropriation of parish funds is used as a straw man argument against what the Larson Allen report really says. The Larson Allen report concludes that Father breached his fiduciary responsibility to the parish, and that there was about $1 million in questionable or undocumented expenses, which is different than misappropriation. Father and his attorney offered no justification to the independent auditors for the expenses on his personal credit card which were paid for with parish funds. The Diocese stands by the findings of the Larson Allen report.
"If Father had been forthright and collaborative in providing supportive documentation, we would not find ourselves in the present situation," Atwell wrote. "As of today, no additional information has been provided to Larson Allen or the Diocese regarding these questionable and undocumented expenses."
Strycharz and his supporters believe his press conference cleared his name.
He and his supporters feel relieved, "but it is a bittersweet relief. I think none of our lives are the same after what happened. So many people are hurt, and now we need healing."
Strycharz said he will now be free to be more of a father to his daughter.
"I missed so much of her life," he said. "I don't want to miss one more day."
Strycharz grew up on a farm in Poland. He joined the 1980s Solidarity movement to overthrow communism in Poland and stood shoulder to shoulder at age 18 with Lech Walesa, leader of the movement, at a Krakow demonstration. He didn't know Walesa personally, merely shook his hand. That was enough for the KGB to haul Strycharz away for interrogation.
"I was inspired by Solidarity, by the way the church truly stood behind the movement to abolish the injustice of communism," Strycharz said. "It was a fight that we thought was impossible to win."
He decided to become a priest.
"We always thought about America" he said of his family. "We would have an American flag in our room one of the relatives had smuggled in. I felt the church there needed priests. I felt it was more open. I think priests were more connected to people."
He came to the United States to finish his studies and was ordained in 1991 by Nevins, with whom he is still very close.
Strycharz became pastor of St. Leo in 2005.
"What I have done in the parish, I believe, speaks for itself," he said. In his tenure, membership doubled to about 2,400 families and he oversaw fundraising and construction for an $11 million addition. Now the bishop has taken his name off the church bulletin, he can no longer wear priestly garb, and a plaque with his name dedicating the new addition has been ripped from the wall.
"Through this process I understand what we really have is one another," Strycharz said. "No one can take away our relationships, the difference we make in each others' lives.
"It is not buildings. How we love one another. Kindness. How we help one another. No one can take it away. Not even the bishop."
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