A group of parishioners from St. Teresa Catholic Church in South Buffalo is asking the pope's representative in the United States to reverse the recent removals of the parish's administrator and business manager.A petition being circulated among parishioners is protesting Bishop Edward U. Kmiec's decision to remove Monsignor Fred R. Voorhes as administrator and Marc J. Pasquale as business manager.
The dismissals came after Voorhes and Pasquale had asked the Diocese of Buffalo to examine whether there had been any financial irregularities at the parish when it was overseen by a different priest and bookkeeper.
Pasquale took his concerns to the Erie County district attorney's office and was later fired.
Diocesan officials have declined to specify their reasons for the highly unusual removals, but they denied that the dismissals had anything to do with the two men having possibly raised questions about financial accountability in the parish.
Some parishioners were outraged by the bishop's actions and demanded more information about why.
"Nobody's answering any questions," parishioner Toni Bistany said. "We want to know how these large sums of money disappeared."
Bistany said weekly parish collections under Voorhees and Pasquale were $4,000 to $5,000 … double what the church was collecting before their arrivals last fall.
"There's a big difference," she said. "It's shameful that this should happen. There's a big coverup somewhere."
In a petition letter addressed to Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to the United States, and Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York, the signers called for an investigation into Kmiec's actions and into the involvement of his secretary, Monsignor David G. LiPuma, in the matter.
The petition accuses LiPuma of having a "vendetta" against Pasquale.
"Bishop Kmiec has caused grave scandal to the parishioners of St. Teresa's and all Catholics in the Buffalo area," the petition reads.
The petition also calls upon Sambi to place "sanctions" on the bishop and LiPuma.
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