Former Pastor of St. Leo in Bonita Springs Removed from Priesthood

By Christina Cepero
News-Press
October 25, 2012

http://www.news-press.com/article/20121024/NEWS0102/121024005/Former-pastor-St-Leo-Bonita-Springs-removed-from-priesthood?odyssey=nav|head

The former pastor of St. Leo Catholic Church in Bonita Springs is no longer a priest, according to a decision from a three-judge panel of priests from outside the Diocese of Venice.

Bishop Frank Dewane issued a letter to parishioners explaining the outcome of the canonical trial.

"By collegial decision, the judges discerned a pattern which demonstrated that Stanislaw Strycharz violated his fiduciary responsibilities to the Parish, his priestly promise to celibacy, and his promise of obedience to his Ordinary," Dewane wrote. "They declared that Mr. Strycharz no longer has the 'power, office, function, right, privilege, faculty, favor, title or insignia' of the ministerial priesthood. This means that he is unable to function anywhere as a priest."

Strycharz had the representation of a lawyer chosen by him, completely independent of the diocese, according to Dewane's letter.

The bishop placed the priest on leave from St. Leo in July 2010 because Strycharz had previously fathered a child and was allegedly responsible for more than $1 million missing from church coffers, the majority of which went to paying the priest's personal credit cards and statements.

The Save the Southwest Florida Diocese, a group of church members and Strycharz supporters, hired a nationally known forensic auditing firm to study St. Leo finances and come to its own conclusion whether funds were misused.

The Financial Valuation Group of Fort Lauderdale's investigation found no misappropriation of funds at St. Leo. The diocese's accounting firm, Larson Allen, said there were problems based on the opinion there was poor record keeping. The diocese maintained Strycharz had personal credit cards that accounted for nearly $665,000 in undocumented expenses.

Strycharz has said he was removed from St. Leo after defying the bishop's orders to fire the church's music director without a reason.

Strycharz, who was at St. Leo for five years, played a key role in increasing St. Leo's parishioners to 2,200 families and oversaw a $21 million church expansion from 900 to 1,500 seats in 2009.

A native of Poland, Strycharz had been a priest since May 1991. He was ordained as a priest in the Diocese of Venice and attended Orchard Lake Seminary in Detroit. Strycharz served at the Epiphany Cathedral in Venice and at San Marco Church on Marco Island before going to Bonita.