Central New York Defends Its Defiance of Court Order

07/25/2007


The Diocese of Central New York has defended its decision not to comply with an ecclesiastical court order in the trial of the Rev. David Bollinger, former rector of St. Paul’s Church, Owego, who was facing presentment charges.

An ecclesiastical court exonerated Fr. Bollinger of all charges July 17 after the diocese was 13 days’ late filing its witness list and documentary evidence with the court as part of pre-trial discovery. The Rt. Rev. Gladstone B. Adams, Bishop of Central New York, has lifted the inhibition order against Fr. Bollinger, whose status becomes that of a retired priest canonically resident in good standing, according to the Rev. Canon Karen C. Lewis, canon to the ordinary.

Bishop Adams charged Fr. Bollinger with financial misconduct and disobedience and inhibited him in 2005. Fr. Bollinger maintained his innocence and contended that the charges were an attempt to punish him after he continued a public campaign for an investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against a priest who served as rector of St. Paul’s during the 1970s. That person voluntarily renounced his orders in 2006 after a diocesan review panel recommended that presentment charges be drawn up against him.

In an interview with The Living Church, Canon Lewis described the case as complex with numerous rulings and motions prior to the start. She said it was regrettable that during the trial the court refused to consider any of the more than 1,000 pages of documentary evidence against Fr. Bollinger that the church attorney had prepared. She defended the diocese’s decision to withhold what became known as the Shafer Report from the court, describing it as a “privileged piece of attorney-client work product.”

The Shafer Report is identified with the last name of a previous church attorney retained by the diocese after Fr. Bollinger accused the former financial controller for the diocese of improperly gaining access to his personal financial records. In a letter to clergy after completion of the investigation, the diocese quoted a paragraph from the report, but the report itself has not been made public and there are no plans to do so, Canon Lewis said.

Steve Waring

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