BINGHAMTON, NY: Financial probe baffles rector of local church

[david at virtueonline.org]

BINGHAMTON, NY: Financial probe baffles rector of local church 
Good Shepherd notified of diocesan investigation

By William Moyer Staff Writer
http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20090525/NEWS01/905250356/1116/news/Financial+probe+baffles+rector+of+local+church
May 25, 2009

The rector of an Anglican church is "surprised and baffled" by a judge's decision that a regional diocese investigate whether a local parish mishandled money after it withdrew from the Episcopal denomination.

"The judge's statement is absolutely not true," said the Rev. Matthew Kennedy, pastor of Church of the Good Shepherd in Binghamton. "We have nothing to hide. I want to answer their questions."

Supreme Court Judge Ferris D. Lebous, who earlier this year ruled the central New York diocese was entitled to Good Shepherd's property, said diocesan allegations the parish misused an endowment should be investigated.

Lebous said the diocese has "every right" to investigate and directed Kennedy and the church's treasurer to appear for deposition.

Kennedy said the diocese advised him of its intent to investigate.

A diocesan official in Syracuse refused to comment in reply to a reporter's question for specific information.

Instead, the Rev. Karen C. Lewis wrote in an e-mail, "I'm not sure if we want to do anything with this inquiry - this guy (reporter) is not known for his accurate and fair reporting."

Neither Lewis nor Bishop Gladstone Adams replied to a subsequent e-mail requesting specific information about the Press & Sun-Bulletin's reporting.

This isn't the first time the diocese has accused a local rector of financial misconduct.

In July 2007, an Episcopal court cleared the Rev. David G. Bollinger of all charges related to diocesan allegations while he was rector of St. Paul's in Owego.

Bollinger, who is retired, claimed the investigation was retaliation for telling the diocese about a former rector's sexual misconduct with a teenager in the 1970s.

After a five-month investigation, the former rector, Ralph E. Johnson, then 79, voluntarily renounced his credentials in May 2006, without admitting guilt.

The Church of the Good Shepherd withdrew from the Episcopal church in November 2007 in a dispute over the ordination of a homosexual as bishop and differences in scriptural interpretation.

The congregation, which aligned itself with the Anglican Church of Kenya, vacated a building on Conklin Avenue and has settled into the former St. Andrew Catholic Church, also on Conklin Avenue.

END