Confusion and consternation are running strong for parishioners at a
Bend, Ore., church whose pastor was removed Oct. 1.
Even members of the
parish council, the finance committee and the stewardship organization
say they have no idea why Fr. James Radloff was relieved of his duties
at St. Francis of Assisi, and they want answers from Bishop Liam Cary.
Parishioners "are largely frustrated based on not knowing any reasons
and not understanding how a priest in good standing could be removed
without any explanation.
A lot of people are angry," said Kristin Wigle,
who resigned as chair of the parish finance committee after Radloff's
ouster.
"We finally had the feeling that our parish was headed in the right
direction," said Wigle, who was baptized, confirmed and married at St.
Francis. "People were coming back to church. They were becoming
Catholic. There was a very positive feel of church. That has been
crushed. Sure, we hope it can be rebuilt, but it is crushed."
Wigle and others said they have heard "rumors of a lot of empty
envelopes" being put into Sunday collection plates as a form of protest.
Pat Klampe also left the finance council as well as the St. Francis Stewards group because of Cary's decision to remove Radloff.
"I've actually liked this bishop," he said of Cary. "He was the new
sheriff in town for the parish and the diocese" and along with Radloff
was "part of our sales pitch, if you will, for people feeling more
welcome, for attracting people back to the parish."
Klampe, a retired consulting engineer, called the process used to remove Radloff "dictatorial and bogus."
"I honestly do not have any idea" why Radloff was removed, he said, "which is, frankly, one of the most upsetting things."
He said part of his disappointment has been "not understanding how
two highly educated adult males seemingly could not communicate ... and
could not come up with a solution" for the good of the parish and
diocese.
"I have heard Father Radloff tried to work with the bishop, but I have not heard the bishop's side of the story," Klampe said.
Cary has refused to discuss reasons for the dismissal, writing in an Oct. 1 letter to St. Francis parishioners
that he was "not at liberty" to do so. That letter also lauded Radloff
for his hard work and accomplishments at the parish, declared that he
remains a priest in good standing, and said the priest did nothing
illegal.
According to a statement Wednesday provided to NCR through
his canonical advisor, Radloff is asking the Vatican Congregation for
Clergy for permission to publicly divulge the reasons Cary used to
justify the formal decree of removal.
Fr. W. Thomas Faucher, a canon lawyer advising Radloff, said Cary
ordered Radloff to obtain the bishop's permission to celebrate Mass or
do other ministry, but because the priest remains in good standing and
has not been convicted of or charged with any church crime, the bishop
could not make such a demand.
According to Radloff's statement:
- On Aug. 1, Cary asked him to resign as pastor;
- the priest "responded by asking for mediation and reconciliation, which requests were rejected";
- Radloff and Faucher were consequently "informed of the five reasons for my removal" by Cary;
- In response, Faucher "submitted a long legal brief rejecting all of the reasons," arguing that they did not meet the criteria for removal found in canon law; and
- Those "detailed objections were simply dismissed by Bishop Cary in one-sentence rejection of them."
On Oct. 18, Radloff filed a brief with the Vatican Congregation for the Clergy, Faucher said..
"Bishop Cary ... has forbidden me or my canonical advisor from
revealing what the reasons are," Radloff's statement notes, adding:
"His statement that 'Father Radloff remains a priest in good standing
and has done nothing illegal,' has resulted in widespread rumors of
every type about me. I want the reasons revealed and made public. ... I
am still in title pastor of St. Francis but have been assigned to a
small mission to serve there without a title. I am to go there in late
November."
Radloff said he had "full confidence in the Congregation" and he
appreciated "we have a Canon Law system with checks and balances -- and
the ability of someone who feels he or she has been wronged to seek
recourse."
Faucher told NCR that the Congregation for Clergy
traditionally has three months from the Oct. 18 filing date to respond.
He said one of three responses is likely: support of the appeal and
reversal of Radloff's removal; rejection of the appeal and confirmation
of the bishop's decree; extension of the congregational review for
another 90 days.
Regardless, Faucher said, "the speculation resulting from the
bishop's move "has done tremendous harm to Father Radloff' and his
reputation."
Multiple calls and emails to diocesan officials have gone unanswered
except for the forwarding of the text of Cary's Oct. 1 letter to
parishioners. In that email, Fr. Richard Fischer, vicar general, wrote:
"Beyond that we are not able to comment further."
Fr. Julian Cassar, who had been rector of St. Francis De Sales
Cathedral Parish in Baker, Ore., was named to take over the St. Francis
leadership role effective Oct. 17. While the cathedral is located in
Baker, diocesan administrative offices are in Bend.
Wigle said parish collections had been "trending upward."
In January,
$94,227 was collected at weekly Masses, up from $83,673 in January
2012, she said. Total 2012 weekly collections was $926,600, up from
$803,488 in 2011.
But she fears they now will "drop significantly and bring us back
into the times of trying to figure out how to make the mortgage payment
if our reserves are depleted."
The parish still owes about $3.5 million on the $6.4 million new
church complex built in recent years. The monthly payment is roughly
$29,000.
Members of the finance committee and parish council were invited to
meet with Cary at his office Oct. 3. Wigle said she and most others
"left with the same sense of frustration as when we came."
She said she followed up with a call to Cary and asked him what she
and others should tell their children when they ask why their pastor is
gone. Cary told her he would think about it and call her back. He did,
she said, telling her that he would tell her children "that there are
things that happen in life that we cannot explain."
Saying that he was "really not in a position to comment" on the
pastoral change, parish council chairman Chuck Nichols said, "It is a
sensitive situation. We really do not know all that is involved. I
suggest you talk to the bishop."
Unlike Nichols, parish council members Rose Anne Hyman and Pete
Pierce are vocal in their frustration. Both criticized what Pierce
called "a lack of transparency" in Radloff's removal.
"I do not understand or comprehend this," Hyman said. "There has been
no explanation whatsoever. We as parishioners have a right and duty to
find out what the truths are. Otherwise, people tend to make up their
own truths, to gossip, and so on, and this rips apart all the good work
the people and Fr. Radloff have done, and it hurts his reputation and
good name."
From multiple interviews and media coverage comments, three potential motivations for Cary's move surfaced:
- Tension between Radloff and the bishop over Cary's transfer of popular priest Fr. Juan Carlos Chiarinoti from the largely Hispanic ministry at St. Francis to another assignment.
- Focused and vocal opposition to some of Radloff's pastoral efforts.
- Parish staff friction over administrative initiatives by Radloff.
Radloff apparently openly opposed Carlos' transfer, a move that caused Cary to bristle.
In a May 7 open letter to St. Francis parishioners,
the bishop chided a petition-gathering effort backing Carlos' remaining
at St. Francis as "out of place."
He said it "thrust into public view
matters that must be dealt with in private and whetted the appetite for
an explanation that could not be forthcoming."
"From the start," the bishop wrote, "such an organized protest was
guaranteed to stir up confusion and division, and it did. And it set a
bad example for other parishes as well."
Cary directly chastised Radloff: "In launching this movement to
pressure me to do what he wanted, your pastor made a very serious error
of judgment. He actively recruited you to stand with him against your
bishop. ... On the day of his ordination, a priest places his hands
between those of the bishop and publicly promises 'respect and
obedience' to him and his successors. ... To build up the unity of the
Church, priests must be willing to walk the way of obedience; and a
bishop must be able to count on his priests to be true to their
promise."
Carlos is not included on the clergy personnel list on the diocesan website.
Canon lawyer Faucher said Cary has said he consulted widely --
including canonists and other bishops -- before issuing the decree for
removal of Radloff; however "he does not provide names."
Radloff assumed the reins of St. Francis in early 2011, a little more than a year before Cary was installed as bishop.
Cary celebrated all Masses at St. Francis the weekend of Oct. 5-6,
making time after each Mass for parishioners to visit with him.
The Baker diocese is one of the most geographically challenged in the
United States, covering 17 counties and almost 67,000 square miles in
eastern Oregon -- more than one and a half times the size of Tennessee.
The Catholic population stands at 34,375, less than 7 percent of the
area's 526,760 residents, according to the diocesan website.