Trouble in the Diocese of Belleville...

Priests resign from board to protest Belleville bishop's secrecy

Three priests have resigned from an 11-member diocesan board citing Belleville Bishop Edward Braxton's secrecy in assigning priests. Three other priests on the personnel board publicly voiced similar complaints about the bishop but did not resign.

The rift is the latest example of clerical dissent that has marred Braxton's two years in Belleville. It was revealed in a letter to their fellow priests from the Revs. Andrew Knopik, Carl Scherrer and Dennis Voss.

The letter said that "nearly all" the assignments announced by the bishop's office over the last month "were made secretly by Bishop Braxton, with little or no input from the members of the personnel board." The letter was dated June 17, but most priests did not receive it until late last week.

The board is made up of the diocesan deans (the priests who head the six geographical areas that make up the diocese), the vicar general, the chancellor and three priests who are elected to the board by their fellow priests. Knopik, Scherrer and Voss are the three elected priests. None of the three responded to phone calls Monday.

Three of the six deans — the Revs. Robert Flannery, Mark Stec and Thomas Stout — wrote an accompanying note to "concur with the above letter and voice our dismay at the lack of full consultation by Bishop Braxton."