A major Catholic benefactor has threatened to pull his financial support and encourage others to do the same unless the Diocese of Palm Beach requires priests to swear they have never engaged in sexual misconduct.
In a scathing March 10 letter to the pastor of his Jupiter church, Edward Ricci, a lifelong Catholic and West Palm Beach lawyer, issued an ultimatum that he wanted forwarded to diocese officials. Either the diocese institutes a zero-tolerance policy requiring all its clergy to sign affidavits, his letter states, or he'll withdraw a pledge of several hundred thousand dollars to his Jupiter church's multimillion dollar building campaign and resign as the campaign's chairman.
On top of his own withdrawal of support from St. Peter Catholic Church's 15-year-old fund-raising efforts, Ricci said, he'd also embark on a diocese-wide campaign to convince other benefactors to suspend all contributions to the diocese until church officials "clean house."
"I just reached a point where, like [when Florida sued] the tobacco industry, the time is right," Ricci said. "The days of secrecy are over. They cannot continue to operate like that."
A former seminarian who estimates he has given million of dollars in support to the church over the years, Ricci said on Monday he is giving diocese officials up to 90 days from the time a new bishop is installed before making good on his threat. His move, he said, is indicative of his disgust with the church, not his religion.
"My faith in Christianity is not in the least bit shaken by this," said Ricci, 56. "My respect for the hierarchy of the church is beneath contempt."
A civil attorney who said he has represented women who have successfully sued the church for sexual abuse by priests, Ricci said he is no stranger to the misconduct of some clergymen and efforts by church officials to "sweep it under the rug." But his consternation turned to contempt two weeks ago, when Anthony J. O'Connell became the Palm Beach diocese's second bishop to resign in disgrace after admitting to molesting teen boys. A policy requiring priests to sign affidavits swearing they are clean of scandal is nothing new.
O'Connell, in fact, drafted a similar policy for the Knoxville, Tenn., diocese he founded in 1988. O'Connell's policy went into effect just as he left Knoxville to take over the Palm Beach diocese and before he had to sign his own affidavit.
Ricci said the existence of such policies means it should not be hard for the Palm Beach diocese to adopt since "no one has to reinvent the wheel." No other local Catholic contributor has publicly announced plans to withdraw financial support, Palm Beach diocese spokesman Sam Barbaro said. In the Archdiocese of Miami, a spokeswoman was out of the office and could not be reached for comment.
Palm Beach diocese Finance Committee member Phil Lewis said he has seen no widespread economic impact on the church since O'Connell's resignation. Rather, Lewis said, fund-raising efforts remain strong throughout the diocese.
"It could affect the church's income, but I doubt it, and if it does, it won't be much," Lewis, a former state senator, said of the scandal. "After we go through this wrenching problem, it'll all work out, and the church will be stronger for it."
Threats such as Ricci's will do more harm than good and are not going to be what it takes to turn the church around, Lewis said.
"Who's it hurting?" Lewis asked of Ricci's plans to pull out of the St. Peter campaign, which is raising money for a $4 million church for parishioners and a $12 million grammar school to serve six parishes. "The only one it's going to hurt are the kids in that school."
Ricci said it is children he's trying to protect from "preying priests." If a zero-tolerance policy is instituted, he said, those who refuse to sign the affidavits should be removed from priestly duties and reassigned to other responsibilities that do not put them around children.
Ricci fielded at least 170 e-mails from fellow Palm Beach diocesans praising his plan and offering support, he said.
Though it has been more than two weeks since Ricci e-mailed the letter to the pastor at his parish and asked him to forward it to diocese officials, Ricci said he has yet to get a response from anyone.
On Monday, diocese spokesman Deacon Sam Barbaro said Ricci's letter was addressed and sent to his parish, not the diocese, adding "had he sent the letter to the diocese, he would have gotten a response." When asked whether that means Ricci will not get a response, Barbaro said he did not know.
Officials from St. Peter's did not return calls.
Nicole Sterghos Brochu can be reached at nbrochu@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6603.