The Rev. Richard Tusky broke canon law and diocesan policies, but committed no civil crime when he failed to properly account for money given to his parishes, Bishop David Zubik wrote to parishioners at Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Parish in Harrison and St. Joseph Parish in Natrona Heights. Father Tusky resigned as pastor of both parishes on Feb. 26 when diocesan officials confronted him with allegations of financial impropriety.
"Decisions were routinely made by Father Tusky that not only violated the universal law of the church, diocesan policy and his oath as pastor, but appear to have been done so deliberately and consistently," Bishop Zubik wrote.
"If Father Tusky had not resigned earlier, I would have had no choice but to ask him to resign as a result of the investigation."
Failure to follow the rules "led to cash being stored and spent without any oversight or record. It is impossible to establish with any certainty the amount of funds that may or may not be missing since the cash was never properly accounted for or monitored."
But he remains a priest in good standing and will be reassigned elsewhere, said the Rev. Ronald Lengwin, spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh.
Blessed Sacrament parishioner Lisa Malobicky has defended Father Tusky, saying he restored financial and spiritual vitality to the parish. The mishandled funds were minor matters that lay leaders knew about, she said.
"I'm numb. We're not surprised that he didn't [break the law]. We know he's clean. He's a good man," she said.
Bishop Zubik's letter, mailed Wednesday, said both a diocesan audit and one by external fraud investigators showed that "Father Tusky handled cash belonging to the parishes without the checks and balances required both by diocesan policies and accepted accounting practices and procedures, not to mention your expectations of proper stewardship."
Among the issues were the recording of donations for Mass intentions, income from rental property and an estate sale donated to the parish.
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