Fr. Honore Kombo of St. Augustine Seymour has been removed from his post while an investigation into financial irregularities continues. The parish sent the following letter to parishioners yesterday:

Saint Augustine Church
Seymour, Connecticut
July , 2015

Dear Parishioners,

Because of the news about Father Kombo last weekend many of you were surprised, upset, or had many questions.  We are now hearing more questions and  unreliable stories that are “floating” around our community of faith.

Although, at this point in time, we can not relate the entire story to you as it would jeopardize the on-going investigation, we were given permission by Reverend Shawn Daly, the Vicar for Priests, to give you a synopsis of what has been happening.

At the beginning of the 2015 year, your Finance Council, the Church Trustees, and the Parish Office began to notice discrepancies in the church’s 2014 financial reports.

After a number of meetings we determined that this was a situation that we did not clearly understand nor were we able to grasp the depth of what was happening.  It was decided that we needed to alert several key offices at the Chancery as to what we were finding.  Representatives from the Financial Office in Hartford immediately came down to St. Augustine’s and conducted a comprehensive forensic audit of all our accounts, reports and financial paperwork.

Although the extensive investigation is still open, and probably will be for a number of weeks, and it is ongoing with several different departments in several different areas, the Archdiocese decided last Friday to move Father Kombo to a non-parish assignment until the investigation has concluded.

We hope you realize that what the Finance Council, Church Trustees and Parish Office did was their job in protecting the assets and contributions made in good faith for the management and preservation of our church.

It was with many prayerful thoughts and a good deal of discussion before our problem was brought to the attention of the church offices in Hartford.

We appreciate your understanding of why we can not release more facts to you at this time and we thank you for your continued support in all that is happening.  At some point we hope to be able to convey the transparency on this incident with you and move forward. We have been promised that in several weeks we will have a pastor who will become the new shepherd of our flock.

However, now is the time within our community of faith when we must ALL reflect on the importance of our love of the Lord in our lives and how we are going to re-energize and nurture our parish in faith, hope and love.

May God bless you,

Your Finance Council, Church Trustees and Parish Office