BRIDGEPORT,
Sunday, March 30, 2008, 12:30 p.m. - In response to the filing
of Bethany D'Erario v. St. John's Roman Catholic Church, et.
al., the Diocese of Bridgeport has issued the following statement:
"The
complaint, Bethany D'Erario v. St. John's Roman Catholic
Church, et. al., is without merit.
Bethany
D'Erario first threatened to sue St. John's Roman Catholic Church
and the Diocese of Bridgeport in January of this year, approximately
17 months after she had voluntarily resigned from her position
as the business manager and bookkeeper of St. John's Parish.
We reviewed the complaint that had been mailed to us by Ms.
D'Erario's attorney and determined that it contained numerous
inaccurate allegations.
"Accordingly,
our attorney sent a letter [published below]
to Ms. D'Erario's attorney, a copy of which is attached hereto,
noting some of the significant factual and legal inaccuracies
in the complaint and discouraging Ms. D'Erario from proceeding
with her meritless complaint.
"Unfortunately,
Ms. D'Erario has decided to file a lawsuit against the Parish
and the Diocese in an apparent effort to seek money to which
she is not entitled. Although it is not practical to point out
all of the false and inaccurate assertions in Ms. D'Erario's
complaint, some of the more important truthful facts in this
matter are set forth below:
Fact:
Ms. D'Erario had been aware of Jude Fay's financial wrongdoing
and other improper conduct for approximately three years before
it was reported to the Diocese.
Fact:
Almost immediately after Father Michael Madden reported
to Bishop William Lori his suspicions regarding Jude Fay,
Ms. D'Erario went on vacation and was absent from work for
one week.
Fact:
The Diocese promptly investigated the allegations regarding
Jude Fay, and it was the Diocese, not Ms. D'Erario, that first
reported Jude Fay's wrongdoing to the authorities.
Fact:
St. John's and the Diocese requested that numerous individuals,
including but not limited to Ms. D'Erario, cooperate with
the investigations being conducted by the FBI and Deloitte.
Fact:
St. John's and the Diocese cooperated fully in the
investigations and subsequent prosecution of Jude Fay; and
therefore had no reason to retaliate against Ms. D'Erario
or the many other witnesses who were interviewed as part of
those investigations.
Fact:
At the time Ms. D'Erario voluntarily resigned her
employment on August 1, 2006, her written employment contract
automatically had been renewed for the upcoming year.
Fact:
Father Frank McGrath has been an ordained priest since
1970 and has devoted his best efforts to assisting and serving
the parishioners of St. John's since his appointment to that
Parish after the resignation of Jude Fay.
Fact:
Father McGrath never asked Ms. D'Erario to resign and
always treated her fairly.
Fact:
Ms. D'Erario chose to inform the Parish of her
resignation by publishing her resignation letter in the St.
John's Sunday Bulletin. In that resignation letter, Ms. D'Erario
wrote "I have decided that it is time to move on" and closed
her letter by stating "I wish you [Father McGrath] and the
parishioners of St. John Church every good fortune." To
view the letter in Adobe PDF, click
here.
"For
the reasons stated above and in the February 1, 2008, letter
to Ms. D'Erario's attorney, the Diocese of Bridgeport and Saint
John Parish will vigorously defend themselves against this complaint."
-30-
Father
Frank C. McGrath, Pastor of Saint John Roman
Catholic Church in Darien, has also issued a statement in reponse
to Bethany D'Erario v. St. John's Roman Catholic Church, et.
al.:
"I
was saddened to learn of Bethany D'Erario's decision to file
a lawsuit against St. John's Church and the Diocese of Bridgeport.
Mrs. D'Erario resigned from her position as the Church's business
manager and bookkeeper in August of 2006, more than one and
a half years ago. I had only served as the pastor at St. John's
for a short time when she announced her resignation and I was
surprised by it. At that time, she informed me that she had
decided to move on and she never provided me with any other
reason for her resignation. I wished her well and told her that
I had appreciated her assistance after my appointment as the
pastor of St. John's. I was surprised by her decision to resign
and I always did my best to treat her fairly and professionally.
I do not know why she has chosen to attack me in her complaint,
but I do know that I never acted improperly or unfairly toward
her and her claims regarding my actions and statements are not
accurate.
"Mrs.
D'Erario's lawsuit also is disappointing because it threatens
to re-open the wounds inflicted upon the Parish by Jude Fay's
conduct. With the recent sentencing of Jude Fay, it was my hope
that this chapter had been closed and that the Parish could
complete its healing process. Mrs. D'Erario's lawsuit seems
likely, however, to lead to more allegations about Jude Fay's
actions and whether Mrs. D'Erario or others at the Parish could
have or should have done more to prevent his misconduct. I do
not think such allegations are in the best interests of Mrs.
D'Erario or St. John's Parish, but we have no choice other than
to allow the legal system to take its course."
-30-
Letter
mailed on February 1, 2008, by Attorney Daniel L. Schwartz of
Day Pitney LLP,
to Attorney Mark Sherman
regarding Bethany D'Erario v. Saint John's Roman Catholic
Church, et al.
February 1,
2008
Mark Sherman,
Esq.
Law Offices of Mark Sherman, LLC
29 Fifth Street
Stamford, CT 06905
Re: Bethany
D'Erario v. Saint John's Roman Catholic Church, et al.
Dear Attorney
Sherman:
As I previously
informed you, Day Pitney LLP represents Saint John's Roman Catholic
Church in Darien ("St. John's") and the Bridgeport Roman Catholic
Diocesan Corporation (the "Diocese") in the above-referenced matter.
I have had an opportunity to review the complaint that you mailed
to St. John's and to the Diocese and to review the factual record
regarding Bethany D'Erario's employment and resignation from employment
at St. John's. Based upon my review of the factual record, it
is apparent that your proposed complaint contains numerous inaccurate
statements and false assertions. Some of the more significant
factual errors in your complaint are briefly summarized below.
1. In the
complaint, you allege that Mrs. D'Erario was forced in August
2006 to resign from her position as St. John's business manager/bookkeeper.
In reality, however, no one at St. John's or the Diocese ever
sought or requested Mrs. D'Erario's resignation. Mrs. D'Erario
decided on her own to resign and she also chose to publish her
letter of resignation in St. John's church bulletin. A copy
of that bulletin
is enclosed and, as you will note, it does not suggest in any
way that she was forced to resign. To the contrary, Mrs. D'Erario
closes her letter of resignation to the pastor of St. John's,
Father McGrath, by writing "I wish you and the parishioners
of St. John's Church every good fortune."
2. In the
complaint, you allege that St. John's and the Diocese retaliated
against Mrs. D'Erario because she (and Father Madden) hired
a private investigator who subsequently reported Jude Fay's
wrongdoing to the Darien Police Department. In reality, however,
the Diocese, through its counsel, already had contacted the
United States Attorney's Office in Connecticut to report its
concerns regarding Jude Fay prior to the private investigator's
meeting with the Darien Police Department. Neither St. John's
nor the Diocese had any reason or motive to retaliate against
Mrs. D'Erario for her alleged activities as a "whistleblower."
[1] To the contrary, as has been thoroughly documented
by the United States Attorney's Office, the FBI and the independent
report issued by Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP ("Deloitte"),
St. John's and the Diocese cooperated fully in the investigation
and subsequent prosecution of Jude Fay.
[1]
As a legal matter, Mrs. D'Erario may not be defined as
a "whistleblower" under Connecticut law because she reported
her allegations of wrongdoing to a private investigator, rather
than to a "public body", as required by the applicable statute.
See Conn. Gen. Stat. § 31-51m.
3. In the
complaint, you allege that Father McGrath maliciously spread
false rumors about Mrs. D'Erario having an affair with Father
Madden, repeatedly harassed and attempted to intimidate Mrs.
D'Erario, and refused to renew her employment contract. In reality,
however, Father McGrath never spread any rumors regarding Mrs.
D'Erario, nor did he harass or attempt to intimidate her. Although
Mrs. D'Erario only briefly worked under Father McGrath's supervision
before she decided to resign, at no time did Father McGrath
ever criticize her work performance or express an intent to
replace her. There was no need for a written renewal of Mrs.
D'Erario's employment contract because her contract expressly
provided that "This contract is automatically renewed for the
next fiscal year if not cancelled or modified by either party
in writing." Accordingly, Mrs. D'Erario's contract already automatically
had been renewed for fiscal year 2007 (July 1, 2006-June 30,
2007), which Mrs. D'Erario acknowledged in her resignation letter.
A copy of her contract
is enclosed for your review.
4. In the
complaint, you imply that the Diocese did not act expeditiously
to remove Jude Fay and that Mrs. D'Erario was instrumental to
the investigation. Neither allegation is accurate. The first
time that Diocesan officials received a report concerning alleged
financial misconduct by Jude Fay occurred on April 27, 2006
and that report occurred at a meeting between Father Madden
and Bishop Lori. Mrs. D'Erario did not attend that meeting.
In fact, within a day or two of that meeting, while Diocesan
officials were commencing their investigation of St. John's
finances, Mrs. D'Erario left for a vacation in the Bahamas and
did not return to work for approximately one week. Although
her absence made it more difficult for the Diocese to investigate
the financial records of St. John's, the Diocese proceeded with
its investigation and promptly removed Jude Fay from having
any control over parish accounts and parish funds. As a result
of the investigation, Bishop Lori directed Jude Fay to return
to Connecticut from Florida and, on May 9th, Diocesan officials
began meeting with Jude Fay and seeking explanations with respect
to multiple financial issues. Approximately one week later,
on May 17, 2006, at Bishop Lori's request, Jude Fay resigned
as the pastor of St. John's. The chronology of the actions taken
by the Diocese to investigate these matters, safeguard parish
funds and obtain Jude Fay's resignation are set forth in detail
in Deloitte's report.
In addition
to the numerous factual errors in your complaint, I am concerned
by the salacious and immoral nature of many of your allegations.
The complaint contains multiple, graphic allegations regarding
Jude Fay's alleged sexual conduct. These allegations are completely
irrelevant to Mrs. D'Erario's legal claims because: (i) Mrs. D'Erario
does not allege that she reported such sexual activities to the
Darien Police Department, the FBI or any other public body; and
(ii) Mrs. D'Erario does not allege that Jude Fay retaliated against
her or forced her to resign from her job. Indeed, Jude Fay resigned
as pastor of St. John's approximately ten weeks prior to Mrs.
D'Erario's resignation. Hence, your allegations regarding Jude
Fay's sexual conduct appear to be primarily for the purpose of
stimulating prurient interest and attempting to embarrass the
individuals who allegedly had relationships with Jude Fay, their
families and the parishioners of St. John's. Such allegations
could be quite harmful to third parties with no involvement in
this matter and seem unnecessary, ill-intended, and potentially
defamatory.
Before proceeding
further with this matter, I urge you to speak with Mrs. D'Erario
about the potential consequences of her actions. At the time of
her resignation in August of 2006, Mrs. D'Erario indicated to
the New York Times and others that she had no plans to
sue anyone. Similarly, at that time, St. John's and the Diocese
made a decision not to further investigate or file any claims
against Mrs. D'Erario. If Mrs. D'Erario insists on re-opening
this matter though, St. John's and the Diocese will seek to hold
her accountable for any omissions, negligence, misrepresentations
and/or malfeasance. As you should be aware, there is considerable
evidence that Mrs. D'Erario had knowledge for several years regarding
Jude Fay's financial and other wrongdoings, but did not report
them to Diocesan officials. There also is evidence that Mrs. D'Erario's
husband personally engaged in financial transactions with Jude
Fay, which may have constituted a conflict of interest in light
of Mrs. D'Erario's position as the Parish's business manager/bookkeeper.
Indeed, Mrs. D'Erario's dereliction of her duties and her failure
to report Jude Fay's financial wrongdoings in an effective manner
resulted in losses at St. John's in excess of $1,000,000.
Moreover,
some of the allegations in your complaint appear to contradict
information that Mrs. D'Erario provided to the Diocese, Deloitte
and/or the FBI during their respective investigations. As you
know, contradictory statements in civil litigation can create
credibility issues; such contradictions in the context of a criminal
investigation are even more problematic. According to your complaint,
Mrs. D'Erario claims to have copies of financial records of St.
John's, some or all of which she may have failed to provide to
the Diocese, Deloitte or the FBI at the time of their respective
investigations. If Mrs. D'Erario withheld such information and
documentation from investigators, her omissions could have serious
consequences.
For the reasons
set forth above, Mrs. D'Erario's complaint is without merit. She
knows that she was not forced to resign and she knows that neither
St. John's nor the Diocese or any of their representatives retaliated
against her for allegedly being a "whistleblower." We understand
that Mrs. D'Erario currently is going through a divorce and may
be experiencing a difficult time in her personal life. The answer
to such problems, however, is not to file a lawsuit that will
expose her to counterclaims and that will negatively impact the
parishioners of St. John's, who are in the process of recovering
from the trauma experienced by the Parish. We would ask that Mrs.
D'Erario consider the emotional and spiritual well-being of the
parishioners and remember the farewell
message she included in the Sunday Bulletin - "As I hope my
actions have shown, I care deeply for this parish and all of you,
and I wish St John's much healing and peace."
Please carefully
consider the information set forth herein and contact me if you
have any questions regarding it or would like to further discuss
this matter.
Very truly
yours,
Daniel
L. Schwartz
Attorney at
Law
Day Pitney LLP
One Canterbury Green
Stamford, CT 06901
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