Diocese finds financial 'irregularities' at Alliance, Massillon parishes; priest resigns
The Catholic Diocese of Youngstown is investigating financial "irregularities" at two Stark County parishes overseen by the same priest.
Bishop David Bonnar reported in a letter to the diocese that the Very Rev. Canon Maciej "Matthew" Mankowski resigned following financial audits at St. Joseph Church in Alliance and Divine Mercy Parish in Massillon.
Mankowski, who had been on a medical leave from Divine Mercy Parish in Massillon since June, resigned July 29, according to Bonnar's letter.
"In December of 2022, the Diocese of Youngstown began a review of Father Mankowski’s transactions involving a Trust Account that he oversaw as Pastor of Saint Joseph Parish, Alliance,” Bonnar’s letter said. “The preliminary findings presented by an independent forensic auditor commissioned by me reveal some irregularities involving the Trust Account and other matters (both at Saint Joseph Parish and Divine Mercy) constituting serious breaches of stewardship standards.
"As the investigation proceeds, it was mutually determined by the Diocese and Father Mankowski that he should resign as Pastor of Divine Mercy Parish, Massillon immediately for the good of the parish."
Bonnar's letter said Mankowski has been seeking funding since he left the Divine Mercy post.
"In the aftermath of his resignation this past week, Father Mankowski has been soliciting funds," Bonnar wrote. "Please know that, with his resignation as pastor, Father Mankowski continues to be paid during this investigation by the diocese and retains his health care benefits.
"Please understand that the solicitation of funds by Father Mankowski violates the spirit of his vocation and ministry as a priest. Father Mankowski’s priestly faculties have been withdrawn pending the completion of this investigation. Essentially this means that he cannot exercise priestly ministry or present himself as a priest. While this investigation continues, I ask for your prayers and understanding."
As part of the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown's ongoing strategy to address a shortage of priests, Massillon's three Catholic churches – St. Barbara, St. Joseph and St. Mary – merged in January to become Divine Mercy.
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A native of Wloclawek, Poland, the 50-year-old Mankowski came to the United States in 1995 to study at SS. Cyril and Methodius Polish-American Seminary in Orchard Lake, Michigan, where he earned a bachelor's degree and a master of divinity and a master of arts in systematic theology.
At the invitation of the Youngstown diocese, he spent the summer of 1999 at a parish in Girard. In 2000, he was ordained a transitional deacon by then-Bishop Thomas Tobin, and served his diaconate internship at Little Flower Church in Plain Township.
Following his ordination in 2001, Mankowski's first assignment was as an associate pastor at St. Charles Parish in Boardman, where he served for five years, followed by pastoring two parishes in Newton Falls that merged in 2007.
In 2019, Mankowski was installed as canon by Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, private secretary to Pope St. John Paul II, followed by an assignment to St. Joseph Church in Alliance. He served a year at St. Barbara in Massillon, and in 2022, was assigned to pastor all three of the city's parishes while also serving as canonical pastor of Holy Family Parish in Navarre.
Diocese spokesman Justin Huyck said action was taken by the diocese to protect parishes and parishioners as soon as concerns arose, and that no outside law enforcement agencies are involved in the investigation, which is still in progress. He declined to provide more details about the nature of the irregularities than Bonnar mentioned in his letter.
Mankowski did not respond to a request for comment made through Facebook Messenger by The Repository.
The Very Rev. John Sheridan, rector of St. John the Baptist Basilica and pastor of St. Peter Parish in Canton has been appointed pastor of Divine Mercy, effective Sept. 1. Sheridan is a dean of Stark County who recently completed studies in canon law at the Catholic University of America.
Also on Sept. 1, the Rev. Don King will be relieved of his duties as pro-tem administrator at Divine Mercy.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Priest Maciej "Matthew" Mankowski resigns from Divine Mercy Parish
