Nevada priest, Fr Richard DeMolen, who was fired as pastor of Our Lady of Tahoe Church for seeking a protective order against a deacon after receiving a death threat, has sued the Reno diocese and Bishop Randolph Calvo. Fr DeMolensaid in the lawsuit that Calvo forced him to withdraw the protective order and failed to investigate the death threat, the Reno Gazette Journal reports.
Bishop Calvo then fired DeMolen, the suit said, and sent a letter to parishioners that contained "false and defamatory statements."
Calvo's actions have caused "emotional distress, mental anguish, humiliation, harm to reputation, embarrassment, loss of enjoyment ... and harm to career," the suit said. Damages were not specified.
DeMolen's lawyer, Jeffrey Dickerson, said the priest also hopes to be reinstated but doesn't know if that's possible given the relationship with Calvo.
"He loves his parish, he loves his job, he loves what he was doing," Dickerson said. "The difficulty is the bishop and whether he'll be in the way of the father's good efforts."
Brother Matthew Cunningham said the diocese does not comment on pending litigation.
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