Ann Cass (left) and Judy Molosky csj speak at Women in Church Leadership “anchors” reception at Call to Action.

Justice for Pastoral Ministers

Pastoral ministers Ms. Ann Cass
and Sr. Judy Molosky shared inspiring stories of the positive
action they took after being unjustly fired at a special reception for “anchors” of the FutureChurch/CTA Women in Church Leadership project. Cass, and four other parish workers were fired by a new pastor
in what was later judged to be attempted union busting on the part of the Brownsville, Texas diocese.
The parish and the United Farm Workers’ Union rapidly mobilized and won reinstatement, back pay and landmark protections including grievance procedures and the provision that no new pastor could fire a parish worker within 90 days of assuming duties.

In Los Angeles, Judy Molosky csj kept her 2300-family parish together for over a year after the original pastor was removed for having an affair with the parish secretary. When the new pastor, Fr. John Love, arrived in June, 2003, he fired Molosky saying the parish “couldn’t afford to keep her.” Molosky’s CSJ community stood behind her. They wrote to Cardinal Mahony and took her story public with an article in the the Los Angeles Times. The result? New policies and procedures that will hopefully make sure nothing of this kind ever happens again. Fr. Love (who Molosky says graduated from an “Opus Dei seminary”) was transferred to Catholic University for further (and hopefully more enlightened) study. Sr. Judy, however, is still looking for a job.