Monday, May 24, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

JANE ANN MORRISON: Priest who blabbed about Catholic Charities' problems given bum's rush

After five years as chaplain of Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada, the Rev. John McShane said he's been told by Las Vegas Bishop Joseph Pepe to get out of town.

Pepe suggested the proper place for McShane, known for his work among the homeless in Las Vegas, would be Caliente.

Or Tonopah.

"He didn't mandate it, he kind of left it up to me," McShane said. But he said he was told by Pepe the church has no assignment available in Las Vegas for the priest.

"The bishop said it had to do with my being more submissive," said McShane, who in November spoke out publicly about problems he saw at Catholic Charities. He told me then that "Catholic Charities has kind of lost its soul. It's run like a business."

Pepe was in Rome, and a spokeswoman for him said it was policy not to comment on personnel matters.

Linda Lera-Randle El, an advocate for the homeless and operator of Straight from the Streets, gasped upon hearing of McShane's banishment/firing from Catholic Charities.

"It's a tragedy for the homeless, a travesty that the bishop seeks to reassign someone of truth and faith," she said. "Father McShane should be rewarded for bringing up issues, not punished."

McShane, 60, has been a priest in Nevada for 30 years. A friend of the late Gov. Mike O'Callaghan, McShane was praised in O'Callaghan's columns in the Las Vegas Sun and was a participating priest in his funeral service.

Lera-Randle El said McShane attended every burial service for the 52 homeless people who died in 2003 in Las Vegas, the forgotten ones. He passed out soup, bread, water, shoes and socks.

"He's not just the priest for Catholic Charities, he's the street priest, nonjudgmental, nonthreatening. It's sad to punish this man because he cares. If I was a donor, I'd be outraged."

McShane's banishment from Catholic Charities takes place July 1, the start of the fiscal year.

At the same time Pepe is saying McShane's services aren't needed at Catholic Services, the agency is trying to raise money to cover a $500,000 budget shortfall for this fiscal year.

Much of the shortfall is caused by cuts in federal funding, and the public is being asked to donate to continue to provide food for the homeless and seniors.

Catholic Charities projects a $12.8 million annual budget for its fiscal year starting July 1. With that money, it provides adoption services, a child care center, immigration and refugee services, housing and beds, senior services, and thrift stores. The administrative operating expenses are only 8 percent, a very low figure for charities.

Monsignor Patrick Leary, the executive director of Catholic Charities, is McShane's direct supervisor, but said Wednesday he didn't know why McShane was being moved out of Catholic Charities and referred all questions to Pepe. "I don't assign priests," he said.

The monsignor said he himself would conduct the Masses that McShane conducted about three times a week.

McShane wrote to Bishop Pepe and Monsignor Leary in 2003, after they started a policy on April 1 that those able to work but who refuse to work wouldn't have access to free beds.

He objected to the creation of a class system within homeless ranks, with better food and better housing available for those who work.

McShane ended his letter suggesting the need for a complete review of policy for Catholic Charities. "There is something definitely missing, and that's not merely dollars and cents, but a spirit of loving reverence for God's little people who fall through the cracks. Jesus hangs out with them, and we risk turning Him away," he wrote.

About the same time McShane was being told he was getting bounced and should consider moving to Caliente, The New York Times was reporting that in Germany, the Rev. Thomas Doyle had been quietly stripped of his job as an Air Force chaplain.

Doyle was the priest who two decades ago warned Catholic bishops about sexually abusive priests. "In doing so, Father Doyle also became a thorn in the side of the church hierarchy," the Times wrote.

Doyle and McShane spoke out. And apparently they paid for it.

Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at jane@reviewjournal.com or call 383-0275.