Priest Pulled from Longtime Parish Post

By Jay Tokasz
Buffalo News
January 16, 2012

http://www.buffalonews.com/city/communities/downtown/article711762.ece

The longtime pastor of a downtown Catholic church was hastily removed from his post over the weekend with little explanation from Diocese of Buffalo officials.

The Rev. Secondo Casarotto, a fixture at St. Anthony of Padua Parish for more than 25 years, was absent from Masses this weekend.

Priests serving in his place at the Masses read a statement from the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo indicating that Casarotto had been removed. No definitive reason was provided for the removal, which shocked parishioners of the small church.

The statement read: “In consultation with Bishop Kmiec and Father Matthew Didone, Provincial Superior of the Scalabrinian Fathers, Father Secondo has been placed on administrative leave of absence. Father Secondo has been called back to the Scalabrinian Provincial House for his leave. He requests your prayers and assures you of his prayers as well.”

The statement also said that Monsignor Fred Voorhes would be assigned as temporary administrator, effective Feb. 1, and the Rev. Charles Amico, a faculty member of Christ the King Seminary, would celebrate Masses until Voorhes’ arrival.

St. Anthony of Padua Parish, founded as an Italian parish and located on Court Street in the shadow of City Hall, was founded in 1891 and has been led by Casarotto since the mid-1980s. The church still offers a Mass in Italian; it also is one of the few churches where the traditional Latin Mass is celebrated.

Casarotto, who is not a Buffalo diocesan priest, is part of the missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo, otherwise known as the Scalabrini Fathers, a worldwide order of clerics who have a provincial office on Staten Island.

A call to the Staten Island office was not returned Sunday.

A man who answered the door at the St. Anthony of Padua rectory Sunday referred all questions to Kevin A. Keenan, spokesman for the diocese.

Keenan declined to comment beyond providing a copy of the statement supplied to parishioners.

Casarotto’s removal as pastor was the third unexplained ouster within the past several weeks in the diocese.

The Rev. Arthur Smith was removed as pastor from St. Mary of the Lake Church in Hamburg with little explanation. Smith had served less than two years of an appointment that typically spans six years. He was replaced temporarily by Monsignor James Wall, while the diocese conducts a search for a permanent replacement.

Before Christmas, the Rev. Joseph Sicari was removed as pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Bowmansville, where he had been for less than a year. Monsignor Frederick D. Leising is now serving as pastor.

Sicari had served as diocesan director of Catholic Charities. He took a leave of absence before accepting the post at Sacred Heart.

Contact: jtokasz@buffnews.com