Commonwealth Court rejects most of appeals on Mon Valley church lawsuits
Observer-Reporter
St. Anthony Church on Park Avenue in Monongahela
St. Agnes Parish in Centerville Borough.
A state appellate panel Thursday partly reversed two rulings by a Washington County judge who dismissed lawsuits brought by parishioners who challenged the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh’s handling of parish mergers in the Mon Valley.
In two similar decisions, three judges of the Commonwealth Court said the cases – one by parishioners of St. Agnes Church in Centerville Borough and the other by former members of St. Anthony Church in Monongahela – could each proceed on a single claim of fraud. The court affirmed the dismissal of other counts the parishioners tried to pursue: breach of fiduciary duty, unjust enrichment, conversion and a request for injunctions barring recent mergers involving the churches.
The respective parishes accuse Bishop David Zubik and the diocese of misleading members of the respective churches into raising money they thought could prevent the parishes from being disbanded or merged with others. The court said they lacked the standing to challenge the mergers in court.
The appellate judges also concluded the funds were the property of the diocese.
“We must emphasize here that parishioners do not suggest that the money they raised and donated was held or used for anything other than the activities of the diocese and its various churches,” Senior Judge Bonnie Brigance Leadbetter wrote in each ruling. She added there was no way for the plaintiffs to “challenge the bishop’s discretion in this regard.”
St. Agnes became part of the St. Katharine Drexel Parish three years ago. The group initially included six churches but four have since closed, leaving only St. Agnes and one other.
St. Anthony was closed in 2014 and joined with Tranfiguration, another Catholic church in Monongahela, in 2014. The churches had previously been separate parishes but merged in 2011 to become St. Damien of Molokai Parish.
The cases were filed in January 2017. The plaintiffs appealed following a ruling that October by Common Pleas President Judge Katherine B. Emery.
Leadbetter wrote Emery’s decision about the fraud claim would be reversed “at this preliminary stage, so that the plaintiffs could try to prove the allegation.” She found church officials wouldn’t have had the right to take parishioners’ money under false pretenses, if that is true.
The plaintiffs in the St. Agnes case are Andy Pagac, Carol Osethsky, Donna Ewedosh, Bernard Kurjanowicz, Steven Kime and Marge Sawicky. The former St. Anthony parishioners are Laura Magone, Barbara Falappi, Joseph Ravasio, Jean Rieppi and Kimberly Yarvorsky.
Both groups are represented by the law firm Dodaro, Matta and Cambest. The legal team representing Zubik and the diocese includes attorneys from the firm Zimmer Kunz.
This article and its headline have been updated to correct the name of the appellate court that made the ruling.