Render Unto Rome_ The Secret Life of Money in the Catholic Church - Jason Berry [135]
Griffin, who is retired, refused to make any comment when I called him. But Griffin’s hiring of Smith, after the explosive media coverage, is all the more striking because Griffin was a lawyer. Signaling his trust in Smith despite the messy compensation package, Griffin obviously did not think he would get indicted.
Charlie Feliciano had another take. The diocese’s internal dynamics reminded him of the mafia. On June 5, 2005, he filed suit on behalf of thirty-seven Cleveland parishioners as plaintiffs in state court against Pilla, Smith, and Zgoznik, accusing them of defrauding the diocese, seeking $1 million in restitution, and demanding that Ohio’s attorney general conduct a full investigation of the diocese “as a charitable trust.”75
The court dismissed the suit on the grounds that Feliciano’s clients “must claim that they personally have a particular interest in the substance of the trust.” But, tellingly, Judge Stuart A. Friedman opined: “The Court finds that it does have jurisdiction over allegations of fiscal mismanagement, even when the alleged misconduct relates to the operation of a hierarchical church, so long as matters of faith, dogma and religious practice are not impinged.”76 Disappointed, Feliciano had nonetheless magnified the ties between Pilla, Zgoznik, and Smith, who was then at work in Columbus.
In January 2006 Bishop Pilla, age seventy-three, two years shy of mandatory retirement, decided to retire. “It’s time for a change,” his statement said.77
Sister Chris Schenk flew to Rome in late March, leading a pilgrimage of thirty-one women on a tour of ancient Christian sites. A second-century fresco in the catacomb of Saint Priscilla depicts a woman breaking bread, the Eucharist, with six other women. “We would like to talk to our leaders,” she said in an NPR interview, “and tell them of our experience—how we can begin to re-institute that wonderful balanced leadership we had in the first three centuries of both women and men leading the communities.”78
Still in Rome, on April 4, 2006, she heard the news: Pope Benedict had appointed Bishop Richard Lennon of Boston to take Pilla’s place. Schenk had gotten an earful on Lennon in late February at a conference in Boston, where she met Peter Borré and others in the vigil movement. When a reporter called Borré for comment on Lennon’s new position, he blurted out, “God help the people of Cleveland.” To the best of his knowledge the quote never ran.
CHAPTER 10
PROSECUTION AND SUPPRESSION
For a second time, Richard Lennon assumed control of a diocese damaged by dishonest bishops, concealed sex offenders, and mismanaged money. Lennon’s mentor Cardinal Law had left financial craters, and although Archbishop Seán O’Malley was now himself a cardinal, Boston’s debt hole had grown steadily deeper. In Cleveland, Lennon found a different milieu. Despite the abuse scandal and overhanging financial questions, many people thought fondly of Pilla for his pastoral warmth and Church in the City agenda. Retired in his hometown, Bishop Pilla was still saying Masses as the FBI investigated Joe Smith, Anton Zgoznik, and the web of diocesan finances.
Despite the agonizing inner-city poverty and issues of deferred maintenance in Lennon’s new diocese, Cleveland Catholic Charities had a budget of $92 million, nearly three times Boston’s. The programs afforded a bishop access to media photo ops and events to meet donors and politicians to establish his presence. Dick Lennon was an introvert. Although he made public appearances, he typically got to his desk before dawn, toiling some nights till eleven. His formal manner was often brusque; the thick Boston accent held few hints of joy. At a meeting for clergy dialogue he spoke for nearly three hours, leaving a brief window for priests’ comments. Most priests had found