News and Action Plan

Post October 13, 2010

Enough is enough!  Father Pendolphi is absolutely unbelievable!  Miss Armbrust is not at St. Michael School.  He doesn’t care who or how any of this affected the parishioners/school parents that were not in agreement with him, but he continues to hurt all of us.  There is no way to explain why he would not allow a flyer to go out about a get together to celebrate Miss Armbrust’s years at St. Michael.  He robbed all of us of this opportunity to do right for Miss Armbrust when he did not renew her contract in July.  He doesn’t speak of it and won’t answer questions.  He continues to behave in a very unchristian way, let alone a priestly one.  All proper avenues were followed to get a flyer in the communication folder to have a picnic type get together so the families and children could say thank you to Miss Armbrust for all her years of service to St. Michael School.  Here is the support group’s recent email on the matter:

 

Hello all,

 

A flyer(attached) was approved by both Mr Rossetti and Mrs Kent for distribution in the communication folders today.

 

The copies of this flyer were secretly removed from the communication box in the cafeteria.  They were retrieved from the Parish office with the help of Fr Dailey and placed in the communication folders.  The folders were then distributed to the classes.  The folders were recalled from the classes and the flyer was removed.  As I understand, this was requested by Fr Pendolphi.

 

All proper channels for the placement of information in the communication folder were followed.

 

There is a School Board Meeting tonight at 6pm.  PLEASE ATTEND IF YOU CAN!

 

Fr Pendolphi is supposed to be there.

 

Please forward to anyone you can.

 

Here is the Flyer that was to be included in the communication folder:

 

Come One Come All!!
Hosted by SMS parents and friends of Miss Armbrust

 

Celebrate Miss Armbrust’s 30 years of service

to St Michael School!*
When: October 16th from 3-6pm
Where: Selby Park Shelter House

We will supply the hot dogs, drinks, paper products and cake if you can help supply the rest!

If your last name begins with A-L
– please bring a side dish

If your last name begins with M-Z
– please bring an appetizer

We could definitely use some help in the following areas:

1) Gift Collection: If you are interested in contributing to a collective gift please send your donation in an envelope to(by Friday Oct 15th):

Attn: Gayle Gottlieb

c/o Colleen Rudy 5-S

or call 614-436-5095

2)  Decorations: we need someone to coordinate and obtain decorations for the party.  We need tablecloths, balloons etc.  Anything to make it festive!

3) Set up and Clean Up

Please let us know if you plan on attending and if you can help!

 

Jennifer Stone:  jsto1215@yahoo.com 614-844-6893

Sally Jannot:  pjannot@insight.rr.com 740-548-7713

 

*this event is not a St Michael School sponsored event

 

 

I don’t know what to say.  When a priest will not allow children to say goodbye or thank you to someone who, like it or not, has been a large part of their lives, there is something tragically wrong.

 

It does not make sense to any of us.  We know that if there was anything that Miss Armbrust did that caused this she would not have “resigned” or been able to walk with pride.  We all know she did nothing wrong.  We have accepted there was a difference of opinion or whatever it may have been, but now to say in a homily that you love Miss Armbrust too, yet deny a flyer to go out to the families and children of St. Michael School that would like to have some closure and thank Miss Armbrust for her service, is downright undeserved and gravely wicked.  There is no justifiable reason for Father Pendolphi to behave this way.  He continues to bully his parishioners and the parents and children of St. Michael who were sad to see Miss Armbrust go.

 

I would love to hear from those of you in support of Father Pendolphi now.  Give me one reason the children are not allowed to say goodbye and thank you to their longtime principal and leader.  All we can do is try to get the word out on our own about the get together.  We must continue to write and call about Father Pendolphi’s bad behavior.  Father Pendolphi’s behavior continues to be not Christian, Priestly, kind or appropriate in anyway.

 

Please continue to check the St. Michael Support Group Site for news and information.

Latest as of August 24, 2010

Latest News

– It has come to our attention that our letters to the Diocese are working!  We are at a very critical point with regards to many of the issues we are facing.  If there is a time for us to be writing to the Diocese, that time is right now!  If you have written a letter and are still unhappy and do not have the answers to your questions, please write another letter.  Write to Father Corcoran and Bishop Campbell.  They need to know our frustration.  If you are unhappy with Miss Armbrust’s termination, our parish leadership, the division within our parish that all of this has created, the uncertainty of the direction of our school, and/or the lack of communication to the parish/school community, please write those concerns to the Diocese.  Make it factual and please be careful (respectful) with your wording.

Chancery

C/O Father Shawn Corcoran

198 East Broad Street

Columbus, Ohio 43215

and

Bishop Frederick F. Campbell

198 East Broad Street

Columbus, OH 43215

Other News

– Mr. Rossetti met with the School Board this week.  Please give Mr. Rossetti your support during the upcoming school year.  He has come out of retirement in an interim position to help us stabilize the school and maintain our level of excellence.  If anything, we need to be supportive of him for our children.

– Parish Council has met and we received confirmation from one of the members that Father Pendolphi did not attend the meeting.  Further evidence of his lack of communication with the parish.

– The legal process between Miss Armbrust and the Diocese is still ongoing and we are awaiting word on its progression.

– There have been other meetings involving the Diocese, Mr. Rossetti, SMS Support group, Parish Council and School Board members.

– There has been confirmation that St. Michael Parish is preparing for an Order of Sisters to come into the school system.  We do not have any other information as to the Order or what their function will be.

– A request for a meeting of a group of concerned parents/parishoners has been made to Fr. Corcoran.  We are awaiting his response.

Below is an update from the last SMS Support Group meeting:

– Discussions were held regarding this year’s festival.  We feel a boycott of the festival is not the right direction we should approach.  However, we would like to pre-sell T-shirts and have these shirts available for all to wear throughout the festival.  This will show visibility in numbers of how many of us are out there in support

– Please continue to show whatever visible support of St Michael School at all St. Michael functions.  We need to continue to let the parish leaders know that this is not going to fade away until we all feel that they have appropriately answered all of our questions regarding the future direction of St. Michael School and our children’s education.

– We ask that everyone continues to pray for a quick resolution to this matter.

– Please continue to be respectful when discussing our concerns, especially with our parish leaders.  It does not reflect well on our group or our mission if we do not express ourselves in a civil and Christian manner.

I know we are all wrestling with the question; where do we go from here?  We are all tired of talking about the issues at hand.  However, keep in mind Father Pendolphi has just started to dictate what is to happen at St. Michael School.  We do not know what his plans are because he feels we don’t have a right to know the direction of the school and why he handled Miss Armbrust’s situation so irrationally.  We must protect our children’s education like Miss Armbrust did.  We must ask for answers and pray for open communication.  Until then, we must continue to write about our feelings as a community of parents at St. Michael School.  Remember, this is only the beginning of Father Pendolphi’s decisions for our children.

As soon as we lose the moral basis, we cease to be religious. There is no such thing as religion over-riding morality. Man, for instance, cannot be untruthful, cruel or incontinent and claim to have God on his side.

Ghandi

Latest from the Support Group 8/13/2010

Friends:

As expected, there has been a flurry of activity upon Father Pendolphi’s return.  We are all so proud of all who sacrificed their time to come out to show their support of our cause.  Know this…we ARE making a difference and our cause is justified. With the letters that have been written, the media coverage, our peaceful presence at church, the Diocese must be considering becoming involved in this matter.  We need to continue what we have been doing thus far.  We encourage everyone to continue to wear your SMS colors/ribbons/uniforms and our notes in the collection plate.  These are non-disruptive actions to put pressure on the parish leaders and the Diocese to listen to our opinions…contrary to Father’s comment during last week’s homily, which in his words were: “You don’t get an opinion because your opinon is wrong.” This was an inappropriate statement for him to make during a mass homily, let alone at anytime.

As our spiritual leader, it is unfortunate that he took this path. We do not live in a totalitarian society, but unfortunately, Father Pendolphi’s recent actions are heading in this direction.  This is evidenced by his refusal thus far to accept any meeting requests that have been asked of him.  It is evidenced by the words he has spoken during mass.  It is evidenced by his three week absence which caused undue anxiety on all of us.  This all could have gone in a much different (better) direction if Father Pendolphi would have come to the parish immediately to explain what he did and tell us the direction he felt we needed to go in with regards to the school.  Many of us would have been upset with the decision, but would have respected it more had he come to us and explained himself.  Subsequently, if he had not made the comments that he did during his homilies, this would be going in a different direction.  He has taken the stance that we are wrong/he is right and we do not have a say in the matter whatsoever.

We all are in this to do what we feel is right for our church family.  Our support of Miss Armbrust and/or disagreement with Father Pendolphi’s decisions is not a sinful act on our part.    To the contrary, we are standing up for one of our respected parish family members who has been treated unfairly.  It is our Catholic duty to help Miss Armbrust maintain her reputation and receive just and fair compensation for her tireless work that she has sacrificed for our children’s education.  It is unfortunate that Father Pendophi did not take another direction as he addressed this to our parish family.

Other news:

– Channel 4 news did a story on last weeks events.  This can be viewed on the link: http://www2.nbc4i.com/news/2010/aug/08/4/peaceful-protest-st-michael-church-school-ar-184037/

– The second half of Father’s homily can be heard on the website at: www.supportarmbrust.com.  Click on the news link to find the link to the homily.

– There are now 240 supporters on our email list and growing exponentially every day.

– There are 248 comments on the channel 4 website regarding these developments.  Please try not to get wrapped up in this too much.  No one knows who these individuals are who are posting some of these messages.  Many may not have direct involvement (i.e, children at SMS, parishoners, etc).  Many of the comments are unfortunately not what we have been taught as Catholics to say.  Please, if you wish to comment, maintain a respectful nature in your wording.  Let the others speak like that, while we all take the “high road”.

– To address one specific comment from the channel 4 site, we have not taken any email addresses from the emergency call list to “pad” our number of supporters on this distribution list.  This is just the type of slanderous tactics some out there are using to defame this support group.

– The SMS Support Group is meeting very soon to discuss our next action plan.  This may involve other peaceful presences.  We are also going to discuss how to show a visible support of Miss Armbrust during this year’s festival.

Thank you all for your continued support.  It is not easy for any of us to stand up and expose ourselves like this, but it is imperative for all of us to do so.  We need to show our support in numbers.

Yours in Christ,

SMS Support Group

Please check out the St. Michael Support Group website for the latest information regarding Miss Armbrust.

http://idoslow.com/home.html

Check the channel 4 website for the news overage on Miss Armbrust and the Worthington SNP August 7, 2010.

http://www2.nbc4i.com/news/2010/aug/08/4/peaceful-protest-st-michael-church-school-ar-184037/

http://columbuslocalnews.com/articles/2010/08/09/multiple_papers/schools

This is the latest email from the St. Michael Support Group:

Friends:

This weekend will be a pivotal time for all of us.  We have all been anxiously awaiting Father Pendolphi’s return from his vacation.  We are all hopeful that Father Pendolphi will explain his actions and answer some of the burning questions many of us have had since Tina Armbrust’s dismissal as Principal of St. Michael School.

Now is the time for all of us to come together collectively to show a visible presence at this weekend’s masses.  It is of utmost importance that we have as many of us as possible outside before each scheduled mass times.  Our objective is to make certain that Father Pendolphi understands the gravity of this situation and how many concerned parishioners /school parents/teachers his decision has negatively affected.

If we do nothing, they will most certainly do nothing, and ultimately it will be our own children who will be affected by this unpopular decision.

Most of you may not be aware of the size and scope of what has been created.  We now have over 225 within our parish community who are part of this constantly growing email list.  The list is comprised of parents with children in school currently, parents with children not yet enrolled, parishioners and non-parishioners with no ties to the school, current and former students, and teachers of St. Michael School.  Although there have been some justifiable concerns by some, we receive daily emails from the majority of you validating that we are doing the right thing by standing up in Miss Armbrust’s behalf.

This weekend we will be en mass for a peaceful people’s presence on the sidewalks surrounding St. Michaels.  We will meet across the street from the church 30 minutes prior to the start of each mass for a short prayer followed by a discussion of the objectives of what we want to accomplish.  We would like to be on the sidewalks for at least 15-20 minutes prior to the start of each mass. For those concerned, we have contacted the City of Worthington and we are legally allowed to do this.

* Please do your best to make your own signs in your own words.  We want to make this a peaceful presence, so we would kindly request that signs are respectful.  We also request that no slogans are shouted during this time.  All we wish to do is show visibility in numbers.

* Please also wear school colors/ribbons/school uniforms during these mass times.

* If inclined, print out a copy of the flyer supporting Miss Armbrust to put into the collection plate.

We would appreciate anyone planning on attending to send us a message to let us know what mass time you plan on being there for.

Yours in Christ,

SMS Support Group

Friends:

Below is an update for the week:

– The prayer service on Thursday was beautifully done.  Our thanks go out to all who worked on such short notice to coordinate this event.  We would like to give Deacon Demidovich thanks and praise for taking time out of his busy schedule to conduct the service.  This gave us all time to reflect on what is truly important…our love and faith in our Lord and our love and faith to St. Michael’s and our Parish family.

– During this week’s services, we ask that you continue to show our support for our cause by continuing to wear your colors/ribbons/uniforms.

– Please continue to write letters/email/calls into the Parish and Diocese.  They are working.

– Please continue to pray for Miss Armbrust and a peaceful/rapid resolution to this unfortunate turn of events that has caused strife within our Parish community

We have received emails from some of you expressing your confusion and frustration with this matter.  Some of you are not willing to take part in this cause for Miss Armbrust because you don’t know all of the facts.  Some of you don’t understand why she is not making any statements.  Some of you do not know who made this decision or the  decision to bring an Order of Sisters into St. Michael’s.

To reiterate our stance:  The SMS Support Group is giving you all the information we have at our disposal and some of those key points are:

– We have both written and verbal correspondence from the Diocese that they had no part in the decision in Miss Armbrust’s firing.  We accept the word of the Diocese as truth.

– Miss Armbrust’s, Father Pendolphi’s, and the Diocesean reasons for not being able to provide statements/information on the matter are no different from one another.  This is a legal matter that is going through due process.  Until such a time that the lawyers will enable their respective clients to comment on any matters related to her firing, they are not at liberty to speak publicly.  We should not ostracize Miss Armbrust for not speaking out when neither the Diocese or Father Pendolphi are speaking out.

– The SMS Support Group has not gone into this without doing extensive research on the matter.  It was only until all of us felt comfortable that her termination was unjust and not due to any inappropriate/insubordinate action on Miss Armbrust’s part that we agreed to move forward.

We realize this is confusing for many.  There are all kinds of rumor mills being distributed out there.  It is your own choice whether you listen to those rumors.   We will provide only information we have confirmed with the Diocese.

The SMS Support Group will continue to provide whatever information we can to all of you.  We just hope that although you may consider some information you are receiving from others to be reliable, this may not be the case.

Faithfully Yours,

SMS Support Group

We finally have the website up and running!  The site address is http://www.supportarmbrust.com.  This will be an excellent source for all moving forward.  We will continue to update you with important matters through this email, but the website will have all of this information and other areas of interest as we move forward.  Please also continue to utilize the blog for Miss Armbrust at http://www.thankyoumissarmbrust.com.  At last count, there were over 6,000 views in less than 2 wks!  With both of these sites, please submit something showing support of Miss Armbrust and/or what we are doing.  We are sure that these sites are being visited by some in the Diocese and with our Parish leaders.  The more we have who are showing positive support/comments on these sites, the stronger we look to those who will make decisions on the direction of our school.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Weekly update:
– This weekends masses were very subdued as we had a visiting Priest in from Bangladesh.  Fr. Daily was not in attendance for Sunday’s 1030a mass (not sure about Sat).  A few were showing support through wearing ribbons and/or green and yellow shirts.  We would ask that all continue this visibility when attending mass. 

– The prayer service we requested is set for Thurs the 24th at 7:00pm at the church.  It is important that we get as many people as we can to attend.

– The Principal for Nativity (who was fired and then reinstated) was contacted, along with a parishoner of the church to learn more of what happened and what was done to get him reinstated.  Many of the objectives of our 5 Phase plan mentioned in the last email mimic that of what they did at Nativity.

– As of right now, we have the attention of the Diocese.  We need to all work together as we prepare for Fr. Pendolphi’s return.  This will be a critical stage in this process.  Fr. Pendolphi needs to see first hand how many of us in the Parish are unhappy with what has occurred.

– It has been told to us that St Anne’s Hall is being converted into a convent.  We are double checking this to make sure the information is correct, but all signs point to this being the case.

– Fr. Daily met with the teachers last week.  That we know of, at least one new position has been filled and that was for a one yr contract.

– We are now up to 205 who are signed onto the mass distribution email
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Important Notes:
– It has come to our attention that there is a concern on part of some outside parishoners who are worried that if they are part of this movement Fr. Pendolphi will close enrollment for outside parishoners.  Please note the following:
St Michael School cannot survive without these children.  There are not enough St. Michael parishoners to fill the school and the outside population is a very large portion of student enrollment.  If Fr. Pendolphi were to exclude parishoners from other parishes, financially, the school would most likely have to close.

– We have also heard some parents that are not willing to speak out in Christine Armbrust’s behalf for reinstatement since they do not know the details of her dismissal:
These concerns are justified, but we need to ask ourselves this question…”Who can tell us this answer (along with many other questions we all have)?  The answer is Fr. Pendolphi.  Unfortunately, he has opted to leave for three weeks, thus leaving all of us in the dark.  We have researched this in depth and feel very confident that Miss Armbrust’s termination was not the result of any inappropriate actions.

-St. Michael’s Festival looms heavily on everyone’s mind.  Questions are being asked as to whether we plan on boycotting the Festival and/or what plan is in place:
The SMS Support Group will not advocate a boycott of the Festival.  This is a very important time for the Parish families, and although we realize a boycott would speak volumes, we believe that it will inevitably hurt us all.  However, we plan on showing our support through wearing T-shirts in support of Miss Armbrust (what better way to advertise our cause than at our own Festival).  There is talk of a support rally and a 2nd petition outside in the parking lots as well.  Suffice it to say, our presence will be known by all who will attend the Festival.

Below is the excerpt from “The Pastors Desk” in this weeks bulletin.  This is certainly open to interpretation:

– You have to work hard to offend Christians.  By nature, Christians are the most forgiving, understanding, and thoughtful group of people I’ve ever dealt with.
They never assume the worst.  They appreciate the importance of having different perspectives.  They’re slow to anger, quick to forgive, and alsmost never make rash
judgements or act in anything less than a spirit of total love….No, wait- I’m thinking of golden retrievers!-
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Phase 3 is closely approaching.  We need to all do our part in showing a presence at Aug 7th/8th masses when Fr. Pendolphi’s has returned.  This will include coming to mass and showing support through having our children wear school uniforms and parents wearing ribbons and/or green and yellow attire.  Also, we will be holding a peaceful people’s presence rally at the church for each mass time for that weekend.  Please make requests for Fr. Pendolphi to address the Parish with answers to all of our questions.  We need to be strong and united from here on in if we are to salvage the greatness that is St. Michael School.

Please continue to send us ideas/comments.  This is valuable information for all of us.

Continue to pray and have faith that what we are doing will make a difference.

Faithfully,

SMS Support Group

Michael School Support Group

Five Phase Plan for Action

This email was posted last night.  Here are the current plans of action.  Please check the site for new updates.  The St. Michael Support Group will have their site up and running soon and I will post the address here.  Action is needed at this point to communicate our concerns.Friends:

The feedback we have received thus far has been overwhelmingly in support for Miss Armbrust.  We realize that this is a very trying time for all of us, and many have stated their frustration in not knowing what to do next.  We are working feverishly together to do everything we can to help us all come to a resolution in a timely manner, but we are also aware that this will not occur overnight.  We ask only that during this process we continue to remain peaceful, prayerful, and respectful.  We would also ask that we work collectively as one moving forward.  Please continue to respond to these emails to let us know of any ideas you may have for the group to share, any developments you may have heard, or general comments.  The SMS Support Group is a steering committee to provide our Parish family with a direction, but it is your voice that matters.

We would like to update you as to the progress from our last meeting:

We have implemented a 5 phase plan to resolving the issue with Miss Armbrust’s dismissal:

Phase 1: Petition Drive and Rally: This was implemented in the church parking lot during the Parish Council Meeting.  We were overwhelmed with the show of support evidenced by over 200 people signing the petition.  We are especially thankful that everyone attending the Rally conducted himself or herself in a very Christian-like manner.

A letter along with the petition names was submitted to the Diocese and Father Pendolphi.

Phase 2: Letter Writing/Support at Weekly Mass: As we do not have hard numbers to how many have written letters, we are confident that many of you have taken the time to send letters to Father Pendolphi, the Chancery, and the Office of Catholic Schools.  We cannot stress enough how important this is.  Please consider this to be an ongoing part of what we are doing.  We suggest the following as we move forward:

1. Send multiple letters.  These do not need to be extensive letters, only ones that let Father Pendolphi and the Diocese know our concern and displeasure with what has happened.

2. Any with children who are now alumni of St Michael’s School, please ask them to provide letters sharing their positive experiences with the school and Miss Armbrust.

3. Email.  We realize it is time consuming to send letters.  If need be, please send an email.  The email address for the Chancery is chomailbox@colsdioc.org.  The email address for the Office of Catholic Schools is office@cdeducation.org

St Michael’s clergy email addresses:

cjarcuri@earthlink.net: Fr. Arcuri

rjp.smc@ameritech.net:    Fr. Pendolphi

stash.smc@ameritech.net:  Fr. Daily

NOTE: Please see below for instructions on sending letters

– Support at weekly mass included many who wore yellow/green ribbons and shirts and school uniforms.

Phase 3: People’s Presence

On the weekend of August 7th/8th there will be a peaceful people’s presence.  Details are to follow.  Continue with letter writing/emails to Father Pendolphi and the Diocese.

Phase 4 and Phase 5

The direction of these phases will be dependent on the responses we receive from either Father Pendolphi and/or the Diocese.  We have contingency plans in place for a number of scenarios.  Details will be forthcoming.