Church critic resigns pastorate

NEWTON -- The Rev. Walter H. Cuenin, a Newton priest who had been an outspoken critic of Cardinal Bernard F. Law, abruptly resigned his pastorate yesterday, saying that the Archdiocese of Boston had accused him of financial improprieties.

Parishioners shook their heads and wept at Our Lady Help of Christians Church on Washington Street, as Cuenin, reading from the pulpit, said the archdiocese had asked him to resign for accepting a stipend that had been calculated improperly, and for driving a car his church had leased for him in violation of archdiocesan rules.

Terrence C. Donilon, spokesman for Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley, declined to comment on Cuenin's resignation yesterday.

''We don't speculate on personnel matters," Donilon said.

Cuenin has led the parish since 1993. With thousands of worshipers, it is considered one of the most vibrant in the archdiocese.

An hour before he announced his resignation to stunned parishioners, the church's finance council issued a statement saying it was ''shocked and dismayed" by the decision.

The council said it had approved of Cuenin's stipend and the lease of a car for himself and visiting priests. The four members said in the statement that they were unaware that the two benefits constituted violations of archdiocesan policy. They said they had never been given an opportunity to rectify the practices before the archdiocese requested Cuenin's resignation.

''Walter's character, honesty, and integrity are exemplary and without question," read the statement, which the council e-mailed to the Globe. ''The Finance Council firmly supports and stands behind our pastor Walter Cuenin."

Parishioners greeted Cuenin with a long, standing ovation, and applauded again as he left the church. Some said they believed that the archdiocese had used the accusation of financial impropriety to remove a priest who had sometimes been a vocal critic, particularly during the height of the clergy sexual abuse crisis.

Cuenin had spoken to the national media about what he said was the mishandling of the clergy sexual abuse crisis by Law, who headed the archdiocese at the time. The lay group Voice of the Faithful, which was also critical of the archdiocese, sometimes met in Cuenin's parish. In 2002, Cuenin was one of 58 priests in the Boston area who signed a letter urging Law to resign.

After Cuenin invited 100 priests to Our Lady to discuss church fund-raising, Law banned the parish from hosting official archdiocese events. Law resigned about two weeks later, and the current archbishop, Sean P. O'Malley, lifted the ban in September 2003.

Cuenin's criticism went beyond the sex abuse scandal. He publicly questioned the church's teaching on homosexuality and its ban on the ordination of women as priests.

''He was brave enough to get up and say it and he paid the price," said Mary Esther Rohman, a parishioner who sobbed after Cuenin's announcement. ''People who have that kind of courage usually end up paying the price and it breaks my heart."

Her husband, Marc Goldfinger, 59, who converted to Roman Catholicism from Judaism and was baptized by Cuenin last Easter, said he was also dismayed by the pastor's resignation.

''I think they were looking for some loophole, some way they could justify his dismissal," Goldfinger said. ''Is it a valid loophole? I think not."

Cuenin said he had tendered his resignation ''with a heavy heart."

''At the request of the archbishop, I have submitted my resignation," Cuenin said. ''Please understand: I love it here. It would be wonderful to stay forever. I have enjoyed seeing the parish grow not only in numbers and in financial strength but, more importantly, in spirit."

He said the parish had been paying its pastor a monthly stipend before his arrival in 1993. The stipend was reviewed annually by the parish council, and disclosed to parishioners in a financial statement mailed to their homes. Even though the parish had been audited by the archdiocese over the years, Cuenin said, he was only recently told that the stipend violated church rules. He said the archdiocese had asked him to repay the parish, though he did not say how much.

Yesterday, Cuenin asked the parishioners not to protest his resignation.

''Please do not harbor any ill will toward the bishop," he told them. ''If you could put your energies into keeping this parish strong, that will be the greatest gift you could give to me."

Sazi Marden, 59, a parishioner for the 35 years, however, called it ''a dark day" for her parish.

''I will continue to belong to the church but there's part of my heart that has died," she said.

Lisa Wangsness can be reached at lwangsness@globe.com.