PRESENTMENT ISSUED

As was predicted on DCNY, the next step has been taken in the diocesan vendetta against Fr. David Bollinger. I said in November that the diocese would wait until after diocesan convention and then would act against Fr. Bollinger. That has happened by decree of the Standing Committee.

In a letter dated March 14, the Bishop of Central NY has handed down a presentment against Fr. David Bollinger. The presentment means that Fr. Bollinger will be tried by an ecclesiastical court. The diocese continues to maintain the veil of secrecy over the charges, claiming that they are doing so in order "to be fair and faithful to all persons involved." The letter further claims that the full disclosure of the presentment would "potentially prejudice the proceedings now before the Ecclesiatical Court." The Standing Committee which issed the presentment is the same group that would not hear from the vestry (the leadership board) of St. Paul's, Owego, the parish where Fr. Bollinger served because to do so would prejudice their minds in the matter. It is interesting how the matter of prejudice is used as the diocese controls the flow of information on this issue.

I have been told by a member of clergy in the Diocese of Central NY that a member of the ecclesiastical court, the Rev. Dr. William Lutz, has said in a clergy meeting that he believes that Fr. Bollinger is guilty as charged. If this is what Fr. Lutz said, he would seem to have a prejudiced mind before the trial has even started. If so, this is just one more piece of an ever widening accumulation of evidence that the diocesan process toward removing Fr. Bollinger from his parish and potentially from the priesthood has been extremely flawed from the beginning.

News will be published as it made available on the ecclesiastical trial of Fr. Bollinger and the pending lawsuit of $4.35 million against the bishop, diocese and former comptroller.