A onetime supporter of the excommunicated and laicized priest Dale
Fushek says that his former pastor's new memoir doesn't tell the real
story of the man he knew – who began as a “faithful” and “holy” priest,
but was led astray by a sense of self-importance.
Fushek has accused Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of Phoenix of wishing for
his death and forcing him out of the Church because of a personal
grudge.
In his new memoir “The Unexpected Life,” he defends his decision
to found a non-Catholic “worship center,” which caused his
excommunication from the Catholic Church.
Fushek recently told the
Arizona Republic that he “never left the Catholic Church – they left
me.”
But Deacon Dick Peterson, who says he was once among Fushek's “loyal
soldiers,” said that the former priest developed a problem with
authority, and couldn't bear to have his decisions questioned, even by
the Vatican.
Eventually, Deacon Peterson recalled, Fushek went his own
way out of wounded pride when Bishop Olmsted suspended him over sex
abuse allegations that later resulted in a plea bargain.
“He was extremely popular, and extremely successful – and extremely
holy and good, at the beginning,” said Deacon Dick Peterson, who
attributes his own ministry to a “conversion experience” in which Fushek
played a major role. He and his wife came to St. Timothy's, a large
parish that Fushek led for 20 years, in 1987.
“He did marvelous things for a lot of people, including me,” Deacon
Peterson told CNA. For at least a decade, he said, “our parish was
really very positive, and very faithful.”
“It started to change around the year 2000,” he recalled. “Things
started to become less faithful, and there was a little bit more
'pushing the envelope' with the liturgy – with what could be done, and
what couldn't be done.”
Some of Fushek's innovations became the basis for the “Life Teen”
youth ministry program, which has continued since his departure.
But
Deacon Peterson – who remains a supporter of Life Teen – said that
Fushek's attitude changed when his liturgical decisions came under the
scrutiny of Church authorities.
“As the Vatican started to look at these things, some of them were
said to be inappropriate,” Peterson explained.
“It was about the same
time that some of the liturgical things we were doing started to be
questioned, that he started to become grumpy – questioning the Vatican,
and that kind of thing.”
“When it came to questioning him, it didn't happen – it just didn't
happen,” the deacon said.
“It was an arrogant kind of an attitude.”
But Bishop Olmsted's predecessor, Bishop Thomas J. O'Brien, allowed
Fushek – who was his vicar general – to lead the parish in the way he
saw fit.
“People in the diocese used to talk about us as 'the Diocese of
St. Tim's,' like we were off here by ourselves doing whatever we wanted
to do,” said Deacon Peterson. “To a degree, that was true.”
He explained that Fushek steered the parish toward a style of worship
that blended the Catholic Mass with elements of non-denominational
Protestant services.
“We were considered a very 'charismatic' parish,”
the deacon said. “Everybody's hands in the air, a lot of that kind of
thing – saying 'Alleluia' all over the place, doing certain things when
the rubrics said we shouldn't be.”
“When the liturgical changes started to be called into question,
that's when Dale started to become something other than the faithful,
holy person that I knew him to be,” said Deacon Peterson.
Yet Fushek's life would take an even more dramatic turn, as he faced
serious questions about his involvement in a diocese-wide sex abuse
scandal that came to light in 2002.
That year, Fushek finally told St. Timothy's parishioners that the
diocese had settled out of court in 1995 with a former Life Teen
employee who accused him of sexual harassment.
But the Phoenix diocese's
change in leadership coincided with further allegations against him, on
10 counts that included indecent exposure and contributing to the
delinquency of a minor.
“It was shortly after Bishop Olmsted became bishop, that the
allegations started coming out against him,” Deacon Peterson noted. “But
that wasn't Bishop Olmsted's doing.”
The new bishop responded to the
legal charges by suspending Fushek from ministry in December 2004.
“There was nothing Bishop Olmsted could do. He had to put Fushek on
administrative leave. And when he did, things just went south – big
time.”
The associate pastor at St. Timothy's took Fushek's place, along with
a visiting priest.
“Dale had an apartment somewhere in Phoenix, and
went over there to live. From there, he never came back.”
“He never came back to St. Timothy's – and he started a Protestant church of his own, about four miles away from us.”
Fushek would eventually plead guilty, in 2010, to one count of
misdemeanor assault. He was formally dismissed from the priesthood the
same year.
By that time, however, he had already brought several hundred
of his former parishioners from St. Timothy's over to the new
nondenominational “Praise and Worship Center” that he started in
December 2007.
Because of his decision to establish a non-Catholic worship
community, Bishop Olmsted declared in December of 2008 that Fushek,
along with his fellow priest Fr. Mark Dippre, were excommunicated.
Because the worship services at the center originally featured only
music and preaching, Fushek has tried to maintain that Catholics could
attend in good conscience.
But the opposition has become more open, with
Fushek reportedly holding communion services and appearing in priestly
attire on the cover of his memoir.
Peterson believes “Pastor Dale” is now clearly competing with his former parish and other locations in the diocese.
“He was so angry with everybody – from Bishop Olmsted, down to
anybody who wouldn't just follow his lead – that he was out to draw
people away from St. Timothy's, and any other place he could draw them
away from.”
“He had his service on Sunday, at 10:30, which is the exact same time
we have our biggest Mass at St. Timothy's. Some of my best friends
aren't my friends anymore, because I can't keep my mouth shut when they
start trying to tell me I should come to the Praise and Worship Center.”
“They're even receiving Communion there. He's doing all kinds of things that are just wrong.”
Fushek has accused Bishop Olmsted of hoping he would commit suicide, a
charge that Deacon Peterson says is absurd.
“I know him as well as I've
known any bishop,” said the deacon, who served as the first director of
pro-life activities for the diocese.
“He has not one ounce of
vindictiveness in his whole body. He's the most fair person you'll ever
meet in your whole life.”
Ultimately, Deacon Peterson attributes Fushek's break with the Church to “ego.”
“We pray for him constantly,” he said.
“But for him to try to put
himself out as a victim, and Bishop Olmsted as the perpetrator, that's
just not right.”