St Mary’s
Church
P0 Box 441
Jamesville, NY 13078
Tuesday.
February 5, 2008
His
Eminence Claudia Hummes, OFM, Cardinal, Prefect
Congregation for the Clergy
Palazzo Dello Congregazioni
Piazza Pio XII 3
00193
Re:
Hierarchical Recourse
Dear
Cardinal Hummes:
The
purpose of this letter is to begin the administrative recourse process against
Msgr. I Robert Yeazel in the
On
October 6, 2006 Saint Mary’s Church in
In
June 2006, Bishop Moynihan directed that planning begin for reconfiguration in
the Diocese of Syracuse. In his directive, the Bishop stated “We will need to
work together to invite many to ministry, to offer creative solutions to
complex challenges, and to be committed to a changing Church.” as well as
stating that “Our focus is on creating or maintaining “viable” parishes.” This
is in accordance with his 2001 letter, “Equipping the Saint for the Work of
Ministry” (attachment #2). He asked each
Pastoral Care Area (PCA) to provide plans on how that area could function with
half the number of priests. The PCA planning teams were made up of the Parish
Council President, Vice President, and Trustees from each parish. We were
informed by Msgr. Yeazel that the churches in our PCA
were: Saint Mary’s, Holy Cross, Our Lady of Solace, and Saint Therese (attachment #3).
During the discussions it became apparent that Saint Therese and Our Lady of
Solace, who shared a single priest, were unable to work together. At that point
Msgr. Yeazel decided that Saint Mary’s Parish and
Holy Cross Parish would continue to meet apart from Saint Therese Parish and
Our Lady of Solace Parish to formulate a plan for Saint Mary’s and Holy Cross.
He proposed that Saint Therese and Our Lady of Solace submit their own plan (attachment #4). Our Lady of Solace and Saint Therese
both remain open today.
The
Our
appeal was filed in May of 2007 with the Congregation for the Clergy. Masses
were continued at Saint Mary’s Church until June 30, 2007. Since that time
Msgr. Yeazel has refused to make Mass available to his parishioners at Saint Maxy’s. The Bishop has
never responded to any requests for weekend liturgies during the administrative recourse process nor asked Msgr. Yeazel to do so
(see appeal Congregation Pro
Clerics Prot. N. 20071311, Apostolic Nunciature of the
US File No. 5922).
When the parishioners of Saint Mary’s first
entered into the vigil upon closure in
June 2007 it was recommended by
a canon lawyer that communion services should be held. In place of Masses, we
held prayer services until December 24, 2007. On December 24, 2007 we held our
first Conmiunion service. As the Mass should have continued and
was not, it seemed that a communion service
would be a proper laity led alternative allowed by the
Msgr.
Yeazel has also been remiss in his duties
to the physical patrimony of the parishioners of Saint Mary’s. In 2004 estimates were obtained for repair of
the church roof. In July 2006 the steeple and entryway roof needed to be replaced. Bids were
received and one was
accepted from Clarks Home Improvement (attachment #16), In a letter dated
June 21, 2007, Msgr. Yeazel stated that these roof repairs had been started (attachment #17). As of today, no repairs have been
made on the roof of the church. When the roof started leaking this winter, several parishioners had to make patch repairs as
necessary. The roof of the rectory is
also damaged and has not been repaired to date.
On January 14,2008 members
of Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church entered Saint Mary’s Church and spoke to two parishioners about renting the
space. They asked for Father Bob, and looked at both the rectory and the
church building. They said they were looking for a place of worship to hold services (attachment # 18). While our first appeal is in process
the suspension of administrative acts
does not allow the building to
be rented or sold.
After 217 days of vigil Msgr. Yeazel,
along with Bishop Moynihan, arrived at Saint Mary’s Church building at approximately
10:00am on January 30, 2008. They
arrived at our church building along with several unmarked police cars
and plain clothed officers. The St.
Mary’s parishioner holding vigil asked them for identification. Our parishioner felt he had no choice but to
leave (attachment #19). This is in direct
opposition to canon law, which states that a stay is in order until the
In late October 2006, Msgr. Yeazel
canceled the last PCA planning meeting and submitted an incomplete plan, which failed to address the points required by the
Bishop from each PCA (attachment #5). This document was used by the
When parishioners
received a copy of the incomplete plan submitted by Msgr. Yeazel,
the PCA planning team from St. Mary’s took it upon themselves
to write additional documentation
to support option four of his plan (attachment # 7). This was the only option that
recommended Saint Mary’s Parish remain open. Because Saint Mary’s Parish failed to meet any of the 13 triggers to start
a conversation on merger or
closure that the Bishop created
at the beginning of the reconfiguration
process (attachment # 8) and was a vibrant, growing, financially solvent faith community, we felt this was the only viable option. At
that time, however, we were not aware of the many jxints requested by the Bishop and the 13 triggers, as Msgr. Yeazel
only gave us a truncated list in his June 2006 letter (attachment #3). Our supplemental documentation, therefore, addressed only those six questions put forth by Msgr. Yeazel to the parishioners of Saint Mary’s in his
letter.
In late September and early October, Msgr.
Yeazel held “listening sessions” at St. Mary’s Church. These sessions were meant to be
opportunities for the parishioners of St. Mary’s Parish to ask questions about becoming a
mission and well as to voice opinions on the upcoming reconfiguration. At both sessions
Msgr. Yeazel spoke for over half the allotted time and allowed only fifteen to twenty minutes for parishioner
questions and concerns.
It has only recently come to light that
There
has been a serious lack of stewardship and fiduciary
responsibility regarding our financial patrimony by Msgr. Yeazel. On Monday, May 7, 2007 Msgr.
Yeazel attended
a meeting with a group of Saint
Maiy’s parishioners.
At this meeting he stated
he would be willing to sell the
church for $1.00. Since the time of our closure on June 30,2007, Msgr. Yeazel has not confirmed
that our monies have been held
in endowment as promised by Msgr. Yeazel previous
to
closure (attachment #10). In addition, a former
pastor of Saint Mary’s, Father John Daley, left a large bequest to the parish.
We have never received word that this money, totaling in excess of 100,000, has
been placed in the endowment fund for the parish of Saint Mary’s. We have
attempted to contact Msgr. Yeazel to discuss these
issues but have received no answer (attachment #11).
Prior
to closure one of St. Mary’s
Parish Corporation trustees, Dave Thompson, decided to become a parishioner of
On
Friday, June 29, 2007 a locksmith entered Saint Mary’s Church and started to
change the locks on all the doors. As the appeal to the
At
the late September — early October 2006 “listening sessions” and following
meetings Msgr. Yeazel implied that the religious
education program for grades 1-4 would remain at Saint Mary’s Church for the
residents of Jamesville (attachment #10). For
years the children of Saint Mary’s have been dismissed from school for one hour
during the day to attend classes in the church. This put no strain on the
parents and all teachers were volunteers. At the beginning of the 2007- 2008
school year parents received a letter stating that they would need to bring their
children from
From
the time Saint Mary’s became a mission of
A
press release was issued on January 30, 2008 by Bishop Moynihan saying,
“Historically, the
As a
result of the above, we now submit our petition to you seeking the assistance
of the Congregation for the Clergy because of Msgr. Yeazel’s
disregard for the administrative recourse process and our physical and
spiritual patrimony. We continue to seek the following:
1.
Weekend masses in
the building at St. Mary’s in the community of Jamesville;
2.
Financial records
provided to the St. Mary’s Finance Chair on a monthly basis;
3.
Full disclosure
on Fr. John Daley’s endowment to St. Mary’s parish; and
4.
Physical
patrimony management in accordance with Canon Law. ie. The keys of properties for maintenance and safety
purposes should be provided
to St. Mary’s Building and Grounds Chair.
For the last seven months we have proven our ability to sustain and manage the
Saint Mary’s parish through 100% involvement of the laity and without
assistance from a priest or member of the diocese. All we are seeking is a
priest to say Mass and perform sacraments. We do not understand why Saint
Mary’s, a vital, financially solvent, and growing community should be closed,
since we are not a burden on the diocese. We sffive
to meet the directive put forth by Bishop Moynihan in 2001 to make the laity
more involved in order to reduce the burden placed on priests. We suggest using
the
In
conclusion, we are submitting this petition to begin the administrative
recourse process against Msgr. J. Robert Yeazel in
the
1.
Msgr. Yeazel has disregarded the requirements for the
reconfiguration process as outlined by Bishop Moynihan.
2.
He has also
disregarded canon law while Saint Mary’s appeal is pending, and as such has
lapsed in his duties to care for the spiritual and physical patrimony of the
parishioners of Saint Mary’s Parish in
We
thank you for your consideration in this matter and look forward to your
response.
Sincerely
in Christ,
Saint
Mary’s Parish Council and Parishioners
(attached: 67
Signatures)