"The complaint, Bethany D'Erario v. St. John's Roman Catholic Church, et. al., is without merit.

Bethany D'Erario first threatened to sue St. John's Roman Catholic Church and the Diocese of Bridgeport in January of this year, approximately 17 months after she had voluntarily resigned from her position as the business manager and bookkeeper of St. John's Parish. We reviewed the complaint that had been mailed to us by Ms. D'Erario's attorney and determined that it contained numerous inaccurate allegations.

"Accordingly, our attorney sent a letter [published below] to Ms. D'Erario's attorney, a copy of which is attached hereto, noting some of the significant factual and legal inaccuracies in the complaint and discouraging Ms. D'Erario from proceeding with her meritless complaint.

"Unfortunately, Ms. D'Erario has decided to file a lawsuit against the Parish and the Diocese in an apparent effort to seek money to which she is not entitled. Although it is not practical to point out all of the false and inaccurate assertions in Ms. D'Erario's complaint, some of the more important truthful facts in this matter are set forth below:

Fact: Ms. D'Erario had been aware of Jude Fay's financial wrongdoing and other improper conduct for approximately three years before it was reported to the Diocese.

Fact: Almost immediately after Father Michael Madden reported to Bishop William Lori his suspicions regarding Jude Fay, Ms. D'Erario went on vacation and was absent from work for one week.

Fact: The Diocese promptly investigated the allegations regarding Jude Fay, and it was the Diocese, not Ms. D'Erario, that first reported Jude Fay's wrongdoing to the authorities.

Fact: St. John's and the Diocese requested that numerous individuals, including but not limited to Ms. D'Erario, cooperate with the investigations being conducted by the FBI and Deloitte.

Fact: St. John's and the Diocese cooperated fully in the investigations and subsequent prosecution of Jude Fay; and therefore had no reason to retaliate against Ms. D'Erario or the many other witnesses who were interviewed as part of those investigations.

Fact: At the time Ms. D'Erario voluntarily resigned her employment on August 1, 2006, her written employment contract automatically had been renewed for the upcoming year.

Fact: Father Frank McGrath has been an ordained priest since 1970 and has devoted his best efforts to assisting and serving the parishioners of St. John's since his appointment to that Parish after the resignation of Jude Fay.

Fact: Father McGrath never asked Ms. D'Erario to resign and always treated her fairly.

Fact: Ms. D'Erario chose to inform the Parish of her resignation by publishing her resignation letter in the St. John's Sunday Bulletin. In that resignation letter, Ms. D'Erario wrote "I have decided that it is time to move on" and closed her letter by stating "I wish you [Father McGrath] and the parishioners of St. John Church every good fortune." To view the letter in Adobe PDF, click here .