fills the vacant spot
Lakewood monsignor
fills the vacant spot
By darlene diebold
Staff Writer
After over two years heading St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, the Rev. John Dobrosky stepped down from his post last week.
The circumstances surrounding Dobrosky’s resignation from the New Monmouth church are unclear, but the Diocese of Trenton said Dobrosky’s departure was for personal reasons.
"The stress of his (Dobrosky’s) situation may have precipitated his reportedly making inappropriate comments to parishioners and staff members. Father Dobrosky will be going for a complete medical checkup and emotional evaluation before given another assignment in the Diocese of Trenton," Steven Emory, spokesman for the diocese, said Monday.
He would not elaborate on the evaluations.
"This is a personnel issue," Emory said. "The agreement (to report Catholic priests for sexual misconduct against minors) that the (U.S. Conference of Catholic) bishops came to in Texas does not apply to this case. His (Dobrosky’s) leaving has nothing to do with a minor or minors," he said, before deferring to a press release, and refusing to comment on the issue further.
"The stress of being pastor of St. Mary’s Parish, New Monmouth, has taken its toll on Father John Dobrosky," said a written statement from the Diocese of Trenton.
The statement cites stress caused by Dobrosky being responsible for a parish community of 5,000 families, as well as being in charge of the grammar and high schools, as leading to his departure.
Middletown Police Chief John Pollinger said Monday he knows of no current, or ongoing, investigations into Dobrosky, or why he may have left the church.
Monmouth County Deputy First Assistant Prosecutor Kenneth W. Keller also said on Monday his office has no current cases involving Dobrosky, and is unaware of any criminal investigations surrounding the case.
St. Mary’s Church is one of the largest in the diocese, with more than 5,000 parishioners.
Before taking over at St. Mary’s in 1999, Dobrosky was the pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Highlands.
Monsignor Michael J. Walsh, who was chosen to replace Dobrosky, has been at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Lakewood, since October 1994, according to Emory.
The Lakewood church has about 4,000 parishioners. Before Lakewood, Walsh was the pastor of Holy Angels Catholic Church in Trenton from 1987 to 1994. Walsh took over the Middletown post Sunday.