Testimony against the bishop

We never knew what friends we had
Until we came to Leningrad -- Billy Joel, Leningrad

This past afternoon, a number of parishioners [lawyers among them], gave testimony and evidence to the State of Ohio's Attorney General's Charitable Law Section against the Diocese of Cleveland, and Richard Lennon, in particular. For two and a half hours they spoke to an attentive audience. For some it was the first time, that there seemed anyone was paying attention. They talked of their closed and looted parishes. They excoriated Lennon's rationale, while illuminating his method. Lennon looted ethnic parishes to gather money, in part to pay for diocesan financial mischief, and to pay for sex scandal damages.

They heard, most for the first time, that Sacred Heart in Akron was just sold* [this turned out to be false] to the Ohio Department of Transportation for to be a highway ramp. It had long been rumoured to be sold for that purpose, before the 'cluster' charade.

Their coming to-day was the part of the ending of mutual lawsuits dismissed on July 20 in Summit County. The attempted occupation of St. John the Baptist, Akron, was halted by an injunction granted Lennon. He sued Nancy McGrath, and she and several other parishioners, from sundry parishes, counter sued Lennon in his role as a trustee. The parishioners were both the grantors and the beneficiaries of the trust, that the bishop ran, but Lennon recognised himself as the owner. In the state of Ohio, a church is a public charitable trust. Lennon's lawyers argued the Summit Court did not have jurisdiction, and asked the Attorney General's office to intervene. The parishioners were good with that, so to-day they spoke. The investigators will have to determine whether there is a case. Their operative method is to 'follow the money'. Some may recall, Watergate. Watergate brought the end to Tricky Dick (Richard Nixon).

Here is one parishioner's statement:

Now, the first rule of a pastor -- is to love his flock. Richard Lennon does not love us, there is no doubt about that.

A parish is a juridic person. To suppress a parish is to kill it. We are taught not to kill, for killing is a grave transgression. [Murder is one of the four sins that cry to Heaven for redress.]

A parish is created to be perpetual, that is the essential meaning, that is presented in the Gospel, and canon law. Episcopal suppression is to be an extra-ordinary usage, upon extra-ordinary circumstances, not an effective or drastic use of a loophole.

Now, a trustee is supposed to act in the interest of those he is a trustee for. Killing the trust, and selling its properties is not in its best interest. It is the worst possible malevolence, and complete betrayal of trust.

There is a method to Lennon's madness, and he has displayed several mental issues of impaired sanity. Lennon has primarily gone after ethnic parishes with available liquid assets, and disposable property of non-modern artifacts. This is indisputable.

Now, people make the claims of "the church is not a democracy", or "we live in a democratic society/country". These are not the operant points. What the Catholic Faith and Church are -- is a community. It is a 'we' relation to God. In 'we' there is a 'we' amongst us internally, even with a clerical hierarchy. Lennon does not recognise this.

His principle is that of the oriental despot of pre-christian times, of the Leviathan-sovereign of Thomas Hobbes, of the divine right of kings of James I, and of the unitary executive of Richard Cheney.
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*Postscriptum: *I must say sorry [mea culpa]. I did not get to this earlier. Yes, they heard about this, but it was false. I found that out a bit later, and forgot to update. Just at that time, I lost access to my failed computer, and since then access to a computer has been sporadic, or not at all. Sacred Hear,t in Akron, is still being listed. I heard that ODOT did not have money in the budget for it now. -- 29 September 2010.