Second church-closure suit dismissed
A second lawsuit against the Diocese of Pittsburgh over the recent closure of a Mon Valley church has been dismissed.
Washington County President Judge Katherine B. Emery ruled Friday allowing the lawsuit – brought by former parishioners of the shuttered St. Anthony Church in Monongahela – to proceed would “require the fact-finder to delve into the Canon law that establishes the decree” for the closure and “analyze whether (Diocesan) Bishop (David) Zubik properly considered the pastoral and financial needs of the parish” in making that decision.
“The First Amendment and progeny of Pennsylvania cases that have examined the issue prevent this court from making that ecclesiastical inquiry,” according to Emery’s ruling.
The parishes of St. Anthony and Transfiguration, also in Monongahela, merged to form St. Damien of Molokai Parish under a decree Zubik, who was named in the lawsuit, issued in August 2011.
The two churches remained open during the ensuing two-year study to analyze whether the parish needed to maintain both buildings.
The study determined the parish couldn’t support the two buildings. Members couldn’t come to a consensus on which should close, and asked the bishop to make the call. Zubik issued a decree closing St. Anthony in early 2014.
The Vatican’s highest court upheld the closure last year after some former St. Anthony parishioners appealed the decision.
The lawsuit brought by the former parishioners contained allegations of unjust enrichment, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud and conversion and asked for an injunction to stay the sale of the building pending the outcome of the case.
In October, Emery dismissed a lawsuit by former members of St. Agnes in Richeyville that made similar claims against the diocese and Zubik.
According to an overview of the St. Anthony case the judge included in her opinion, the former parishioners assert “the decision to close Saint Anthony instead of Transfiguration was fraudulent because ‘Saint Anthony is in much better condition and better suited for the needs of the parish than Transfiguration.’ … Allegedly, defendants always planned to close the Saint Anthony building but misled parishioners to believe it could remain open if enough donations were raised.”
Emery noted the decree Zubik issued under canon law to close the St. Anthony building “explicitly discusses” the reasons for the move, which included St. Damien’s financial situation and the Transfiguration building’s location in the center of the city. In addition to agreeing with attorneys for the diocese who argued the case should be dismissed because state court wasn’t the proper venue to decide a question of canon law, Emery disagreed with the plaintiffs’ claim they were bringing the case “individually and on behalf of the Roman Catholic Congregation of Saint Anthony.”
“The plaintiffs have not set forth the manner in which they possess the authority to act on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church,” the judge concluded. “Thus, plaintiffs lack standing to bring an action on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church.”