Most Reverend James C. Timlin
Bishop of Scranton
300 Wyoming Ave.
Scranton, PA 18503-1279

Your Excellency:

I am writing on the behalf of my parents, Carl and Barbara Sciambra, concerning my family's involvement with the Society of St. John. The Society of St. John, a clerical association of the Diocese of Scranton which you gave approval for, and incardinated its priests in your diocese, have caused me and my family great personal heartache and suffering. Although my family and I have opened our hearts and wallets to the members of the Society of St. John, we have been given in return nothing but lies, disrespect and more suffering.

When I first met the priests of the Society of St. John in January of 2000, they gave me a videotape of the ceremony of their incardination into the Diocese of Scranton. On this tape, I saw you giving one of the most glowing endorsements of any priest or religious order I had ever heard from a bishop. Your support of these priests was one of the main reasons I decided to quit my job, leave my home, and move to the Society of St. John's headquarters in Shohola, Pennsylvania. I put a great deal of trust in your judgment. I was not at all a naive person at the time, but I did implicitly trust priests of the Catholic Church, especially priests who were so favored by their bishop.

But I gradually came to realize that the priests of the Society of St. John were less interested in providing me with spiritual guidance or formation than they were interested in courting large sums of money from my family. But again I always trusted them. Something I think every Catholic should be able to do: trust a priest. They coerced me into asking my parents if they would sign the $500,000.00 note. They did this by telling me that the former guarantor was "mentally unbalanced," a charge they would later use against me as well. They also said that they were in dire financial straits if they could not find a new guarantor soon. Again, I trusted them, and so did my parents. I had only known these priests for about a week, and my parents less than that. In essence, they took advantage of the good faith of good Catholics.

While I was still living in Shohola, I learned that my parents had purchased a property in Monticello, New York by the request of the Society of St. John. I had visited the property with my parents and Ms. Mary Schwerdt, Fr. Carlos Urrutigoity's personal secretary. In my presence, Fr. Urrutigoity assured and guaranteed my parents that the new Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Egan, would give his approval for the Society of St. John to live on the property in Monticello. Again, we trusted them. Therefore my parents went ahead with the purchase of the property. When the Cardinal did not give his permission, my parents lost $22,995.00 when they had to renege on the purchase of the property. Conveniently, at the same time, the owners of a piece of property adjacent to the Society's headquarters in Shohola became interested in selling. Ms. Schwerdt also informed my parents of this new development. She told me that the purchase of the property was absolutely vital to the future development of the Society's own property. She promised me and my parents that the Society of St. John would re-pay my family the money that had been lost in the Monticello deal, and if they bought the property in Shohola: the Society would buy back the Shohola property from them in the near future. Again, we trusted them.

During many of these financial negotiations, I was becoming more and more disturbed by the actions of Fr. Urrutigoity and the inaction of the other priests of the Society. Over the summer of 2000, I saw Fr. Urrutigoity, take incredible advantage of young men, often-intoxicated young men, who apparently admired and trusted him greatly. I told Fr. Eric Ensey in November of 2000 what I had observed concerning Fr. Urrutigoity and his penchant for luring young men to his bedroom. To my great consternation, Fr. Ensey was not at all concerned. I will not go over all of the details again because I have made my observations very plain to Bishop Dougherty in our two lengthy telephone conversations in 2001.

Soon after returning home to California, I informed my parents of what I saw in Shohola concerning Fr. Urrutigoity' behavior, and in January of 2001, they began formal actions to have their name removed as the guarantor on the $500,000.00 note. It was not until November of 2001 that their names were finally removed. During that strenuous 10 months, members of the Society of St. John repeatedly lied to me and my parents concerning the date of their removal from the note. The date promised would come and go with nothing but excuses coming from the Society. In addition, my mother asked Fr. Urrutigoity, in October of 2001, for the Society to vacate the Shohola home located on the property owned by my parents. When they refused to comply, an eviction notice was sent to the Society from California. They again refused to comply, which lead to my parents having to hire a lawyer in Pennsylvania to begin the eviction proceedings under Pennsylvania law. Because the priests of the Society of St. John refused to leave the property when my parents requested, (I was present during the phone conversation between Fr. Urrutigoity and my mother when she asked them to leave the property), my parents incurred a bill of over $2,500.00 from the lawyer in Pennsylvania who oversaw the eviction. The great pain and suffering all of this caused me was indescribable.

Because my parents still own the property in Shohola, they continue to pay interest on the loan that enabled them to purchase the property. Also, the real-estate agent that now has the listing for the property says that it would be impossible to sell the property at the price they paid for it. Again, my parents trusted the priests of the Society of St. John when they convinced my father and mother to buy the Shohola property. They never guessed that they were buying a piece of property that was actually worth about half of what they paid for it.

In closing, I would like to tell you that my father and mother have worked very hard all of their lives. My father came to this country with the shirt on his back and not much else. What he earned he worked for; nothing was given to him. What the priests of the Society of St. John did was to abuse in the worst way the trust that has been instilled in the sacred honor of the priesthood. I told Fr. Ensey: you may one-day build the "Catholic-village" of your dreams, but the end will never justify the means. I cannot tell you how my experience with the Society of St. John has shaken my faith to the very core, but I forgive them.

Bishop Timlin, now is the time for you to at least try to rectify the horrible situation that was set into motion when you incardinated these priests into your diocese. My parents would like to be financially compensated for their loses. This includes the money lost in the Monticello deal and the Shohola property, which the Society never bought back, and the various lawyers' fees.

Sincerely,

Joseph Sciambra