Parish roundup: Parishes going green; dioceses selling buildings; scammers posing as pastors

Bishop Richard Malone of Buffalo, New York, will sell his residence, a mansion estimated to be worth more than $2 million, to help pay for sex abuse settlements. It may be just the beginning of a sale of diocesan properties. The bishop will move into a former convent.

Scammers posing as pastors are ripping off parishioners in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The Diocese of Burlington, Vermont, is planning on selling its former cathedral.

A pastor in Downingtown, Pennsylvania, a part of the Philadelphia Archdiocese, resigns under a cloud of accusations regarding adult relationships and financial irregularities. The parish has a difficult history with its pastoral leadership.

Also in the Philadelphia suburbs, the archdiocese is establishing a "quasi parish" that will feature the traditional Latin Mass. The goal is to reach younger Catholics.  

[Peter Feuerherd is a correspondent for NCR's Field Hospital series on parish life and is a professor of journalism at St. John's University, New York.]

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