Lawsuit: Bishop demanded names of complaining priests

Pat Schneider  —  6/20/2008 1:33 pm

Diocese of Madison officials were tight-lipped Friday about a lawsuit charging that the church reneged on a contract after a consulting firm refused to tell Bishop Robert Morlino which priests complained about him in a survey on the prospects of a planned $70 million capital campaign to build a new cathedral.

William Yallaly, an associate director of communications, said Friday that the diocese would not comment on the lawsuit filed earlier this month in Dane County Circuit Court by Phoenix Fundraising Counsel of Madison, which is seeking payment of $350,000 for services rendered and other damages. Phoenix attorney Timothy Edwards also declined to comment.

It's not the first time the outspoken, deeply conservative Morlino has been accused of heavy-handed tactics. In 2006, his threat of repercussions against any priest who challenged his hard-line stance against same-sex marriage -- including a mandatory, recorded sermon to be aired at Sunday Mass -- prompted some area Catholics to lash out in a full page ad in local newspapers.

The multi-million-dollar capital campaign was being planned at a time when the diocese was consolidating parishes because of a shortage of priests and confronting criticism from rank-and-file Catholics for placing bricks-and-mortar spending ahead of social justice initiatives.

This time around, Phoenix claims that despite a November 2007 letter to parishioners promising that all survey results would be "considered confidential," Morlino on March 7 personally pressured Phoenix president and CEO John Richert to turn over the results to him. Morlino demanded the names of priests who expressed concerns or who registered complaints about him in the survey process and was "visibly agitated" when Richert refused, the lawsuit against the diocese says.

As part of a feasibility study for a capital campaign to replace the arson-ravaged St. Raphael Cathedral downtown, Phoenix interviewed 83 priests, many of whom expressed concerns later summarized without identifying information in a report to Morlino.

Confidentiality is a common, accepted practice in the fundraising industry and imperative to maintain Phoenix's credibility as an independent third party, the lawsuit says. It also says it was an essential tool to ensure that parishioners and priests felt free to comment without fear of retribution.

Diocesan officials requested confidential survey results for a second time on March 12, according to the lawsuit.

On March 26, Morlino told Richert that the capital campaign would be on hold for at least a year and that the diocese would not hire Phoenix when the capital campaign resumed, the lawsuit says. Asked why, Morlino reportedly told Richert that because Richert was held in such high regard by priests, he might be in a compromised position if the priests and Morlino disagreed about the campaign.

In his April 3 column in the Catholic Herald, Morlino wrote that after praying on and considering the results of the feasibility study report, as well as checking on "the signs of the times," he decided to postpone the capital campaign for at least one year.

"Let me be clear that I do not detect opposition to a capital campaign in the feasibility study, but I do observe unanswered questions, to which I hope to give a response in this intervening period," Morlino wrote. "I believe we are blessed in the general conviction of our people, in support of the cathedral project."

Richert had indicated his agreement with Morlino's reading of the study, Morlino wrote. He went on to cite the faltering economy as a sign that the timing for the capital campaign was not right.

On April 4, the diocese officially announced that the campaign would be postponed.

The lawsuit against the diocese details several instances in which diocesan officials promised to "take care of the paperwork" on what Phoenix proposed to be a $6.5 million contract for a 152-week capital campaign and represented publicly that Phoenix was the capital campaign counsel.

By March, Phoenix offered the diocese a pared-down, less expensive contract, it alleges in the lawsuit. By March 28, Phoenix presented the diocese with an invoice for $487,816, which the diocese countered with an offer to pay $350,000, with an initial payment of $250,000, that Richert reluctantly accepted. The diocese never paid these amounts as promised, the lawsuit says.

Pat Schneider  —  6/20/2008 1:33 pm