Manchester, N.H., Apr 12, 2017 / 04:05 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis has dismissed a New Hampshire priest from the clerical state, after the priest was convicted of stealing some $300,000 from the local diocese, a hospital and a deceased priest's estate.
“On February 28, 2017, Pope Francis decreed Edward J. Arsenault dismissed from the clerical state, and dispensed him from all obligations subsequent to sacred ordination, including that of celibacy,” the Diocese of Manchester said in a statement last week.
“By virtue of this decree, Edward J. Arsenault has no faculties to act, function, or present himself as a priest.”
In 2014, Arsenault was sentenced to four years in prison. He was ordered to repay $300,000 in restitution, according to local media reports.
Arsenault was convicted of writing checks from the dead priest’s estate to himself and of billing a hospital for consulting work he never did, according to the Associated Press.
He admitted to spending the money on travel and expensive restaurants for himself and a male partner. He pleaded guilty to three charges of theft in 2014.
Last week, Arsenault was moved to house arrest. He is up for parole in February next year, the Associated Press reported.
As a priest, Arsenault had previously worked for the Manchester diocese. He helped to handle a clergy sex abuse scandal in the state and to implement new child protection policies.
If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!
Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.
CNA Staff, Sep 23, 2020 / 04:00 pm (CNA).- After a controversial grand jury decision regarding the death of Breonna Taylor, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville called for unity to work for racial justice and to combat racism, while many in the c… […]
Bishop David O’Connell of the Diocese of Trenton, New Jersey. / Credit: Courtesy of the Diocese of Trenton
CNA Newsroom, Jan 5, 2024 / 13:05 pm (CNA).
Bishop David M. O’Connell of the Diocese of Trenton, New Jersey, is recovering in a hospital in Rome after suffering a heart attack Thursday, the diocese said.
“He was taken to Santo Spirito hospital where he had surgery to open a completely closed artery,” the diocese said in a written statement Friday. “… Bishop O’Connell is resting comfortably after a successful surgery. He asks that you keep him in your prayers as he recovers.”
O’Connell, 68, was in Italy to lead a pilgrimage of 20 priests and two members of the diocese’s staff to holy sites in Rome and Assisi. The pilgrimage was due to start Friday.
The pilgrims are planning to attend a Mass with Pope Francis at St. Peter’s Basilica on Saturday celebrating the solemnity of the Epiphany as well as Masses at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls and the Basilica of St. Mary Major, which are also in Rome.
Bishop David O’Connell enjoys a meal in Rome on Jan. 3, 2024, with priests from the Diocese of Trenton, New Jersey: Monsignor Thomas N. Gervasio, Monsignor Sam Sirianni, Father Juan Daniel Peirano, and Father Jean Felicien. Credit: Courtesy of the Diocese of Trenton
In Assisi, the itinerary includes visits to three basilicas: St. Mary of the Angels, St. Francis, and St. Clare. It also includes a visit to the Church of St. Mary Major to see the tomb of Blessed Carlo Acutis (1991–2006), the Italian teenager who created a website documenting Eucharistic miracles and who helped his classmates and parents connect with the Catholic faith, according to TrentonMonitor.com, the diocese’s news website.
On Tuesday, O’Connell prayed at the tomb of Pope Benedict XVI, who appointed him a bishop. On Wednesday, O’Connell attended a general audience of Pope Francis at the Vatican’s Paul VI Audience Hall, where he greeted the pope twice, according to TrentonMonitor.com.
Bishop David O’Connell greets Pope Francis during the Jan. 3, 2024, general audience in Paul VI Hall at the Vatican. Credit: Courtesy of the Diocese of Trenton
O’Connell is a member of the Congregation of the Mission, which is more commonly known as the Vincentians, after its founder, St. Vincent de Paul.
He shares the same first and last name with Bishop David G. O’Connell (1953–2023), an auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles who was shot to death in his home in February 2023.
O’Connell has a doctorate in canon law from The Catholic University of America, where he later served as president from 1998 to 2010. He has served as bishop of Trenton, which covers four counties in central New Jersey, since 2010.
He has suffered from health problems. In December 2014, O’Connell had the lower part of his left leg amputated because of recurring infections caused by diabetes. After physical therapy, he returned in April 2015 to celebrate Mass on Palm Sunday at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption in Trenton.
In November 2023, he was elected chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Catholic Education, which provides guidance for Catholic elementary schools, secondary schools, and colleges. The committee also, according to the bishops’ conference’s website, “advocates for federal public policies in education that are consistent with Catholic values and that uphold parental rights and responsibilities regarding education.”
The exterior of St. Joseph’s in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. / Credit: Paula Kydoniefs
CNA Staff, Mar 23, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).
A group of parishioners in the Diocese of Allentown, Pennsylvania, is celebrating this month after acquiring a historic church from the diocese and preserving it as a chapel and place of worship.
The Society of St. Joseph of Bethlehem (SSJB) in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, announced earlier this monththat the society had purchased St. Joseph’s Church, which opened more than a century ago, from the Allentown Diocese.
“The desire to preserve the church by former parishioners has been steadfast since the church was closed in 2008,” the society’s board said in a letter announcing the purchase. “It has taken time and energy over the years to enter into an agreement with the Diocese of Allentown.”
On its Facebook page, the SSJB says its mission is “to restore and preserve St. Joseph’s Church as a sacred place of worship and a testament to the history and cultural heritage” of the area.
Lina Tavarez, a spokeswoman for the diocese, said the parish ”was closed in 2008 because of a merger of several local parishes.”
“It hosted only one regular Mass per year — on the feast day of St. Joseph — and was available for funerals for former parishioners,” she said.
The Mass of the solemnity of St. Joseph at St. Joseph’s Parish in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Credit: Susan Vitez
Paula Kydoniefs, the president of the board of directors of SSJB, told CNA that the group was established “solely for the purpose of buying this church, taking care of it, and sponsoring events.” The church, historically attended by the local Slovenian/Windish community, had its cornerstone laid in 1914 and fully opened in 1917.
Kydoniefs explained that the decision to purchase the property originated several years ago, during a period when the diocese was in the process of merging local parishes.
“In 2008 they were consolidating, and this was one of five churches that was being closed as a parish,” she said. “St. Joseph’s parishioners fought that and appealed it and ended up taking it to the Vatican.”
The Vatican eventually ordered that the parish remain open for use, Kydoniefs said. In 2011 then-Bishop John Barres “gave the parish the ability to have an annual Mass and have funerals of former parishioners.”
The cornerstone at St. Joseph’s Parish in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Credit: Dimitri Kydoniefs
The church was used “only occasionally” in this capacity, Tavarez told CNA. In 2023 the diocese moved again to sell the church.
“We went back to the diocese,” Kydoniefs said. “It’s a minor miracle. It was last-minute.”
“They had already announced they were going to sell it. They could have just told us no,” she said. “But, credit to them, they said: ‘If you can come up with $175,000 quickly, you can purchase it.’”
Kydoniefs said “several minor miracles and maybe major miracles” followed, with a benefactor — the James Stocklas Family Trust — quickly coming forward to donate “the whole $175,000.”
“Financially we’re independent, and we’re totally responsible for the care and upkeep and maintenance of the church,” Kyondiefs said.
“According to canon law, it’s a chapel,” she said. “It’s still a Catholic church, it’s still affiliated with the diocese in that way. The diocese has the jurisdiction over what public worship services we can do there.”
“They’ve told us that we must have two Masses a year, one on the feast day of St. Joseph [March 19] and one on Oct. 28, the anniversary of the consecration of the church,” she added.
Presently the church is not suited for occupancy, Kydoniefs said, with inspectors finding several code deficiencies in need of updating. Regulators did work with the community to develop a stopgap mitigation plan that allowed the church to celebrate St. Joseph’s feast day on March 19.
The church “does need a lot of work,” she admitted, but she said the SSJB is prepared to see the building restored and utilized for regular community and religious events “at least monthly.”
“We’ve got a lot of ideas,” she said. “We really want to see this church being used again.”
In a letter issued upon the church’s reopening, meanwhile, the SSJB wrote that “as heartbreaking as it was a year ago, to hear that our cherished St. Joseph’s Church was to be permanently closed and sold on the open market, we now experience the opposite — hearts filled with joy and thanksgiving!”
“To the St. Joseph’s Church community,” the letter said, “welcome home!”
He is released from celibacy but where he’ll take that new freedom….doesn’t look auspicious. May God bless him with the sorrow that is from above…2 Cor.7:10.
He is released from celibacy but where he’ll take that new freedom….doesn’t look auspicious. May God bless him with the sorrow that is from above…2 Cor.7:10.
The decision was the right one in the circumstances.
But when is McCarrick going to be dismissed from the clerical state?